July 01, 2006

Stereo Sue and me

My eye doctor was interviewed by Oliver Sacks last year! He wrote about her in the New Yorker! (that's about as close as I'll come to being published in the New Yorker, so I'm rather excited).

Here's the deal: Dr. Theresa Ruggiero prescribed vision therapy for both "Stereo Sue" and me (tho' not at the same time). We both had miraculous recoveries of our stereo vision. Truly amazing, in my experience -- my biggest revelation was three dimensional vision, especially on paper, and especially with colors.

Stereo Sue had an equally amazing experience, which she shared with Oliver Sacks, who wrote the aforementioned article about it. If you want to read that, you can go to you local library & look it up in Academic Search Premier, LexisNexis, or another database with the full-text of the New Yorker.

Here are the details:

STEREO SUE. By: Sacks, Oliver. New Yorker, 6/19/2006, Vol. 82 Issue 18, p64-73.

She was also recently on NPR's Morning Edition -- read about her experiences on the NPR site, see photos of her (including one with Dr. Ruggiero & Oliver Sacks) then track down the New Yorker article.

Fascinating stuff!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Could you PLEASE contact me about your therapy? My husband has the exact same circumstances and condition as the woman on the NPR story (his eyes were fixed at 3 y/o and he "discovered" in his mid-20s that he did not see as most other people do, although he is fully functional) and I am desperate to find out more. I have looked for this "Brach's string" online without success. It sounds like something I can make, but I want to know exactly what the exercises are, as well. Eye doctors have told my husband over and over again that nothing can be done, and while he is fine with his vision the way it is (after all, he does not know anything different) I am a physician and, an adoring wife, and I would love to try and help him. My e-mail is docjuliet@charter.net. Thank you so much!!

Anonymous said...

Hi I am also a monocular vision person. I would be interested in your exercises and how you did it!!

Thanks for sharing your story.

Lynn@brofskydesign.com

Anonymous said...

Dr Chaya Herzberg 610 520 0680 is the best eye Dr we have found for my son who suppresses vision in his left eye and has writing and reading speed dificulties. She has offices in Rosemont Phildaelphia area and Princeton NJ area.

Mom said...

This is very belated, I know -- I just learned about "Stereo Sue" and found your blog entry while trying to learn more. I have monocular vision and am very excited about the possibility that perhaps it could be corrected. I will be seeing a vision therapist to learn more.

Meanwhile, though, I was very struck by your comment that gaining stereo vision was especially remarkable "on paper and especially with colors." Could you elaborate? Do you mean that gaining depth perception has actually caused you to see color differently than you did before?

I love to draw and paint and have always wondered whether my 2D vision might be part of the reason why those activities are relatively easy for me. That's why your comment struck me so. Thanks for anything you might be able to add.

Carol said...

I second those remarks about Chaya Herzberg. She is wonderful. Also her assistant used to be Dr. Seiderman's assistant.

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