The thing we all need to remember is, if we’re lucky to live long enough, we’ll all probably be disabled in some way. So, we should respect the way people who are currently disabled want to be treated because the compassion, accommodations, laws and culture we build to support them now are what will be present to support us when we need it.
A phrase I've grown fond of, as a disabled person myself: "Being abled is a temporary condition." You either live long enough to suffer some physical and/or psychological impairment that impacts your life, or you die before it happens. Compassion towards disabled people is compassion for your future self, as well.
@route2070 this is known as the kerb cut effect, because kerb cuts (those little dips for wheelchairs) also help parents with strollers, kids on skateboards, delivery people with furniture carts for heavy packages..... Not all accommodations are kerb cuts, and some things that help Group A will be a barrier for Group B, but we should help when we can in any event and we should absolutely beat in mind that making things possible for some is very often making it easier for all.
Got a friend who has severe diabetic retinopathy, a prosthetic eye, and a great sense of humor. She describes her own condition as "blind in one eye and can't see out the other."
You should interview Paul from Matthew and Paul. He has had people say he wasn’t blind because he has a pinhole of vision. He even had a place recently not let him eat because they didn’t believe his service dog was a real service dog.
This, we need this collab. Paul is a good example of people not understanding different types of blindness and sometimes passing judgement without even attempting to understand.
My grandfather lost his sight in his early childhood due to a bad case of scarlet fever which completely destroyed both his optic nerves. He's got the "full" blindness, as in literally zero sight of any kind whatsoever. Ironically, because I've grown up being so exposed to his form of blindness, complete and total blindness, I was never really exposed too much to other forms, like shown in the video. Thank you for this. It's good to learn of other kinds of blindness, and to better understand the spectrum of human experience. It's funny how overexposure to the most rare degree of blindness made largely me blind to the others (no pun intended).
I have the exact same vision as someone who’s had a stroke, but mine was caused by brain surgery and a tumor (right homonymous hemianopia). I confirm that it’s a massive limitation. But I am stronger than my pain. It upended my life, but it gave me new purpose and meaning. My vision may be limited, but my perspective and power has grown.
Thank you! It's so sad to hear stories of people 'gatekeeping' blindness. There was a recent story about a visually impaired man who had very minimal pinhole vision so at a glance didn't 'look' like a stereotypical blind person might (that is portrayed in the media) and was given a hostile attitiude about his seeing-eye dog and refused entry to a restaurant. They accused him of not being blind because his eyes looked normal and could track motion etc.
It's also important to remember that, if someone wasn't born blind, they often retain some visual habits and mannerisms such as making eye contact, looking at their phone when they get a phone call, etc. Christine Ha and Molly Burke get accused of faking their blindness a lot because they used to be fully sighted and legally blind respectfully and still do things like maintain eye contact and instinctively look in the direction of things even when they can't see them.
@@voicingsomeopinions7006 Former sighted here -- yes! I have never forgotten how to connect to another person with my facial expression, and why would I? I love Paul, Molly, and Christine, they're all amazing, they all have personalities that really shine.
It's the case with other disabilities too. So many people don't understand that deafness is a spectrum and that many people who use wheelchairs are able to walk.
If I didn’t have glasses, I’d be in such a bad state for daily function. My issue is poor acuity. The other day my husband and I were laying down and he was talking about a figurine on the bookshelf next to the bed (on his side of the bed) and he was shocked that I was completely unable to read the large text on the figurine box. But he did the typical “how many fingers am I holding up” near the shelf, and could tell perfectly fine. I told him what I’ve told other friends before “If I lost my glasses and got separated from you in an airport or train station, I’d have to hope you cam find me. I would not be able to pick you out of a crowd since I can’t see the details of your face until you get pretty close.” Color range is normal (I do graphic design stuff so I’d notice if gradients don’t look right), my peripheral vision is decent (though since glasses only go so wide everything beyond them is blurry and without glasses I can still have a good idea if something is coming at me, so I can so far live a normal life in my 30s, but if I ever have to downsize my house, I’d be unwilling to not have 1 or two spare pairs of glasses since I rely on them a lot
This is me, too. Of course, my eyes have gotten worse as I've aged. So when I was in middle and high school, I'd take my glasses off at the water park and be able to wander around with my friends fairly well (I could identify which blurry people they were based on swimsuits, hair color/style, and skin tone). Pretty sure if I tried that now, I'd be a lost, scared mess. I can navigate my own home without glasses just fine but reading anything a few inches past my nose is near-impossible.
I’m also blind without my glasses and can literally not function at all without my glasses. Last year, I broke them and was out of a job for a couple days til I could get new ones and my manager didn’t understand why I couldn’t just take the bus or work without them… I had to explain to her later that week that I can’t see things clearly past my hand without my glasses and in order to just read things on my phone without them I have to have my phone practically touching my face. When I got my eyes checked my prescription was almost -10 in both eyes plus astigmatism and I’m sure they’ve just gotten worse since then..
My vision is pretty bad without contacts or glasses, but not terrible. When I don't have either on I often think about how in the world people got by before the invention of corrective lenses, like it would hinder me so much.
I can only see about 20 cm clearly (-6 D). And I’ve noticed my near vision is starting to go, so i’ll be in bifocals within a decade. I save my old glasses in case i break my current pair. Since I live alone, I need to be able to drive to get my glasses fixed! I’m so glad to live in a time and place with glasses readily available!
l love this! Thank you for making this. I went to a school that was In a area famous for its education for the deaf and blind. I had a friend in high school a decade back who was legally blind but could make out light. I was so baffled by this and got to talking and learning about him. He was also interested in a paperclip chain I had made and was surprised how weird it felt and looked. I started walking a quarter mile down the road in the morning before school just so I can get on his bus and ride with him just so we could hang out longer as the only time we could was on the way to school most days. Well one day I stopped seeing him on the bus or around school and got worried. he suffered from depression which was also something we bonded through. Weeks went by and I slowly started to only show up every few days just to check if he'd come back. That's when suddenly he was back like nothing ever happened. The first thing I noticed after seeing his was actually there and sat with him though that there was this large ball of duct tape holding together a droopy walking stick that had been snapped down the middle. I was shocked and heart broken to see that and asked him to tell me exactly where he been and if he was ok. This is where he told me he had been suspended along with the most epic story I heard from a high school. Apparently one of the guys from the football team decided he was a good target to bully. This football player make three mistakes though. Firstly bullying is wrong. Secondly my friend had a reeeeally bad temper with few outlets. And three that being blind doesn't mean he couldn't see him. That's when my friend turned and jumped him with his cane and took him to the ground till people could pull him off of him. He. Was. Out. For. Blood. Friend became the reason no one messed with "The Blind Kid". The Jock lost all his rep in every clip whether it was for bullying someone or for getting his butt kicked by "someone blind". I haven't seen him since high school so I think I'll try look him up and get in contact to see how he's been. I remember he has in a death metal band. I wooonder....
I was diagnosed with RP several years ago. It's been extremely slow-progressing for which I'm grateful. This week I'll be going to my 3rd ophthalmologist, hoping, not for a cure (there is none), but a willingness to help me explore possible options as it does progress. I've never even been genetically tested to see which kind it is. This particular Dr. has done lots of research so who knows. Thank you for expanding on this subject. Going to share with my family who have zero idea of my limitations or abilities. 🙄 Also, I work in GME and your videos about residency are absolutely spot on. I share with my co-workers all the time. Please never stop. 🤣😂
As someone who's a caregiver to an elderly-ish "blind" person with Retina Pigmentosa (my mom), thanks for explaining this! More people need to be made aware of this... And I also have the feeling that this video was caused to exist due to a certain adorable couple being refused access, and making the news here on RUclips... Which, while very angering, is good that more people are now aware.
My 15yo granddaughter was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa in kindergarten. She uses a cane because her peripheral vision is so poor; she doesn't use it to navigate but to build room around her so she's not crashing into things and people, or them into her. She's been accused several times of faking being blind, to the point that she doesn't want to use her cane at all or even go to school.
My dad and uncle presented with RP when they were young, and sadly immigrant families in the Midwest did not think anything was different other than abnormal clumsiness ('did you not see that there??'). Things got better for them and they grew to be independent and were able to navigate the busy sidewalks of San Francisco on their own. Science has improved and there's more awareness now but society still needs to catch up. I'm sending my best to both of you.
@@iyar220 Thank you. They sure can be, but i also think they just don't have a lot of familiarity with these things. She's also been accused of it by adults, which bothers me more than when the kids do it. A couple questions instead of immediate judgment would be very helpful.
Thanks for explaining this. Pete Gustin Blind Surfer has explained numerous times how his blindness happened over time and what he actually sees (I believe he can see bright lights but cannot focus on objects). It was frustrating for him when "Mr Beast cured blindness for 1000 people" but what Jimmy really did was pay for a specific operation that fixes one condition that causes blindness. Which is not a condition Pete has and people drove him nuts saying confidently, "Mr Beast cured blindness you should talk to him!" like Pete did not have his own medical and opthalmological advisors, and an understanding of his own condition.They meant well but that only goes so far.
Thank you! That was long overdue education for general public for sure. And will definitely help ppl with any degree of blindness to be better understood and supported by anyone who's here to learn this AND teach it to ppl around us, too.
Genuinely nice to see you as your actual doctor self, the level of knowledge you have a care is evident in your delivery. Don’t very me wrong I love your skits they’re great. Really nicely presented and gave me even further understanding on the subject.
Very good info. Once went to a school for the blind for a college course on teaching exceptional children. Got to wear headgear to simulate common types of blindness and the various tools and considerations. I am only blind in the sense that my high index lenses still look thick.
I did a class where we used those once. One of them was actually better than my normal vision (without glasses). With glasses I'm fine, fortunately. Having worn glasses since I was 18 months old, I never fully realised how astounding that was to my classmates.
What do they look like? Charts are nice, but does blindness look like seeing black, or something else? Does it look like seeing something really there, but it's like looking at a pixel of it at a time? What's it like?
@@HolyKhaaaaan Oliver Sacks has a lecture on this on line. People can hace Charles Bonea syndrome where the brain replaces no vision with random images.
It's been an issue for a very long time sadly. When Christine Ha won MasterChef in 2012, she got so much hate from people who claimed she wasn't really blind because she could see some shapes and some colors.
Doctor G. Perfectly explaining the struggle in defining nearly everything academic here. There is wide variance in the defining of phrases such as blindness in all fields due to the difference based on who you ask and what you are doing. Different organizations define different things in different ways, which leaves individuals with a monumental task in sorting out the definition of those things.
Thank you, Eye Bro, not only for these clear and helpful explanations, but also for just using the word "blind." I have only a very small residual visual field that is hard to utilize, but I am not a "total" as some of my friends in community would say. I might not be a "total," but I'm totally comfortable calling myself a blind woman. It's not something that should be considered embarrassing or shameful, because it's not. I've had well-meaning people act afraid to say the word, or they say, "I don't think of you that way," and I ask why. They might say, "Oh, because you're smart and you can do so many things." And to that, I have to say: there's lots of blind people who are smart and who can do so many things! Nobody should feel ashamed to say the name of their disability. Thanks for fighting stigma, Dr. G!
Interesting video! My first job many many years ago was as an intern at the Lighthouse Guild. My boss has maculuar degeneration and had moved to NYC from Arkansas because there weren't accomodations for people with visual impairment like him. The textures of the corner of the sidewalk and even subway really helps to signal to a person using a cane where the danger lies. Even the colors of doors were taken into account. For example, the door and handle to the custodial storage room was painted white to prevent anyone from accidentally going in there on their way to the bathroom. I remember getting a bookmark and it would simulate the different conditions like maculuar degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. It was in the shape of an eye and parts of it was see-through so you can hold it up to your eye and see how a person with each condition would navigate life. I wish all opthalmologist offices would have it. It was really empathy-building.
My heart breaks for my wife who began to lose her central vision (central scotoma) in both eyes at the age of 21 while in medical school. She's progressed to the point where she can barely count fingers in front of her face now. She's so intelligent and has such a bright future ahead of her and definitely does not deserve this at all. Life can be so unfair to some people sometimes. I want to care for her all her life and help her to achieve her full potential, or even just to get by if that's all she wants. Stargadt's disease and other related macular/retinal dystrophies are a real b**ch. Let's hope for a cure in the near future.
The frightening thing about visual field loss like hemianopia is you can not know you have it, because our brains are just so good at adjusting for our vision. You might just think you've gotten clumsy or forgetful because you're bumping into stuff, or misplacing stuff.
This video is definitely going to be a helpful resource for me in the future. I was born with a complete lack of vision in my right eye, and very limited vision in my left. I’ve been told this was due to Optic Nerve Coloboma. I used to have 20/200 vision with glasses, but as I grew older it improved to where I hover around 20/100-20/125. I use a variety of magnifiers, a sort of pocket telescope for seeing things at a distance (mainly projector screens for school or other presentations), and learned how to read Braille and use a white cane in high school. I learned Braille and cane travel because, according to my parents, one doctor said I would lose my vision by the time I turn 30, so I wanted to be prepared. If I can offer any advice to anyone, it would be to check if your state has a department for the blind, or some other similar organization. The National Federation of the Blind is also a good resource.
You make addictive videos, but this was excellent explanation of vision. You make a good surgeon too…as a cardiologist, you are fantastic. Thanks for the medical humor and education. This coming from an RN.
Ì spent 58 years legally blind. (20/300 in both eyes) Cataract surgery corrected me to 20/30 in 2016. It is life-changing to not have to wear incredibly thick heavy glasses any more! I wake up every day thankful for my cataract surgery! You and your specialty will always have a cherished place in my heart! ❤
Dr. G, thanks so much for explaining this. I've worn glasses since I was 6 (57 now) and no one has ever explained this to me. This was so informative. You're also a good teacher.
Personally, I love the fact that this is the third popular video I've seen around in the past week or so about the *range* and *variation* in blindness and deafness. There is a lot of misinformation out there, and I don't like seeing comments like, "how can you speak 'normally' if you're really deaf??" on some of my favorite creators videos. I appreciate how larger platforms are taking the time to help educate the public!
Absolutely yes! My husband has kerataconis and has had lammelar corneal transplants. On the one hand, he has never been able to drive, but he navigates the world fine and holds a good job in computer software development.
This was very enlightening, thank you. I’m sitting at an AWESOME -4.50 and cannot function without my glasses or contacts. I’m always afraid of the idea of losing my insurance because if something were to happen to my glasses, and I run out of contacts, I’m functionally blind. It’s at the point now that I can’t read in bed without my glasses, because I can’t read a book if it’s as far as my lap. I would see my eye doctor way more often (as I’m only 30, so this is bound to get worse) but even with insurance I have to pay an arm and a leg. I probably am due for another eye exam though.
My dad has had glaucoma since he was a small child. When you get it that young, by the time you hit 60 half the treatments have already been performed and some can't be done again. 'Blind in one eye and can't see out the other.' He still does so much.
Thank you for this. I've recently been living an illustration of your point. Since I was a young child, I've had severely limited vision in my right eye, and usable (though poor) vision in my left eye. I would often describe myself as being blind in my right eye just to avoid explaing the few things it could do. Then I i had complication from cataract surgery on my left eye that left it mostly useless for about a month. Suddenly, I discovered all kinds of things I could accomplish with my right eye. It required ingenuity and a lot of extra time and effort, but it was massively better than having no vision at all. I will never call my right eye "blind" again. It is now my "Superhero Emergency Backup Eye". 🙂
Thank you for this. I have relatives with retinitis pigmentosis with varying amounts of vision but all considered blind from a social security point of view ( we are not in the US) Definitions of blind can also vary from country to country.
I remember going with my mum for her assessment. She read a total of 7 letters with both eyes from a massive screen at the end of her knee. I was saying “don’t look so good mum,they won’t think you have a problem….” She was registered blind that day, and has now lost that little vision to cataracts, yet gets by with help. Learning how best to help her has been good as our condition can be inherited, so could be me one day.
I realize now that you've lured us all in to following your funny med skits to accomplish the actual goal - dropping the real ophthalmology knowledge on us! 😂 Thank you so much for this informative video!! I'd love to see more like it!
Thank you so much for this! My daughter has large optic disc, retina, and iris colobomas in both eyes, this helped me understand her vision loss so much better, you explained everything so well.
I'm so glad you explained this in detail! So many people think it's just black and white! I follow two different people on social media who are both are blind. They have explained their spectrum and what they can see. One has been writing and illustrating books and has explained what a tedious process it is. He has a pinpoint amount of vision and magnifies the area he draws. The other one is female who has a different type of problem. Both have guide dogs and white canes. She has even described the different colors of canes used in other countries. I think it's wonderful to have people like you and them to educate the rest of us! Blindness is something we should all know about! It's not cut and dry, it's a wide spectrum! Thanks for a great description!👍
This is super interesting to see the different field of vision charts and causes. I have completely missing vision in the bottom of my left eye, but never learned the cause for it
I didn’t watch this video for a while cause I wasn’t sure if it was just going to be a great big joke. I’m glad you did this. I have only light perception and there’s so much misunderstanding about what blindness means.
It was a big surprise to me growing up when I learned that most people aren't blind in the classic stereotypical way where you're as good as not having eyes. It really opened a new world to me, ironically, learning that many blind people see various levels of things, and I even learned that someone I knew online had only a small cone of vision and was operating some kind of big work vehicle, like a forklift type of thing successfully. I wonder if a stroke patient who has for example left side of the vision very limited, experiences a lot of neck pains or shifted body balance that leads to pains or uncomfort, because they'd always be tilting their head/body to the side they can't see when looking straight ahead. Also does looking through a scope without proper sight picture simulate some of the vision problems?
The first half of the video *also* functions as an excellent explanation of how vision could evolve from simple light sensing spots (observable in single cell microbes) suitable mostly for regulating circadian activity or detecting if the organism in sheltered in shade, through slightly concave (but still simple) eyespots (called "cup eyes" in simple animals like planaria) that allow directional determination, through deeper eyepits that provide more directionally, through pinhole eyes (such as nautiloids). Every stage of development is useful, with layer stages being more useful, thus obviating the common claim that complex organs like eyes couldn't have just "developed" naturally over time ("Since you need everything in an eye for it to be useful, there's no way it could evolve - you'd have to start with something useless amd independently evolve *everything* necessary for an eye before it would be useful enough for natural selection to kick in!") Your description of the range of usable vision, from.simole light detection through to "perfect" vision shows that, yes, even "crappy" eyes are useful.
There is a pretty famous RUclipsr/tiktok/Facebook person who is legally blind (has pinhole vision) and has a guide dog. He recently put out a video about him being illegally discriminated against by a local business because he wasn't 100% totally blind and so the employee said he was lying about being blind and doesn't have a real guide dog all because he had some useful vision left and said to him "you don't look blind" and so illegally denied him access.
One month ago I was blind. My right eye saw light & dark & close up finger waves, my left was marginally better, being able to distinguish shapes through a field of darkness. I described it as looking into an extremely dirty aquarium. But, I still functioned, I had no choice as I live alone; I'd walk to the store, slowly, wearing a hat & sunglasses, cross in crosswalks by watching the traffic, take photos of things I needed to read & expand them, etc, & because I could still (kinda) function I could tell some people I knew doubted how bad it really was. Im not quite old enough for Medicare but old enough for people to assume I'm on it & wasnt taking care of extreme cataracts because of ..laziness? I guess, rather than months of fighting with a non responsive insurance company. Finally (no thanks to insurance) I was put in touch with a doctor who said mine were some of the worst hes ever seen (I heard someone there call them marbles?), & he fixed them. We delayed the second surgery by a week but even fixing one gave me my life back & one week ago today he fixed the other. His office is pretty far away but now I can navigate an hour long bus ride & half an hour walk there with no problem at all. For real, with my sight back I feel like I can do anything!
Doc, there's a podcast with John Crist and Derrick Stroup about an encounter they had regarding a combination of blindness and a language barrier. Worth a watch from your perspective.
The show Sight Unseen explores this well. The main character is a police detective with Leber’s neuropathy. People keep telling her she's blind now but she keeps saying, "But, I can still see." She tries to figure out how to continue to use her investigative skills.
I have impaired visual acuity in my left eye due to mac degen. One of the fun things about covid that isn't really explored that much is how much it can permanently mess with your vision. I already had early mac degen before the pandemic started, but I swear each time I get covid, my acuity takes a massive hit. It's brutal!
THANK YOU! I am blind. My eyes began to fail before my first birthday and today, I have complete loss of perrefrial vision in both eyes, partial use of the right eye (my brain tries to ignore it lol. Try explaining that at a party! 😂) and 20/400 or there abouts in the left. My Optho no longer bothers with the charts. She holds up fingers about 3 ft from my face. People say just wear glasses! But glasses no longer work for me and my optho explained (very gently) they would be a complete waste of money. I get asked what being blind is like. Do I see blackness where my perrefrial field would be? I explain, for ME, it's just gone. Not black, or fizzy, or grey, it just doesn't exist. Paul from Matthew and Paul (love those guys!) Explained it as looking through a drinking straw. We see what is at the end of the straw. The rest just isnt there . 😊
Thank you for this! I had no idea. I’ve had degenerative myopia my whole life, which has given me glaucoma and retinal detachment issues that started around age 35. Thankfully, I am correctable to 20/20 in one eye and 20/30 in the other (glasses are -15 with astigmatism). I have never considered myself blind at all since I’m correctable, but, if those glasses fall off my bedside table at night…. I’m in some serious trouble!!
Thank you for taking on this topic. And you are using the exact explanation I always used for the patients I translated from my ophthalmologist to layman's terms. Like almost to a T! And from what I can see that is a nice VF (Humphreys?) you got there, 30-2 false pos/negs looking good. Heck for that metric all those fields are good. I have a HUGE 'blind' spot, relativity speaking, because I have pretty massive Pseudopapilledema, like 1100 micrometers optic disk elevation. I stopped by the Heidelberg OCT booth once and everyone was "Oooo, Awww'ing" over my disk. I have had so many and trained so many people on using that machine I can take my own images and get a perfect image from the patient's side. LOL You hiring???
With my MS, I've been blind in one eye with optic neuritis three times. All I could see for weeks was a soft grey visual field. I couldn't see light or movement. I remember thinking that blindness wasn't black, but grey. In each case, my vision returned, although I now see colour slightly differently in each eye. ~ Sandra
When the emergency opthalmologist showed me the largest letter on the screen and asked me, I answered “space bar”. He didn’t laugh, but I thought it was the best joke. I seriously couldn’t see beyond light with that eye that day (glass cut my eye). I see great again now.
saw a video by a blind man be not allowed in a restaurant with his guide dog bc they thought the dog wasnt a guide dog and that he was faking being blind. not everyone is going to be an old man in sunglasses with cloudy eyes!!
Thank you. I'm legally blind due to T1D, for different reasons in each eye, but I still wear glasses because they do improve what vision remains. But I've still had health care providers ask why I wear glasses if I'm blind.
I DESPISE the visual acuity test in the big bowl with the clicker. It's so trippy every time, and difficult to tell if you are actually seeing a white light (on a white background) or like a floater or something.
I had a friend in college who was quite visually impaired -- he had to put his face practically on the book with glasses that had some sort of magnifier built in, like little binoculars, in order to read. Then one day I saw him on a bicycle zipping through campus. I don't remember the details of how he could manage that safely, but he could see moving objects better than static ones, something about his peripheral vision maybe?
I have, as you define it, hand motion vision without corrective lenses. My periferal is unaffected, so with glasses and a marker on my license, I do drive. I choose large glasses, or contacts, so my field of normal vision is large enough to safely experience life. I have also learned some blind skills unofficially, specifically guiding. Its very useful to have those skills so I can put down the glasses and not be immediately helpless. I am VERY glad technology has improved to the point I can live normally. My mother has similar vision, and in the '80s it could not be corrected aa well as it can be today, so she had some difficulties.
![Tee Grizzley - Blow for Blow (feat. J. Cole) [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wNLN5xsx5dc/mqdefault.jpg)
The thing we all need to remember is, if we’re lucky to live long enough, we’ll all probably be disabled in some way. So, we should respect the way people who are currently disabled want to be treated because the compassion, accommodations, laws and culture we build to support them now are what will be present to support us when we need it.
Well said
Even when we're not, extending wheel chair accessibility makes a parent's life easier with their kids and a stroller.
A phrase I've grown fond of, as a disabled person myself: "Being abled is a temporary condition." You either live long enough to suffer some physical and/or psychological impairment that impacts your life, or you die before it happens. Compassion towards disabled people is compassion for your future self, as well.
Well said my friend.
@route2070 this is known as the kerb cut effect, because kerb cuts (those little dips for wheelchairs) also help parents with strollers, kids on skateboards, delivery people with furniture carts for heavy packages.....
Not all accommodations are kerb cuts, and some things that help Group A will be a barrier for Group B, but we should help when we can in any event and we should absolutely beat in mind that making things possible for some is very often making it easier for all.
Got a friend who has severe diabetic retinopathy, a prosthetic eye, and a great sense of humor. She describes her own condition as "blind in one eye and can't see out the other."
My dad used to describe a guy he knew who was extremely cross eyed as “One eye looking at you, the other looking for you.”
You should interview Paul from Matthew and Paul. He has had people say he wasn’t blind because he has a pinhole of vision. He even had a place recently not let him eat because they didn’t believe his service dog was a real service dog.
I'd watch that collab in a heartbeat.
Yes!
This, we need this collab. Paul is a good example of people not understanding different types of blindness and sometimes passing judgement without even attempting to understand.
My first thought was that Paul's video about the restaurant might have been the inspiration for this topic.
Pretty sure that’s why he made this video. He’s from Portland and Paul made the news in Seattle.
My grandfather lost his sight in his early childhood due to a bad case of scarlet fever which completely destroyed both his optic nerves. He's got the "full" blindness, as in literally zero sight of any kind whatsoever. Ironically, because I've grown up being so exposed to his form of blindness, complete and total blindness, I was never really exposed too much to other forms, like shown in the video.
Thank you for this. It's good to learn of other kinds of blindness, and to better understand the spectrum of human experience. It's funny how overexposure to the most rare degree of blindness made largely me blind to the others (no pun intended).
I have the exact same vision as someone who’s had a stroke, but mine was caused by brain surgery and a tumor (right homonymous hemianopia). I confirm that it’s a massive limitation. But I am stronger than my pain. It upended my life, but it gave me new purpose and meaning. My vision may be limited, but my perspective and power has grown.
That's deep. More power to you ❤️🔥
Powerful!
Thank you! It's so sad to hear stories of people 'gatekeeping' blindness. There was a recent story about a visually impaired man who had very minimal pinhole vision so at a glance didn't 'look' like a stereotypical blind person might (that is portrayed in the media) and was given a hostile attitiude about his seeing-eye dog and refused entry to a restaurant. They accused him of not being blind because his eyes looked normal and could track motion etc.
He and his husband make such good videos! I’m glad that the manager and owner apologized.
@@minajones8341 Matthew and Paul! (And the lovely Mr Maple doggo too!)
It's also important to remember that, if someone wasn't born blind, they often retain some visual habits and mannerisms such as making eye contact, looking at their phone when they get a phone call, etc.
Christine Ha and Molly Burke get accused of faking their blindness a lot because they used to be fully sighted and legally blind respectfully and still do things like maintain eye contact and instinctively look in the direction of things even when they can't see them.
@@voicingsomeopinions7006 Former sighted here -- yes! I have never forgotten how to connect to another person with my facial expression, and why would I? I love Paul, Molly, and Christine, they're all amazing, they all have personalities that really shine.
Thank you for your PSA as most people ignorant of how blind must someone be to qualify as being blind.
It's the case with other disabilities too. So many people don't understand that deafness is a spectrum and that many people who use wheelchairs are able to walk.
If I didn’t have glasses, I’d be in such a bad state for daily function. My issue is poor acuity. The other day my husband and I were laying down and he was talking about a figurine on the bookshelf next to the bed (on his side of the bed) and he was shocked that I was completely unable to read the large text on the figurine box. But he did the typical “how many fingers am I holding up” near the shelf, and could tell perfectly fine. I told him what I’ve told other friends before “If I lost my glasses and got separated from you in an airport or train station, I’d have to hope you cam find me. I would not be able to pick you out of a crowd since I can’t see the details of your face until you get pretty close.”
Color range is normal (I do graphic design stuff so I’d notice if gradients don’t look right), my peripheral vision is decent (though since glasses only go so wide everything beyond them is blurry and without glasses I can still have a good idea if something is coming at me, so I can so far live a normal life in my 30s, but if I ever have to downsize my house, I’d be unwilling to not have 1 or two spare pairs of glasses since I rely on them a lot
Yeah needing glasses for a little farther stuff is pretty common. I can't read my phone screen at arm's length without my glasses lol
This is me, too. Of course, my eyes have gotten worse as I've aged. So when I was in middle and high school, I'd take my glasses off at the water park and be able to wander around with my friends fairly well (I could identify which blurry people they were based on swimsuits, hair color/style, and skin tone). Pretty sure if I tried that now, I'd be a lost, scared mess. I can navigate my own home without glasses just fine but reading anything a few inches past my nose is near-impossible.
I’m also blind without my glasses and can literally not function at all without my glasses. Last year, I broke them and was out of a job for a couple days til I could get new ones and my manager didn’t understand why I couldn’t just take the bus or work without them… I had to explain to her later that week that I can’t see things clearly past my hand without my glasses and in order to just read things on my phone without them I have to have my phone practically touching my face. When I got my eyes checked my prescription was almost -10 in both eyes plus astigmatism and I’m sure they’ve just gotten worse since then..
My vision is pretty bad without contacts or glasses, but not terrible. When I don't have either on I often think about how in the world people got by before the invention of corrective lenses, like it would hinder me so much.
I can only see about 20 cm clearly (-6 D). And I’ve noticed my near vision is starting to go, so i’ll be in bifocals within a decade. I save my old glasses in case i break my current pair. Since I live alone, I need to be able to drive to get my glasses fixed! I’m so glad to live in a time and place with glasses readily available!
Thanks, eye bro. Genuinely.
Ah, spot the ortho bro!
@@imonkeybee but, like, bro, aren't we're all ortho bro (comparatively)?
Definite yes to you having a conversation with Paul from Paul and Matthew regarding blindness. Also, thanks for such an informative video!
I thought 2080 vision was the ability to see into the future.
I remember when that joke was made about "2020".
l love this! Thank you for making this. I went to a school that was In a area famous for its education for the deaf and blind. I had a friend in high school a decade back who was legally blind but could make out light. I was so baffled by this and got to talking and learning about him. He was also interested in a paperclip chain I had made and was surprised how weird it felt and looked. I started walking a quarter mile down the road in the morning before school just so I can get on his bus and ride with him just so we could hang out longer as the only time we could was on the way to school most days. Well one day I stopped seeing him on the bus or around school and got worried. he suffered from depression which was also something we bonded through. Weeks went by and I slowly started to only show up every few days just to check if he'd come back. That's when suddenly he was back like nothing ever happened. The first thing I noticed after seeing his was actually there and sat with him though that there was this large ball of duct tape holding together a droopy walking stick that had been snapped down the middle. I was shocked and heart broken to see that and asked him to tell me exactly where he been and if he was ok. This is where he told me he had been suspended along with the most epic story I heard from a high school. Apparently one of the guys from the football team decided he was a good target to bully. This football player make three mistakes though. Firstly bullying is wrong. Secondly my friend had a reeeeally bad temper with few outlets. And three that being blind doesn't mean he couldn't see him. That's when my friend turned and jumped him with his cane and took him to the ground till people could pull him off of him. He. Was. Out. For. Blood. Friend became the reason no one messed with "The Blind Kid". The Jock lost all his rep in every clip whether it was for bullying someone or for getting his butt kicked by "someone blind". I haven't seen him since high school so I think I'll try look him up and get in contact to see how he's been. I remember he has in a death metal band. I wooonder....
I was diagnosed with RP several years ago. It's been extremely slow-progressing for which I'm grateful. This week I'll be going to my 3rd ophthalmologist, hoping, not for a cure (there is none), but a willingness to help me explore possible options as it does progress. I've never even been genetically tested to see which kind it is. This particular Dr. has done lots of research so who knows.
Thank you for expanding on this subject. Going to share with my family who have zero idea of my limitations or abilities. 🙄
Also, I work in GME and your videos about residency are absolutely spot on. I share with my co-workers all the time. Please never stop. 🤣😂
good luck with the new doctor
My dad and uncle have/had RP. Wishing you the best with the new doctor.
@@user-yc4fz7vv6u Thanks! 💙
@@jessicamar1425 I wish the best for both of them and thanks! 💙
As a newly-minted Resident-to-be, thank you for your work in GME, and best of luck with your new ophthalmologist!!
As someone who's a caregiver to an elderly-ish "blind" person with Retina Pigmentosa (my mom), thanks for explaining this! More people need to be made aware of this...
And I also have the feeling that this video was caused to exist due to a certain adorable couple being refused access, and making the news here on RUclips... Which, while very angering, is good that more people are now aware.
My 15yo granddaughter was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa in kindergarten. She uses a cane because her peripheral vision is so poor; she doesn't use it to navigate but to build room around her so she's not crashing into things and people, or them into her. She's been accused several times of faking being blind, to the point that she doesn't want to use her cane at all or even go to school.
My dad and uncle presented with RP when they were young, and sadly immigrant families in the Midwest did not think anything was different other than abnormal clumsiness ('did you not see that there??'). Things got better for them and they grew to be independent and were able to navigate the busy sidewalks of San Francisco on their own. Science has improved and there's more awareness now but society still needs to catch up. I'm sending my best to both of you.
@@jessicamar1425 Thank you, i appreciate your kindness. i'm glad things got better for your dad and uncle. 🙂
That's terrible. Kids are awful sometimes.
@@iyar220 Thank you. They sure can be, but i also think they just don't have a lot of familiarity with these things. She's also been accused of it by adults, which bothers me more than when the kids do it. A couple questions instead of immediate judgment would be very helpful.
I thought RP could only affect males?
Thanks for explaining this. Pete Gustin Blind Surfer has explained numerous times how his blindness happened over time and what he actually sees (I believe he can see bright lights but cannot focus on objects). It was frustrating for him when "Mr Beast cured blindness for 1000 people" but what Jimmy really did was pay for a specific operation that fixes one condition that causes blindness. Which is not a condition Pete has and people drove him nuts saying confidently, "Mr Beast cured blindness you should talk to him!" like Pete did not have his own medical and opthalmological advisors, and an understanding of his own condition.They meant well but that only goes so far.
Thank you! That was long overdue education for general public for sure. And will definitely help ppl with any degree of blindness to be better understood and supported by anyone who's here to learn this AND teach it to ppl around us, too.
Genuinely nice to see you as your actual doctor self, the level of knowledge you have a care is evident in your delivery. Don’t very me wrong I love your skits they’re great. Really nicely presented and gave me even further understanding on the subject.
As someone who has cataract surgery scheduled in June 2024, I thank you for this primer.
It's life-changing surgery. I'm sure to the docs it's like performing an oil change, but the difference to the patient is immediate and wonderful!
Very good info. Once went to a school for the blind for a college course on teaching exceptional children. Got to wear headgear to simulate common types of blindness and the various tools and considerations. I am only blind in the sense that my high index lenses still look thick.
I did a class where we used those once. One of them was actually better than my normal vision (without glasses). With glasses I'm fine, fortunately. Having worn glasses since I was 18 months old, I never fully realised how astounding that was to my classmates.
What do they look like? Charts are nice, but does blindness look like seeing black, or something else? Does it look like seeing something really there, but it's like looking at a pixel of it at a time?
What's it like?
@@HolyKhaaaaan Oliver Sacks has a lecture on this on line. People can hace Charles Bonea syndrome where the brain replaces no vision with random images.
As much as I've come to love your characters, this is your best video yet.
I've seen a lot of comments lately that make this kind of video necessary, thank you doc
It's been an issue for a very long time sadly. When Christine Ha won MasterChef in 2012, she got so much hate from people who claimed she wasn't really blind because she could see some shapes and some colors.
Doctor G. Perfectly explaining the struggle in defining nearly everything academic here. There is wide variance in the defining of phrases such as blindness in all fields due to the difference based on who you ask and what you are doing. Different organizations define different things in different ways, which leaves individuals with a monumental task in sorting out the definition of those things.
Thank you, Eye Bro, not only for these clear and helpful explanations, but also for just using the word "blind." I have only a very small residual visual field that is hard to utilize, but I am not a "total" as some of my friends in community would say. I might not be a "total," but I'm totally comfortable calling myself a blind woman. It's not something that should be considered embarrassing or shameful, because it's not. I've had well-meaning people act afraid to say the word, or they say, "I don't think of you that way," and I ask why. They might say, "Oh, because you're smart and you can do so many things." And to that, I have to say: there's lots of blind people who are smart and who can do so many things! Nobody should feel ashamed to say the name of their disability. Thanks for fighting stigma, Dr. G!
Interesting video! My first job many many years ago was as an intern at the Lighthouse Guild. My boss has maculuar degeneration and had moved to NYC from Arkansas because there weren't accomodations for people with visual impairment like him. The textures of the corner of the sidewalk and even subway really helps to signal to a person using a cane where the danger lies. Even the colors of doors were taken into account. For example, the door and handle to the custodial storage room was painted white to prevent anyone from accidentally going in there on their way to the bathroom.
I remember getting a bookmark and it would simulate the different conditions like maculuar degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. It was in the shape of an eye and parts of it was see-through so you can hold it up to your eye and see how a person with each condition would navigate life. I wish all opthalmologist offices would have it. It was really empathy-building.
This is a great insight into an often overlooked area. I would love more videos like these
My heart breaks for my wife who began to lose her central vision (central scotoma) in both eyes at the age of 21 while in medical school. She's progressed to the point where she can barely count fingers in front of her face now. She's so intelligent and has such a bright future ahead of her and definitely does not deserve this at all. Life can be so unfair to some people sometimes. I want to care for her all her life and help her to achieve her full potential, or even just to get by if that's all she wants. Stargadt's disease and other related macular/retinal dystrophies are a real b**ch. Let's hope for a cure in the near future.
The frightening thing about visual field loss like hemianopia is you can not know you have it, because our brains are just so good at adjusting for our vision. You might just think you've gotten clumsy or forgetful because you're bumping into stuff, or misplacing stuff.
This video is definitely going to be a helpful resource for me in the future.
I was born with a complete lack of vision in my right eye, and very limited vision in my left. I’ve been told this was due to Optic Nerve Coloboma.
I used to have 20/200 vision with glasses, but as I grew older it improved to where I hover around 20/100-20/125.
I use a variety of magnifiers, a sort of pocket telescope for seeing things at a distance (mainly projector screens for school or other presentations), and learned how to read Braille and use a white cane in high school. I learned Braille and cane travel because, according to my parents, one doctor said I would lose my vision by the time I turn 30, so I wanted to be prepared.
If I can offer any advice to anyone, it would be to check if your state has a department for the blind, or some other similar organization. The National Federation of the Blind is also a good resource.
“Blindness is a spectrum”. Knowledge gained already!
You make addictive videos, but this was excellent explanation of vision. You make a good surgeon too…as a cardiologist, you are fantastic. Thanks for the medical humor and education. This coming from an RN.
Ì spent 58 years legally blind. (20/300 in both eyes)
Cataract surgery corrected me to 20/30 in 2016.
It is life-changing to not have to wear incredibly thick heavy glasses any more! I wake up every day thankful for my cataract surgery!
You and your specialty will always have a cherished place in my heart! ❤
Dr. G, thanks so much for explaining this. I've worn glasses since I was 6 (57 now) and no one has ever explained this to me. This was so informative. You're also a good teacher.
Personally, I love the fact that this is the third popular video I've seen around in the past week or so about the *range* and *variation* in blindness and deafness. There is a lot of misinformation out there, and I don't like seeing comments like, "how can you speak 'normally' if you're really deaf??" on some of my favorite creators videos.
I appreciate how larger platforms are taking the time to help educate the public!
Absolutely yes! My husband has kerataconis and has had lammelar corneal transplants. On the one hand, he has never been able to drive, but he navigates the world fine and holds a good job in computer software development.
Loving the eyeball videos. Learning so much.
I adore the comedy of this channel, and I know that it is the primary content, but I would love to see more educational content like this! Thank you.
This was very enlightening, thank you.
I’m sitting at an AWESOME -4.50 and cannot function without my glasses or contacts. I’m always afraid of the idea of losing my insurance because if something were to happen to my glasses, and I run out of contacts, I’m functionally blind. It’s at the point now that I can’t read in bed without my glasses, because I can’t read a book if it’s as far as my lap. I would see my eye doctor way more often (as I’m only 30, so this is bound to get worse) but even with insurance I have to pay an arm and a leg. I probably am due for another eye exam though.
My dad has had glaucoma since he was a small child. When you get it that young, by the time you hit 60 half the treatments have already been performed and some can't be done again.
'Blind in one eye and can't see out the other.' He still does so much.
As a legally blind person with optic nerve hyperplasia, thank you i so often have a hard time trying to explain this succinctly
Wish they taught us this in school. I've met people with a few different types of impairments but never heard it laid out so clearly.
Thank you for this. I've recently been living an illustration of your point. Since I was a young child, I've had severely limited vision in my right eye, and usable (though poor) vision in my left eye. I would often describe myself as being blind in my right eye just to avoid explaing the few things it could do.
Then I i had complication from cataract surgery on my left eye that left it mostly useless for about a month. Suddenly, I discovered all kinds of things I could accomplish with my right eye. It required ingenuity and a lot of extra time and effort, but it was massively better than having no vision at all.
I will never call my right eye "blind" again. It is now my "Superhero Emergency Backup Eye". 🙂
This helps me explain my blindness to my family. And how I look normal to them.
Thank you for this. I have relatives with retinitis pigmentosis with varying amounts of vision but all considered blind from a social security point of view ( we are not in the US) Definitions of blind can also vary from country to country.
I remember going with my mum for her assessment. She read a total of 7 letters with both eyes from a massive screen at the end of her knee. I was saying “don’t look so good mum,they won’t think you have a problem….” She was registered blind that day, and has now lost that little vision to cataracts, yet gets by with help. Learning how best to help her has been good as our condition can be inherited, so could be me one day.
I realize now that you've lured us all in to following your funny med skits to accomplish the actual goal - dropping the real ophthalmology knowledge on us! 😂 Thank you so much for this informative video!! I'd love to see more like it!
This is such an important video! Thank you for putting this kind of awareness out into the world
Love the video. It is worth mentioning that this video didn't even have time to mention other types of impairments like diplopia et al or photophobia!
Your compassion surely comes through to all your patients. Thank you for sharing this insight.
One of my friends ONLY has peripheral vision! It’s fascinating how many ways our bodies and minds can change and adapt.
Thank you, Dr. Glauc! I’ve got a daughter with -13.75 prescriptions for her eyes and always felt she was somewhat compromised without her specs.
Timely video. I was diagnosed with glaucoma today and underwent the testing shown. This help a great deal.
Wow this really made me think about how I perceive what blindness means
Thank you so much for this! My daughter has large optic disc, retina, and iris colobomas in both eyes, this helped me understand her vision loss so much better, you explained everything so well.
Love the explanation and the understanding and care you show for your patients (these are I suppose common patients to you). Thank you so much
I'm so glad you explained this in detail! So many people think it's just black and white!
I follow two different people on social media who are both are blind. They have explained their spectrum and what they can see.
One has been writing and illustrating books and has explained what a tedious process it is.
He has a pinpoint amount of vision and magnifies the area he draws.
The other one is female who has a different type of problem. Both have guide dogs and white canes. She has even described the different colors of canes used in other countries.
I think it's wonderful to have people like you and them to educate the rest of us! Blindness is something we should all know about! It's not cut and dry, it's a wide spectrum!
Thanks for a great description!👍
This is so fascinating. More eye learning videos, please. Thanks for sharing this. Sooo cool to learn about.
This is super interesting to see the different field of vision charts and causes. I have completely missing vision in the bottom of my left eye, but never learned the cause for it
Jonathan is the cameraman, the script holder, editor and audioman all at once.
I didn’t watch this video for a while cause I wasn’t sure if it was just going to be a great big joke. I’m glad you did this. I have only light perception and there’s so much misunderstanding about what blindness means.
It was a big surprise to me growing up when I learned that most people aren't blind in the classic stereotypical way where you're as good as not having eyes. It really opened a new world to me, ironically, learning that many blind people see various levels of things, and I even learned that someone I knew online had only a small cone of vision and was operating some kind of big work vehicle, like a forklift type of thing successfully.
I wonder if a stroke patient who has for example left side of the vision very limited, experiences a lot of neck pains or shifted body balance that leads to pains or uncomfort, because they'd always be tilting their head/body to the side they can't see when looking straight ahead.
Also does looking through a scope without proper sight picture simulate some of the vision problems?
The first half of the video *also* functions as an excellent explanation of how vision could evolve from simple light sensing spots (observable in single cell microbes) suitable mostly for regulating circadian activity or detecting if the organism in sheltered in shade, through slightly concave (but still simple) eyespots (called "cup eyes" in simple animals like planaria) that allow directional determination, through deeper eyepits that provide more directionally, through pinhole eyes (such as nautiloids).
Every stage of development is useful, with layer stages being more useful, thus obviating the common claim that complex organs like eyes couldn't have just "developed" naturally over time ("Since you need everything in an eye for it to be useful, there's no way it could evolve - you'd have to start with something useless amd independently evolve *everything* necessary for an eye before it would be useful enough for natural selection to kick in!")
Your description of the range of usable vision, from.simole light detection through to "perfect" vision shows that, yes, even "crappy" eyes are useful.
There is a pretty famous RUclipsr/tiktok/Facebook person who is legally blind (has pinhole vision) and has a guide dog.
He recently put out a video about him being illegally discriminated against by a local business because he wasn't 100% totally blind and so the employee said he was lying about being blind and doesn't have a real guide dog all because he had some useful vision left and said to him "you don't look blind" and so illegally denied him access.
Now we need a crossover between Dr, G and The Blind Surfer.
Thanks Dr G. Lots of opportunities for collabs around this. I highly recommend Pete Gustin (The Blind Surfer).
Explaining definitions is always good!
One month ago I was blind. My right eye saw light & dark & close up finger waves, my left was marginally better, being able to distinguish shapes through a field of darkness. I described it as looking into an extremely dirty aquarium. But, I still functioned, I had no choice as I live alone; I'd walk to the store, slowly, wearing a hat & sunglasses, cross in crosswalks by watching the traffic, take photos of things I needed to read & expand them, etc, & because I could still (kinda) function I could tell some people I knew doubted how bad it really was.
Im not quite old enough for Medicare but old enough for people to assume I'm on it & wasnt taking care of extreme cataracts because of ..laziness? I guess, rather than months of fighting with a non responsive insurance company.
Finally (no thanks to insurance) I was put in touch with a doctor who said mine were some of the worst hes ever seen (I heard someone there call them marbles?), & he fixed them. We delayed the second surgery by a week but even fixing one gave me my life back & one week ago today he fixed the other. His office is pretty far away but now I can navigate an hour long bus ride & half an hour walk there with no problem at all. For real, with my sight back I feel like I can do anything!
Doc, there's a podcast with John Crist and Derrick Stroup about an encounter they had regarding a combination of blindness and a language barrier. Worth a watch from your perspective.
This was easily understandable and so well done, Dr. G. Thank you.🤓
As an accessibility specialist, I thank you for this.
The show Sight Unseen explores this well. The main character is a police detective with Leber’s neuropathy. People keep telling her she's blind now but she keeps saying, "But, I can still see." She tries to figure out how to continue to use her investigative skills.
I have impaired visual acuity in my left eye due to mac degen. One of the fun things about covid that isn't really explored that much is how much it can permanently mess with your vision. I already had early mac degen before the pandemic started, but I swear each time I get covid, my acuity takes a massive hit. It's brutal!
THANK YOU! I am blind. My eyes began to fail before my first birthday and today, I have complete loss of perrefrial vision in both eyes, partial use of the right eye (my brain tries to ignore it lol. Try explaining that at a party! 😂) and 20/400 or there abouts in the left. My Optho no longer bothers with the charts. She holds up fingers about 3 ft from my face. People say just wear glasses! But glasses no longer work for me and my optho explained (very gently) they would be a complete waste of money. I get asked what being blind is like. Do I see blackness where my perrefrial field would be? I explain, for ME, it's just gone. Not black, or fizzy, or grey, it just doesn't exist. Paul from Matthew and Paul (love those guys!) Explained it as looking through a drinking straw. We see what is at the end of the straw. The rest just isnt there . 😊
thank you for this thoughtful, informative, and considerate explanation!
Thank you for explaining the spectrum. eye had no idea.
This is really important. Thank you.
Thank you for the sight education. I found it very interesting. Thank you!
Thank you for teaching us!
Unfortunately blindness can be slow to progress, only caught after significant vision loss and is often irreversible…
0_0 I have those pieces of art too! Lol. Makes a lot of sense to see that you have them given your specialty. They are a great series of pieces.
Thank you for this! I had no idea. I’ve had degenerative myopia my whole life, which has given me glaucoma and retinal detachment issues that started around age 35. Thankfully, I am correctable to 20/20 in one eye and 20/30 in the other (glasses are -15 with astigmatism). I have never considered myself blind at all since I’m correctable, but, if those glasses fall off my bedside table at night…. I’m in some serious trouble!!
Thank you for this. I appreciate it.❤
This was a great PSA. Thanks for posting!
Thank you for taking on this topic. And you are using the exact explanation I always used for the patients I translated from my ophthalmologist to layman's terms. Like almost to a T! And from what I can see that is a nice VF (Humphreys?) you got there, 30-2 false pos/negs looking good. Heck for that metric all those fields are good. I have a HUGE 'blind' spot, relativity speaking, because I have pretty massive Pseudopapilledema, like 1100 micrometers optic disk elevation. I stopped by the Heidelberg OCT booth once and everyone was "Oooo, Awww'ing" over my disk. I have had so many and trained so many people on using that machine I can take my own images and get a perfect image from the patient's side. LOL You hiring???
With my MS, I've been blind in one eye with optic neuritis three times. All I could see for weeks was a soft grey visual field. I couldn't see light or movement. I remember thinking that blindness wasn't black, but grey. In each case, my vision returned, although I now see colour slightly differently in each eye.
~ Sandra
This was so very informative and helpful! I have never really considered this topic before, and there’s a lot to learn!
Tabitha thanks you.
Hi Dr. G, I'm a pathologist with Juvenile X-linked retinoschisis
Great info and easy to understand 👏
This was very enlightening to learn about. Thank you!
When the emergency opthalmologist showed me the largest letter on the screen and asked me, I answered “space bar”. He didn’t laugh, but I thought it was the best joke.
I seriously couldn’t see beyond light with that eye that day (glass cut my eye). I see great again now.
saw a video by a blind man be not allowed in a restaurant with his guide dog bc they thought the dog wasnt a guide dog and that he was faking being blind. not everyone is going to be an old man in sunglasses with cloudy eyes!!
That would be Paul and Mr Maple. The owner and employee in question have since apologized to him.
Thank you. I'm legally blind due to T1D, for different reasons in each eye, but I still wear glasses because they do improve what vision remains. But I've still had health care providers ask why I wear glasses if I'm blind.
Deafness is another. I was a TTY relay operator in the 1990s and until then had no idea how many concerts Deaf people go to!
I DESPISE the visual acuity test in the big bowl with the clicker. It's so trippy every time, and difficult to tell if you are actually seeing a white light (on a white background) or like a floater or something.
Very beautiful, very powerful
Very interesting, thanks for sharing.
I had a friend in college who was quite visually impaired -- he had to put his face practically on the book with glasses that had some sort of magnifier built in, like little binoculars, in order to read. Then one day I saw him on a bicycle zipping through campus. I don't remember the details of how he could manage that safely, but he could see moving objects better than static ones, something about his peripheral vision maybe?
I have, as you define it, hand motion vision without corrective lenses. My periferal is unaffected, so with glasses and a marker on my license, I do drive. I choose large glasses, or contacts, so my field of normal vision is large enough to safely experience life. I have also learned some blind skills unofficially, specifically guiding. Its very useful to have those skills so I can put down the glasses and not be immediately helpless. I am VERY glad technology has improved to the point I can live normally. My mother has similar vision, and in the '80s it could not be corrected aa well as it can be today, so she had some difficulties.
You're such a wonderful physician!
Thank you, Doctor. So do you have any videos on wet AMD vs dry AMD?