Neurology, physiology and psychology of (strabismic) vision

Improvement of accommodation and vergence amplitudes is not enough

Improvement of accommodation and vergence amplitudes is not enough

I was going through my things and found a piece of information I vividly remember reading and highlighting two years ago. I was very excited to see something I already intuitively grasped written in the 'Optometric Clinical Practice Guidelines ' for dealing with 'Accommodation and Vergence dysfunction'. What an emotional…continue reading →
Matan Drumer on living with and overcoming Convergence Insufficiency

Matan Drumer on living with and overcoming Convergence Insufficiency

Previously I wrote about how lately my situation more resembles a Convergence Insufficiency profile rather than a manifest strabismus profile. Most of the time my eyes are grossly aligned and I'm aware of both images although I do have some remaining surround suppression. My cyclopean eye is also still somewhat…continue reading →
Session 66: Inferring anaglyph depth through touch, definitely not dyslexic and soupy air

Session 66: Inferring anaglyph depth through touch, definitely not dyslexic and soupy air

Our senses are inferential by nature. This means that our senses pick up on different kinds of stimuli and the brain infers a meaningful percept. Probably there's an objective reality out there but that is not what we perceive. Colors don't really exist in nature for instance, they are just…continue reading →
FAQ: “When is strabismus surgery necessary? What should I be vigilant about before going through with it?” – A guide based upon what I would have wanted to know before undergoing eye muscle surgery

FAQ: “When is strabismus surgery necessary? What should I be vigilant about before going through with it?” – A guide based upon what I would have wanted to know before undergoing eye muscle surgery

NOTICE: Because communication and collaboration between ophthalmologists/strabologists and developmental optometrists is generally poor, it's hard to know whether one is getting the appropriate information or advice. Having suffered from strabismus for twenty years during which I have undergone three strabismus surgeries and more recently three years of Vision Therapy, I…continue reading →
Book Review: ‘The Autistic Brain, thinking across the spectrum’ by Temple Grandin

Book Review: ‘The Autistic Brain, thinking across the spectrum’ by Temple Grandin

I want to start out by clarifying my vantage point and why I read this book with great interest. When I heard an interview with Temple Grandin on the brain science podcast about this book and how she emphasized the great neglect of sensory issues in both research and treatment…continue reading →
Book review: Fixing My Gaze by Susan Barry

Book review: Fixing My Gaze by Susan Barry

After I read 'Fixing My Gaze' for the third time in three years I decided to write a long overdue review about the book that got this whole VT party started. I first read it during the summer of 2010. At the time I was undergoing all kinds of personal,…continue reading →

Strabismus and academia

Yes, so what about it? Well, it's complicated. I will try to explain it though. It's important to understand that my vision never could be relied on and it was always changing over the course of time. Initially as a first grader I had trouble learning how to read. At the…continue reading →
Visual Impediments to Learning: What’s it going to be? Your health, your education or both?

Visual Impediments to Learning: What’s it going to be? Your health, your education or both?

Somehow I have always felt discriminated. I could never really put my finger on it but it seemed like the normal rules didn't apply to me. Things always were a little bit harder on me. Now it's totally obvious this was because of a motor and sensory brain issue. Of…continue reading →

Book Review: The Mind’s Eye by Oliver Sacks

Oliver Sacks' books are impressive and this one is no exception. He's always willing to go that extra mile in trying to understand the experience of people who are confronted with all kinds of neurological anomalies. One of my favourite Oliver Sacks quotes is very truthful and at the same…continue reading →

NSA, if you read this, tell NASA to look into the vestibulo-ocular system

Recently I came across an interview female astronaut Karen Nyberg gave to CNN. I was struck by some remarks concerning long term vision problems astronauts are having.  KN: This week we've been doing a lot of experiments on our ocular health. We've noticed some problems over the past several years with…continue reading →