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Man Learns To See Again After 40 Years Of Blindness
MonTemplar writes "BBC News Online reports the story of Mike May, from California, who lost one eye and was blinded in the other at the age of three after an accident. Now, doctors have been able to restore the sight to his remaining eye by transplanting corneal and limbal stem cells. The operation, and their subsequent work with Mr May to monitor his recovery, in an attempt to better understand how the brain learns to interpret the signals from the eyes, have been published in the journal Nature Neuroscience. Ironically, being able to see again has meant Mr May has had to re-learn some activities, such as skiing or crossing the road, where he had become proficient when blind."
...a problem which he could avoid by wrapping a towel around his head.
If I seem short sighted, it is because I stand on the shoulders of midgets
Maybe this kink of thing will become commonplace in curing blindness caused by injury. My mother would sure appreciate it, seeing (No pun intended) as how she's already lost the sight in one eye, and the other is slowly losing sight as well. She's only 43, so she'll probably still be around if and when this becomes available to her.
Despite millions of years of evolution, human beings, taken as a group, are still stupid, panicky animals.
It's fascinating that this guy has had sight (stem-cells can do that?? when did this happen??) for *years* and still looks at someone and isn't sure (I think it said 60% or 80% certain) if it is his wife or not.
Thanks for fixing the typo.
His 3D perception and face and object recognition was still severely impaired. Mr May could only identify around a quarter of common objects shown to him. And he was also only able to tell if an unfamiliar face was male or female 70% of the time.
I thought this was really interesting. We tend to take so many things for granted. There must be millions of objects that he is very familiar with by touch and sound, but he's never had the chance to see what they look like. It must take a really long time to learn what everything looks like.
Reading this story, I feel very grateful that I can tell the difference between men and women (with a few exceptions).
This reminds me of a documentary that the CBC showed not too far back about Jens Naumann, who was blind due to two separate accidents but regained sight through the use of eyeglasses-mounted cameras. The image from the camera was then processed and routed to his visual cortex via cables.
"Max, come over here. French-Canadian bean soup. I want to pay. Let them leave me alone." - Dutch Schultz
He could freakin ski when he was blind??!! Sonny Bono is rolling over in his grave right now.
1;
Ironically, being able to see again has meant Mr May has had to re-learn some activities, such as skiing or crossing the road, where he had become proficient when blind."
Interestingly, most blind people don't really consider blindness a "disability" per se, but simply a challengee to get used to. I've met countless people with various types of disabilities that really don't count them as "disabilities". For instance, I've spoken with the Deaf/Hard of Hearing who don't consider themselves "disabled", merely more of a "linguistic minority".
The problems they run into are simply a lack of equal access that people without a disability (or a severe disability) take for granted. For instance, in that old building that has yet to be renovated, a person with full usage of their legs will have no issue getting up the stairs, but someone who requires the use of a wheelchair, or might be in crutches, or has to use a walker, etc., will find it impossible to get into that building.
What most people forget, when responding to ADA laws, Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, W3C WAI, etc., is that these principles of equal and timely access do not just help those with disabilities, but those without as well.
For instance, trying to move a big cart full of computer equipment into that building? It sure would be easier with curbcuts, an elevator, and recessed door frames. Trying to access the web via that shiny new PDA you just bought? Too bad the site uses Flash navigation without a text equivalent... ad nauseum
The fact that this disability was part of his life, means that it wasn't a roadblock for him, merely an alternate route. He simply did things a different way.
I am sure we have all herd of a person losing a particular sense, be is sight, hearing etc.. and thier other senses becoming more acute as a result. However, as this mans sight is now regained, if he had developed such enhanced senses, will they be lost?
the washington post also has an article on the guy, perhaps a little more in depth. pretty neat stuff.
It is apparently a huge social taboo in the deaf culture to do anything to try and cure your deafness. An example is this woman who got fired for getting a cochlear implant. This is just fucking dumb. Can you imagine if all the people with amputated legs would hate you if you lost your leg and got a prosthesis?
Another thing along the same lines, that I can't find with a quick Google, is babies. Apparently this genetically deaf couple decided to get a sperm and egg donation so that their baby would be able to hear. They got ostracized.
Tim
Omnia vestra castrorum habetur nobis.
Was the typo retained in the headline just to screw up screenreaders?
I've heard the blind refer to "screenreaders" as "sighties" and it always gave me a chuckle.
Wheeeee
An example, going back to the Civil Rights Movement analogy, would be a prominent African American pop-star taking on a progressively paler complexion to his skin over a few years (I won't name any names, but his initials are Michael Jackson).
Actually, in slight defense of MJ, his skin lightening has nothing to do with surgery or any voluntary act. Michael Jackson has a condition known as Vitiligo, which causes his skin to become progressively paler over the years as it loses its pigment. I ought to know, as I have the condition as well. As I get older, I'll get whiter and whiter until I have no real pigment left in my skin. It spreads from a patch or two to the whole body, and is extremely pronounced in black people (it's pretty pronounced in me because I'm mixed-racial, but I'm only 24 years old so it won't get really bad for several years). It's the reason Jackson wore a glove in the 80's.
Of course, this skin condition--also known as Leukoderma--has NOTHING to do with the fact that he now has no nose.
If you're interested, 'The Anthropologist on Mars' by Oliver Sacks (a neurologist who's very famous for writing case studies) has a very detailed and informative description of sight restoration.
:)
His novel focuses heavily on the neurological basis for the phenomenon and it's possible failure as an effective cure. Read on, it's great stuff, and available in paperback.
However, his 3D perception and face and object recognition was still severely impaired
Hmmmm.....maybe he has bad 3D perception because he only has one eye
Just a thought...
-Pinkoir
It's not so much "more acute" as "you learn to pay more attention".
If you're a sailor, you pay more attention to water currents, and exactly what the waves look like today. You learn that if there's 2 patterns of waves crossing like this, it means one thing, but if they're crossing like that it means another. No additional sensory ability needed, just experience and learning. It just manifests as being able to look at the water, and know there's a storm coming...
If you happen to be a farmer or hunter, you learn there's a lot more in the sky than what the average city dweller thinks about. You'll learn to expect where the moon/planets/etc are any given time of night/year. Again, no ability needed, just experience and learning. It just manifests as knowing that the haze around the moon means something specific in the weather is coming...
Don't believe me? Next time you're a passenger in a car, roll down the window and LISTEN carefully - different things going by will sound different. Trust me - you can hear curb cuts and drains as you go by, if you're paying attention.
But if a blind person manages to pay attention to such things (mostly because they know they can possibly end up as roadkill if they don't), people for some reason conclude their hearing is "enhanced".
It's not enhanced, most people just don't pay attention, that's all.
I got to say that as cool as the technique to restore his sight was, I'm more interested in the neurology. For 40 years his visual cortex was utilized for other functions than sight, otherwise one would expect them to atrophy away. Will he lose some functions that his brain has mapped onto those areas now that they are needed again for sight? What would be super cool would be to see EEG or MRI scans (or both or whatever--I am not a neurologist) of his visual cortex before and after the operation, to see what changes in brain activity have taken place. I imagine something like that is in the Nature Neuroscience article, but I don't have access to it here. Anybody read the article?
Of course, this skin condition--also known as Leukoderma--has NOTHING to do with the fact that he now has no nose.
Or that he's somehow become a woman?
I understand that each sighted person has the retinal ability to perceive a number of UV light wavelengths (the number might be '1', I forget), and that only the UV opacity of our corneas restricts us from seeing them; seeing the patterns bees see on flowers and such. Cornea replacements can bypass this, as could future genetic engineering. Maybe we will all look back at the way things appear now and see our current vision as partially disabled.
will he toss his braile porn now?
Table-ized A.I.
Perhaps this is blessing in disguise ??? When you get caught fooling around on your wife, you could just say you thought it was her.