“Stereo Sue” comes to the Vision Therapy Center
The Vision Therapy Center is delighted to welcome Dr. Sue “Stereo Sue” Barry for two special presentations on January 13th at our Brookfield office, and January 14th, 2010 in our Madison office.
Dr. Susan Barry
Both presentations begin at 6:30pm, and during them Dr. Barry will:
- Discuss her struggles as a child with vision problems.
- Provide an interactive demonstration of how vision therapy works.
- Read from her memoir, Fixing My Gaze, and describe what it is like to see in 3D for the first time.
Listen to this special SNEAK PREVIEW podcast interview with Dr. Barry!
To celebrate Dr. Barry’s “sweet success” in regaining her ability to see in 3D, we’re giving away 25 free copies of Dr. Barry’s book Fixing My Gaze. Click here to register for your free copy.
Be sure to join us before and after the presentation for a chocolate fountain, other yummy sweets, and a chance to talk with Dr. Barry. You can also meet Dr. Kellye Knueppel and Dr. Brandon Begotka of the Vision Therapy Center.
Scroll down for directions and presentation times.
Background on “Stereo Sue” and her amazing story
A professor and researcher in the field of neurobiology, Dr. Sue R. Barry learned in college – and later taught her students – that certain vision problems can only be corrected during a “critical period” within the first few years of life. She saw herself as a prime example.
Cross-eyed since early infancy, Dr. Barry had three eye muscle surgeries when she was a child. After the operations her eyes appeared straight, but they still sent conflicting input to her brain, so she compensated by paying attention to only one eye at a time.
She was plagued by a host of problems – trouble learning to read in grade school, a propensity for getting lost – but didn’t realize that these troubles were related to her vision.
In fact, she didn’t fully understand what she was missing until – contrary to nearly everything she had learned about the critical period – she gained stereovision for the first time at age 48.
Vision therapy transforms her world
When Dr. Barry was in her late forties, she found it increasingly difficult to look steadily in the distance and sought the help of a developmental optometrist. She didn’t yearn to see in 3D and didn’t think it would make much difference in how she viewed and experienced her surroundings.
But following a year of intense vision therapy in which she learned to aim both eyes at the same point at the same time, she found herself in a new world. Her whole sense of space had changed.
“The most ordinary objects looked so beautiful,” she writes. “A large sink faucet reached out toward me, and I thought I had never seen such a lovely arc as the arc of the faucet…. I could see, not just infer, the volume of space between tree limbs, and I loved looking at, and even immersing myself in those inviting pockets of space.”
Her story was soon documented in a New Yorker article by renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks entitled “Stereo Sue.” After National Public Radio picked up the story, Dr. Barry was inundated from people who suffered the same condition. It inspired her to write the book FIXING MY GAZE.
By describing how we see, move, and learn and the science behind it all, FIXING MY GAZE explains why sensory perception can improve dramatically even in older adults and why the adult brain is considerably more flexible and plastic than previously thought.
A profoundly moving examination of the brain’s capacity for change and growth, FIXING MY GAZE will inspire all of us to rethink how we see the space around us.
Dr. Sue Barry is a professor of neurobiology in the Department of Biological Sciences at Mount Holyoke College. She speaks regularly to scientists, eye doctors, and educators on the topic of neuronal plasticity, and we’re excited that she’ll be joining us for two fascinating evenings.
Presentation times and locations:
Join us at either of our two locations:
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Brookfield Office
13255 West Bluemound Road
Brookfield, WI 53005
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Madison Office
4781 Hayes Road, suite 103
Madison, WI 53704
Presentation Schedule
6:30-7:00 pm Refreshments
7:00-8:00 pm Presentation
8:30 – ? Meet Dr. Barry, book signing
If you have questions about the event, please call 262-784-9201 and ask for Kim Jelinske.
