Stereoblindness (from a former sufferer)
Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 8:57 am
Hey guys, I don't know exactly where on the web to post this.
Like the rest of the world, I was excited to see Avatar in 3D, but also afraid. I knew that I have never been able to do Magic Eye puzzles and the theme park 3D rides never really seemed to POP for me (although I thought I was just dumb and acted like I got it like the rest of the kids, haha.) At some point a few years back I read a couple articles online and realized I was stereoblind. This fit in with my poor coordination in sports.
For those who don't know, (since I'm assuming there are very few stereoblind people who frequent this forum) stereoblindness is the result of some problem in the development of the eyes. In my case, I had cataracts in both eyes as a young child and underwent something like 7 ocular surgeries in three years. This lead to my left eye being much worse than my right and also significantly vertically misaligned. When conditions like this, in which one eye is somehow not optimally functional, appear in early childhood, then the sufferer can become stereoblind. The brain does not develop the mechanism that combines the two images from your eyes and uses them to see depth.
I don't want to make this a long post because I'm not sure there's an audience, but to quickly summarize the rest: I saw Avatar in 3D once and enjoyed the movie, totally flat. I decided to try again and at the end of my second viewing, after spending the whole movie crossing, uncrossing, twisting, tilting, and squinting my eyes, for about 3 minutes I really think I saw 3D. Then it was gone. Subsequent viewings were also flat.
Okay I'm getting wordy again. Basically I stubbornly got myself a 3D projector and read every morsel I could find on Google and Yahoo I could find about stereoblindness. After a few weeks of self-training/practice, I finally hit the point of being able to relax and enjoy video in S-3D.
The thrill of walking down the street to class, and focusing on putting my eyes in 3D mode... I walked about ten feet before the sensation of the world moving around me became dizzying. I feel like I'm living in a completely new adventure right now.
Naturally, I'd like to share a few of the things I think helped me. I'm sure there are plenty of frustrated geeks (and maybe even a few frustrated grandmas at Avatar screenings) who would love to hear that maybe their stereoblindness is not permanent. And on top of that, with a little ingenuity and dedication you may be able to cure it without prolonged (and I'm certain prohibitively expensive) vision therapy.
So my questions for you guys. Would any of you be interested in reading an account of the little excercises I practiced and hearing my general story? Like I said it's like gaining the ability to smell, it's an entire new way for me to percieve the world... to get this at 22 years old is a gift I would love to be able to share. If you know of any other more appropriate forums for such an article, please let me know. There's really nothing on google I can find about other people who have cured stereoblindness (despite lots of bitter articles by tech geeks who can't see stereo and are just resentful about it. Trust me, it is NOT pleasant feeling left out like that.)
I meant this to be a preliminary post to see if there would be any interest at all, but it's already gone long, ack.
Thanks everyone!
Like the rest of the world, I was excited to see Avatar in 3D, but also afraid. I knew that I have never been able to do Magic Eye puzzles and the theme park 3D rides never really seemed to POP for me (although I thought I was just dumb and acted like I got it like the rest of the kids, haha.) At some point a few years back I read a couple articles online and realized I was stereoblind. This fit in with my poor coordination in sports.
For those who don't know, (since I'm assuming there are very few stereoblind people who frequent this forum) stereoblindness is the result of some problem in the development of the eyes. In my case, I had cataracts in both eyes as a young child and underwent something like 7 ocular surgeries in three years. This lead to my left eye being much worse than my right and also significantly vertically misaligned. When conditions like this, in which one eye is somehow not optimally functional, appear in early childhood, then the sufferer can become stereoblind. The brain does not develop the mechanism that combines the two images from your eyes and uses them to see depth.
I don't want to make this a long post because I'm not sure there's an audience, but to quickly summarize the rest: I saw Avatar in 3D once and enjoyed the movie, totally flat. I decided to try again and at the end of my second viewing, after spending the whole movie crossing, uncrossing, twisting, tilting, and squinting my eyes, for about 3 minutes I really think I saw 3D. Then it was gone. Subsequent viewings were also flat.
Okay I'm getting wordy again. Basically I stubbornly got myself a 3D projector and read every morsel I could find on Google and Yahoo I could find about stereoblindness. After a few weeks of self-training/practice, I finally hit the point of being able to relax and enjoy video in S-3D.
The thrill of walking down the street to class, and focusing on putting my eyes in 3D mode... I walked about ten feet before the sensation of the world moving around me became dizzying. I feel like I'm living in a completely new adventure right now.
Naturally, I'd like to share a few of the things I think helped me. I'm sure there are plenty of frustrated geeks (and maybe even a few frustrated grandmas at Avatar screenings) who would love to hear that maybe their stereoblindness is not permanent. And on top of that, with a little ingenuity and dedication you may be able to cure it without prolonged (and I'm certain prohibitively expensive) vision therapy.
So my questions for you guys. Would any of you be interested in reading an account of the little excercises I practiced and hearing my general story? Like I said it's like gaining the ability to smell, it's an entire new way for me to percieve the world... to get this at 22 years old is a gift I would love to be able to share. If you know of any other more appropriate forums for such an article, please let me know. There's really nothing on google I can find about other people who have cured stereoblindness (despite lots of bitter articles by tech geeks who can't see stereo and are just resentful about it. Trust me, it is NOT pleasant feeling left out like that.)
I meant this to be a preliminary post to see if there would be any interest at all, but it's already gone long, ack.
Thanks everyone!