"Fixing My Gaze"

Has anyone ever heard of Sue Barry? Sue Barry was a women who was born "cross-eyed", and she saw her life in only two dimension. She wrote a book about her experience called Fixing My Gaze. This book describes her astonishing experience of gaining 3D stereovision after a lifetime of seeing in only two dimensions. She did intensive vision therapy which created new neural connections, and with them, a new view of the world.

In this video below she discusses how vision therapy transformed not only her vision, but her beliefs about the neuroplasticity of the adult brain. It is a great story and just shows how beneficial Vision Therapy is at any age.

"For most of my life, the last place I wanted to be was an eye doctor's office. I had been cross-eyed since infancy, and despite three surgeries, remained cross-eyed and stereoblind. Scientific dogma indicated that my visual deficits resulted from changes in brain circuitry that occurred in infancy and could not be reversed in adulthood. So, when I finally consulted a developmental optometrist and began optometric vision therapy at age 48, I took a significant risk. I had to think beyond the conventional wisdom, abandon old visual habits, and master skills that most children acquire within the first six months of life. As I began to straighten my eyes and see in 3D, I learned that the adult brain is indeed capable of significant plasticity. Rewiring in the adult brain requires the presence of novel and behaviorally relevant stimuli, the conscious abandonment of entrenched habits, and the establishment, through intense practice, of new ones."