#blindess

the amount of people who i tell about my visual impairment who then tell me to get Lasik as if its some sort of secret cure, is ridiculous.

like first of all, Lasik isn't just a casual surgery to have. it can have serious serious side-effects and lead to life-long damage. second, it only treats certain eye conditions, like near/farsightedness, dry eyes, cataracts, etc. it cannot fix my diplopia, that's not what its used for.

I don't qualify for LASIK bc my prescription is so high (-10 L -12 R and astigmatism on top of that) so my only option is ICL, which is significantly more expensive. LASIK costs around 1000-4000 USD per eye. ICL is 3500- 5000 USD per eye. and since it's considered cosmetic my insurance won't copay.

I'm 22 - almost 23 years old. I've had glasses since I was 3. my eye doctor told my mom I had the worst eyes on a 3 year old he's ever seen. he even told her there was a good chance I'd be blind before I turned 18. I'm so glad I didn't. I don't even know what I would do if I went blind...

my current financial situation isn't the best. partly my fault for quitting my second job and putting way too many bill payments on a credit card. partly for not having any financial support from family. partly for instead of going to college I moved out of my mom's shitty roach infested trailer and into a shared apartment with a roommate who leeched off of me instead of contributing anything.

like I know I don't have it the worst. I'm not homeless. I still can see with glasses. my life is ok considering the state of the world.

I just want to be able to wake up and see. to not have glasses that irritate the bridge of my nose. to not have to go on rollercoasters with my glasses in my pocket and not being able to see anything. to not be afraid of going swimming because my glasses are in a bag on a chair and not on my face. to be able to wear sunglasses comfortably so the UV rays don't make my vision worse (I'm high risk for macular degeneration and retinal detachment.) even applying makeup is impossible unless I climb onto the bathroom sink, and don't even get me started on shaving in the shower. it's these little things people take for granted, when they buy the plastic lensed glasses frames as accessories and colored contact lenses to make their eyes red or purple or gold. I didn't get a choice not to need glasses or contacts. I just want to have the option of those things without spending a fortune on getting them in my prescription, if that's even possible to start with.

Israeli neuroscientists trained a 50-year-old man, blind from birth, to recognize objects using a sensory substitution algorithm called EyeMusic.

Developed by Prof. Amir Amedi, founding director of the Baruch Ivcher Institute for Brain, Cognition & Technology at IDC Herzliya, EyeMusic converts visual stimuli into “soundscapes” — sound units that convey information about geometric shapes.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging of the man’s brain before and after he learned to recognize soundscapes revealed that neural circuits in his brain had formed “topographic maps” previously thought incapable of forming after infancy.

“The human brain is indeed more plastic during infancy, but it maintains an enormous potential for reprogramming throughout a person’s life,” said Amedi, who did groundbreaking research into sensory substitution devices at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem before joining IDC in 2019.

Anyways, if you are visually impaired and you'd like to share your experiences with art, video games, or other media please DM me ! I could really use your input so I can make the best experience possible

study n.7

blindness series // ensaio sobre a cegueira