How We See The World

Here are some descriptions, depictions and simulations that may help others understand how we see the world.

To understand the challenges of reading text, take a book or newspaper, place four layers of wax paper over the page, and try to decipher the print. For a majority of our members, reading a newspaper was the first thing they had to give up.

Smear your eyeglasses with Vaseline and attempt to carry on your everyday activities.

Follow this link to members' attempts to depict how they see the world

Click here for our View of Things

Here are some descriptions by our members of how they see:

“I was having so much trouble with the white Christmas lights and all evening I could not see the features of people I was talking with, my eyes were hurting from these ceiling spotlights that just kill. I think I am going to wear Polaroid prescription glasses indoors when visiting when the lights are so bright. Not too polite but have to think of myself. It is very difficult to explain what is going on with our vision." Lon.

"Sometimes you would sense contempt from others who would assert that you are trying to get attention/sympathy when wearing dark wrap around glasses, trying to get close seating during presentations, when requesting larger computer monitors, when dimming office lighting, or the like. It's amazing how many people believe that people are either totally blind, see perfectly, or could see perfectly, if only they would bother to get the right glasses." Paul.

“Whenever I look at stoplights, I see a fuzzy effect around them, like they are encased in a small amount of very wispy cotton candy. When I look at other lights (such as the lights on my Christmas tree), I see rays of light radiating out from the center, but not a foot long, more like a couple of inches. When I look at other lights, such as mercury vapor street lights, it appears as if I'm looking through Plexiglas that has been horizontally scratched by steel wool. I consider all of these special light effects as halos, just variations on a theme." Mike

"The light shows are incredible, but the ditches are rough on your alignment." Vikki

"I am experiencing frustrating days of fogginess and unpredictable sight. I'm finding it hard to work and carry out a busy schedule while contending with the unpredictableness of FD." Doug

"The fogginess dulled down my perception of color. I used to watch what other cars were doing to decide if the stop light ahead was red or green. " Dorothy