Category: Let's talk
I've been reading a few articles about different bionic eyes, or camera based vision systems. I can post a few of them here so you can get an idea of what I am talking about.
but basically a camera sends a signal to your brain and it allows you to see, granted I believe this is pretty basic so were not talking about getting 20 20 vision out of it. still, it is kind of interesting. I used to think that, no, no way would I try something like this, that I like being blind. well I don't like it per say, but I am used to it and why change. but here lately I've kind of changed that, I really wouldn't have anything to lose, so why not? what do you all think? what would you do?
A blind Missouri woman traveled to Portugal recently to have a bionic eye fitted, and it is no surprise that her homecoming made headlines. The technology
is almost 40 years old, but the surgery to wire the sci-fi device to the brain is still one of the rarest operations in medicine. Cheri Robertson is just
the 16th person in the world to undergo the experimental surgery, pioneered in 1968 by Dr. William Dobelle. The American medical researcher died in 2004.
Artificial vision has been a popular topic for journalists – and screenwriters -- for decades. The appeal? Its sci-fi associations and potential for bringing
independence to the blind.
The prosthetic device functions as a cornea, directing light into the interior of the eye. Once readily available, it will have a huge market. Research
to Prevent Blindness Inc. reports that 1.1 million people in the United States and 42 million worldwide are blind.
"We are now at a watershed," Joseph Lazzaro, author of "Adaptive Technologies for Learning and Work Environments," told cable television channel CNN in
2002. "We are at the beginning of the end of blindness with this type of technology."
The high-tech eyepiece is fitted to the sunglasses of the Missouri woman, and it is attached to an electrode inside her skull. A miniscule camera sends
video signals into a computer, which processes the information and then sends it through two cables plugged into her skull. The electrode inside stimulates
the back of the brain, which creates a dot matrix image. Until her brain adapts to the technology, Cheri Robertson can only see outlines. Over time, the
signal will be strengthened and images will become more detailed.
The prosthetic device resembles the bionic eyepiece actress Jeri Ryan wears in "Star Trek-Voyager," and functions like the visor worn by actor LeVar Burton,
playing a blind engineer, in an earlier series of the TV science fiction drama.
Cheri Robertson is alive to the sci-fi aspect of her new accessory. "It's like Robochick!" she told NBC channel KSDK-TV in St. Louis at her homecoming reception.
According to the DSDK-TV report, the death of Dr. Dobelle complicated the blind woman’s quest for a new life as a sighted person. She developed a brain
infection that delayed completion of the surgery, then Dr. Dobelle died, creating another delay. His surgical team completed the procedure.
All 16 of the bionic eye procedures to date were performed in Portugal at the Dobelle Institute: the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) still
prohibits the operation in America because of its inherent risks. At present the device is only available to people who have once had sight (and who can
raise the $70,000 cost): Cheri Robertson lost hers in a car accident when she was 18.
A New Yorker identified as Jerry was the pioneering recipient. Hooked up to a computer that weighed tons, he could see shades of gray in a narrow field
of vision. Cheri Robertson’s computer is worn in a small shoulder bag. The New York man, whose device has been upgraded over the years, is now able to
navigate subway systems on his own.
The eighth recipient, a Canadian farmer identified on the Dobelle Institute web site as Jens, lost his sight in an accident. Now he's able to navigate through
rooms, find doors and even drive a car in controlled circumstances.
The founder of the revolutionary procedure died on October 5, 2004, and the future of his Dobelle Institute is unclear. The late doctor had a head start
in the field of artificial vision, but other researchers around the world have also been very busy. Many are close to clinical applications of artificial
corneas, retinas and other eye parts. And Dr. Dobelle’s techniques are expected to be available in the United States within five years. It seems only a
matter of time before blind people can retire their white canes and seeing-eye dogs, and lead full, productive lives.
Sources: Dobelle Institute, KSDK-TV –St Louis, Artificial Vision Project
no i dont want electronic components in my body
Bionics meets ergonomics. Many of the new and not-so-new miniaturized implants for the human body enable people with disabilities to lead more fulfilling
and productive lives.
The Times newspaper in Britain recently described an operation that gave an American woman, whose entire left side was paralyzed after a stroke, a new life.
In 2004 doctors at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago placed a postage-stamp sized patch containing electrodes on the protective membrane covering
Judith Walsh’s brain. This bathed the damaged area with electricity and gave her the ability to drive and to use her atrophied left arm and hand.
Patients with severe and intractable depression found relief, according to The Times, after implanted electrodes began stimulating the nerve that runs from
the brain to the abdomen. A similar implant helps obese patients control their eating and epilepsy sufferers find relief from seizures.
Around the world cochlear implants are improving the lives of thousands of people without hearing. They work via a computer chip implanted just above the
ear. Advanced Bionics Corporation and Phonak, Inc. recently released the Auria iConnect, which adds an ergonomic improvement to cochlear implants. A wireless
FM adapter, it simplifies many activities for wearers of the devices.
A company called Second Sight is working to make retinal stimulator implants to restore vision for people with age-related macular degeneration. The BBC
recently described a device designed by Professor Gislin Dagnelie at Johns Hopkins University in the United States that will give blind people the ability
to recognize faces. Still in the experimental stage, the implant, linked to a mini video camera built into the wearer’s glasses, is smaller than the head
of a pin.
Advanced Bionics is testing a rechargeable electrical stimulator so tiny that it could be injected anywhere in the body to treat pain or muscle dysfunction.
The Times points out that the great advantage of implants is that they can relieve symptoms without the side effects that plague most drug treatments for
serious conditions.
I find this kind of stuff amazing, but I'd be lying if I said it didnt' scare the hell out of me. I kinda used to think that, I'd like to be able to switch my sight on and off. Use it when it's convenient, but this is obviously not possible. I think I would have any surgery that becomes available for my eye condition, providing there was no risk of brain dammage or anything. I know that noone can garantee what would happen, but I'm talking in an an ideal world here. I think it'd be seriously scary to suddenly be able to see. You'd have to pretty much re-learn to live your life. By the same tocan though, sighted people becoem blind, and they cope ok, so why wouldnt' it be the same the other way round.
i just think i am like this and i will stay this way anyway i was born blind
sure. it's amazing. but i would raver be blind thanks
hmmmm, i think i'm happy with the little ammount of sight i have, i don't think i need more, i can navigate, and i can see colours and i can do all that i want to do, so, why change? i have a unique perspective.
Nope, I'd rather keep things hte way they are. I've been blind all my life which is nearly 41 years, and I fear if I were to see, I would most likely not do things as naturally as those born sighted.
That stuff's just scary. Besides, I'm excited about going to get my guide dog next month, so no way. LOL. No, in all seriousness, though, I don't quite fancy the idea of having computerized chips/electronic parts hooked up to me or inside me or whatever. I like me the way I am.
the idea scares me for who ever has the procedure what if they dont like what they see once they are able to
Well, since we had or some of us have never experiment or any relationships whatsoever with vision, I can say i bet for most peopole this would be shocking to see, because you would be confused. for example, I cannot stare at people but yes, sometimes I can and i can also roll my eyes, not knowing how. The thing is that well, we would have to get used to the sight, and to get used to the sight there needs to be eye practice, recognition and well most of all alertness. i would love to try and to feel like how is it to see, but I don't think I would like to see. i have never seen unless you reffer to the first three months of my life.... which was when my retina was in its entire form. But now that i lost most of it, imagine that i can see everything, except for objects, shapes and colors. I can pretty much tell the outline of a room, and if there are things infront of me, I cannot tell you "how many fingers are you holding up", or what is something in particular but I can tell where walls and other objects are. i usually don't pay atention to what is right infront of me, for example when walking I can see the shadow of something, that is, if I am paying atention, and skip obstacles.... such as pools or trashcans... but i use my "sight" to orientate and mostly to just know where or the basic outline around me. So, getting it that way, I don't think I would be able to instantly recognize things as I see them... but i would like to try and feel what or how is it to see. How colors are, and how are objects too. So there is my point of view. Sorry for the long scrolling on your screens, (even though you might not notice them, lol)
having never had any sight, and no light perception, this would, hypothetically, be very frightenint. I agree with danielle in that, if surgery could be performed on the eye with no risk of mental impairment, it's an option to consider. In fact, if this were possible, and somebody said to me that there was a cure for lebers, then its very probable that I would take them up on the offer, *grin. Not that I have a problem with being blind.
well, I can say I've been real interested to see every ones take on this, even the ones who disagree I can definitely see your point, I am somewhere in the middle of the points of view on this. I think from what I have read that something like this in the next 10 to 15 years is going to be available. it is now but most of them are still in the testing faze. one of the things they do when fixing someone up with this is they take it slow. like 5 minutes a day 20 30 and so on. if you went from nothing to pretty much total vision otherwise you would probably go mad! when I was younger I could see light, color shapes, but in a lot more detail I used to be able to see some ones face, no real details but I could tell where there eyes were nose mouth. etc.
I am pretty comfortable being blind and I do think it would kind of be like working all my life on what I've been able to do and then just selling out. it would be hard to have to relearn reading and most everyday things again. then again the older I get the more I like the idea! who knows I guess will just have to "see"!
grin
I'd give anything. I was born with sight. I lost it when I was about 6. that's about 8 years agoe. I stil remember colors and some images. Now I could only see light. so I feel I really wouldn't have that much to lose. I'd do it without thinking.
Would I like to see, well here are the advantages. As a sighted person, I'd not have so much to do with the weird blind people or those who are passionate about their visual impairment. Also, I could see what things look like. The advantages of not getting sight are that I don't have to adapt, I keep my cane which is always a useful tool, especially if someone gets on the wrong side of me, I can ean on my cane whilst on a train if having to stand giving people the impression that I need a seat so I'll get one, and I don't have to see ugly people. hmm, Think despite the advantages of being able to see, I'll stay blind, thanks!
Never I've never had sight, so what's the piont in craving something I fail to adjust to,it would be a nightmare.
I'd love to see if that would ever be possible. I was born blind but have always been curious about colors and other stuff. It is also very frustrating not to be able to drive a car. I'm not afraid of adjusting to sight. I just have one reservation: I don't think I'd be willing to have the surgery while it's still being tested. I want the "sure thing". Well there's no sure thing in life, but I'd rather wait 10-15 years for the technology to be approved and available. If I had to raise money, I would.
I would absolutely never want sight, it would blind me. This is the way that I was meant to look at the world, and I have been gifted to have so many of the great friends and great perceptions of color that would be taken away if I was sighted. I wasn't meant to, and therefore won't change it, also I'm deathly afraid of surgury, so yeah.
I wouldn't like iether cergery nor any implants in my brain.
I just don't like the idea of people messing with my braine and as for cergeries, I've had 4 eye cergeries and I can tell you the recovery period is very very unpleasant to say the least!
I'm digressing from the main point however and that is I was blind for most of my life and I'm not prepaired to readapt now.
It would be different if I wasn't able to cope at all on my own, but thank God I am totally independant and can cope with no problems.
I was avle to see some colours, objects close up and read big letter heddings or to read with the help of a cctv or an easy reader. that was from the age of 3 till 16 and then I lost it and can now see shadows and light.
I don't miss it though because my folks always wanted me to see more than Icould and when I failed, they used to yell at me and hit me and that put me off using my sight completely.
I'm greatful for beeing able to see colours once, but it was never enough for me to get by and I still had to use my other sences. I've been using them all my life and I'm not going to change now especially since I can cope well.
The only problem I see is to be able to tell my mum all that and make her understand since she keeps on hoping that they'll envent a cure for my condition and I'll be able to see one day, but these are her hopes. not mine and it is me who has to live this life.
I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Sorry for the long post.
Maria.
I agree with Galileo - I have some sight and its way more than enough for me!! There are times when its sensory overload and I can't seem to cope with / understand all the incoming signals as it is LOL Plus I know people who have had eye implants which have NOT worked out - yuck!! BIG time...
I lost my sight when I was 14 years old. I'd love to have it back but I wouldn't want it done until they'd be sure it'd work and whatever it is implanted in my eye or wherever would be extremely small; like nobody could tell I had the procedure. All that being said, I'd just like to be able to drive somehow. That would solve a lot of problems.
Hmm, interesting. I don't understand why so many people seem to be against the idea of electronic implants. If they are proven safe, granted, I do not see why I would not have an electronic implant if it was proven to ease my life in some way. I'd rather do that than taking medicine on a regular basis that surely affects your body chemistry, hormones, metabolism etc, in some ways I'd imagine that is a lot more "upsetting" to the body than a little chip would be (depends where it would be implanted of course). And I can't accept the "I was born this way so I am meant to be this way" argument either, I was born with R.B. does that mean I was meant to die at age 2, which I would have unless I had undergone surgery? Men were not "meant" to fly or, in fact, go faster than they can run, obviously, else we would have been given wings, or longer legs.
We were, however, given brains to think, to invent, to explore, and we've used those, if that involves inveting devices for improving our lives, then why were we not "meant" to use them?
All that being said, getting one's sight back, I"m sure, is a very scary process and for some that have always been blind it might prove too much, perhaps. I, personally, would jump at the chance if the procedure was proven secure, I would not do it if there was a significant or even a possible adverse affect on my brain or other senses, and also I'd have to have a success rate of over 90% to feel like risking it.
Having one's sight makes one independent, able to do practically any job (whatever people say blind people are barred or unable to do a lot of jobs), drive, improve dramatically at darts and finally know what is in all those cans that the pantry is full off without buying a $3000 bar code scanners.
The greatest ability the human race has is to adjust to changes, to adapt, the willingness and desire to pursue opportunities, adapt to change, we could get used to being millionaires or hving no money at all, it's just a decission between the work and the benefits. Would you choose to sit home on social security rather than to go to university for 4 years if you knew it'd give you a good job at the end, because the university would be too much work? May be some people would, and one should respect their choice. I, personally, would not miss an opportunity to better myself at any reasonable cost.
cheers
-B
I see your points and respect them wildebrew.
However I disagree with most of what you are saying.
I can't speak for any of the zoners here, but only for myself which is what I'll do.
1. The greatest gift God gave us is freedom of choice. If some of us don't wish to get our sight, then that's our choice. By all means, let the cures be there for those who want them, but if any of us don't, then our choice should be at least respected if not agreed with. 2. I see what you are saying about yourself, but what you are discribing is a matter of life and death. I'm also glad people are'm dying of r.b now a days, but blindness isn't the matter of life and death. If God forbid I diveloped a militious tumer and suddenly a cure for canser was envented, of course I would jump at the chance because I'd want to live. Blindness doesn't threaten my life however.
3.
I also wouldn't like any implants in my head because I get bad migraines anyway. I don't want to risk them getting any worse. I know what you are saying about tablets, but I don't need to take any for my eyes. In fact I don't do anything with my eyes exept wash them every morning and night along with the rest of my face.4. I know people can adapt to change, but not everyone can. my social worker told me of a case about a teenager who was born blind and then got most or all of her sight back and she commited suicide because she couldn't cope with all the change and pressure.
5. Even though I'm blind, I consider myself very independant. I'm quite capable of walking from a to b independantly. I also have no problem using public transport such as a bus, train or plain. As for driving, I don't think I would have bought a car even if I could see because of the cost of a car itself plus insurance and petrol.
Continue in the next message.
6. I also see what you mean about going to univercity, but that's a bit different because by going to collige and then getting a job you are making something of yourself and paying back the society that helped to raise and educate you.
Blind people can still do that without getting their sight back.
7. Personally I don't fancy flying airplains or space ships or beeing a balerina or doing any other blind unfriendly jobs. I want to work in an office and I'm quite capable of doing that without my sight. True, I might be able to fax, sort out post and photocopy independantly, but that's just a minor thing and I don't think it's worth going through all that rigmarole. Besides, I believe soon there will be paperless offices or at least offices with far less documents on paper and more electronic ones. Now a days even cvs which haven't been sent electronically are more likely to be disregarded.
8. as for darts, I've never been interested anyway. Contents of cans, first of all I don't buy that many cans as I prefer fresh food. If I do buy an a couple, I make sure I put them all on different shelves.
There are also 20 euro recordable can labelers for those who want them as well which is way cheeper than$3000 bar code scanners.
9. I'm not surprised at the response at all for I've been talking to my vip friends and about 99% of us don't want to see and only most of those of my pals who had their sight and then lost it want it back.
10. Nobody said that beeing able to see is good and not beeing able to see is bad. That's each person's individual dissision.
Finally I repeat once again. It's all about free choice and about respecting each others choices even if we don't agree. Crazy as it may sound, some of us don't want to se. It's a choice we make and everyone else needs to respect that choice.
All the best,
Maria.
Maria.
Of course everyone has their choices and I respect them even if I don't understand them. My initial set of points had to do with the "God meant me to be this way" argument, which I don't buy, if you replace it with "I choose to be this way" that's something I can understand a bit better. And my posts always stated, or where intended to state, that obviously there may be circumstances or people that can't cope with the sensory overload associated with getting one's sight back, especially those who have always been without it. And sight isn't pure benefits/convenience, obviously, if you have a bitof extra time on your hands you can do things such as label your spices and foods, learnt techniques for telling the colors of your clothes for washing, use Kurzweil to scan the packaging of foods to get the recipes from them, or you could just be dating or married to a sighted partner who can be your eyes, which is great. It's, like you said, all individual choices. Me, personally, I "see" too many benefits in having my sight for it not to be an attractive option. It's largely a personality trait, I don't like being overly organized, I like being spontaneous and as a blind person I find that almost impossible, you can't wander down a street and discover a restaurant to head for .. yet, (the gps systems are finally opening up a whole new world for us and I don't think it'll be that long before most people will be able to do that, to some extent), or to take a late night drive somewhere or go into the mountains for a weekend, stoppping at a random hotel somewhere or follow the signs to the next wine tasting or river rafting or farm or whatever strikes your fancy. To me, those are the little exciting things that I enjoy and I'd be able to do much more easily as a sighted person. And I respect people's choice as long as they contribute to society and work on realizing their potential within the limits that they are given.
Cheers
-B