I do this thing called optometric vision therapy, and I just had a reminder on my computer go off to check whether in-office sessions were continuing or not during the pandemic. I tried to think of the last time I was in the office, which wasn’t that long ago, but the first thing that came to mind was the last time I laughed there.
I was doing this exercise where you walk around in a figure 8 while you’re looking at a card on the wall. The basic idea is it’s impossible not to use both sides of your body, and hence both sides of your brain, while you’re doing this. This encourages stereoscopy, or using both of my eyes at the same time.
My vision therapist started it. Actually the one in the office next door did. So I’m walking in funny circles, and saying the name of an animal for each letter on the card, and when I say “cougar,” the therapist in the room behind me bursts into laughter, which causes my therapist, to crack up. Realizing what they’re laughing at, I started laughing myself.
Now, that’s not a reference I care to explain, but it might be relevant to note the first two people laughing were women, and we’re all the same age. Which might have something to do with how we’re able to crack up out of nowhere. All these exercises and drills that use flash cards and tools with imagery and vocabulary that is intended to make children presenting with brain injuries and developmental disabilities feel at ease.
Needless to say it’s a bit of a juxtaposition. It’s pretty great though to be able to talk and laugh like grown ups while you’re doing this stuff. My gut is this is par for the course for this kind of work.
That’s normal by the way. Most people who do vision therapy are kids who just went crosseyed or otherwise have experienced an event that’s disrupted their visual development. That happened to me a very long time ago when I was 2, but I’m lucky to have had corrective surgery relatively late (about 6 years ago) and for it to have been a great success.
If you’ve never heard of vision therapy, well, I’m not surprised. Go read about Stereo Sue, or if you want to take my word for it and go straight to the source that made me believe it was possible for me to develop 3D vision after a lifetime of not having it (which I am!) I definitely recommend her book Fixing My Gaze.