In my post 26 Reasons to Get Eye Corrective Surgery I listed as #3:
My character and intelligence should get a fair chance to speak for themselves.
Strabismus is often associated with lower intelligence. It's usually a subconscious perception, but nonetheless. One reason for this is because strabismus is linked with Fragile X, or in laymen's terms, a common cause for mental retardation. So on some level many of us associate crossed eyes with mental impairment.
Of course the minute any of us who do not suffer from mental deficiencies open our mouths, that notion is dispelled. Still, it is a valid reason, one of many, to want to have strabismus corrected.
How much does this really affect someone else's perception of me? Consider this from Negative social bias against children with strabismus (2003):
"Strabismus might also be a handicap from an educational point of view. It is particularly interesting and important to note that children with strabismus may not be given the same opportunities as others at school. We demonstrated that teachers have major preconceptions regarding the performance of strabismic children. They believe that these children may not be as capable of learning as 'normal' children and may not be able to fulfill responsibilites given to them. Besides, they prefer to assign duties to 'normal' students during cultural activities at school. These results strongly support the suggestion that strabismus may potentially have a negative impact on a child's education."
While it's true that many adults go on to overcome such bias, they no doubt are continually facing a subtle, and biologically wired pre-judgment at the perceiver's sub-conscious level.
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3 comments:
GOOD LUCK with the surgery.
P.S. Vision Therapy works for adults.
I have just found your blog and read every post and every comment. Wow! You articulated so many things I've felt over my 42 yrs. I see your posts ended 12/07 and I'm so curious to know if you had the surgery. I had 2 surgeries under the age of 5 and that helped. But in high school one eye started drifting outward badly. By 32, I had a 3rd surgery. One of the best surgeons in the country but what an a**. I tolerated his lack of bedside manor and the surgery turned out very good. Although it appears now that he overcorrected and the eye drifts in quite far now and up quite far. Ten years later I've consulted with several surgeons and all prefer the "slip-knot" method now which aligns things after you wake up from the surgery, i guess it's more precise. I had the surgery scheduled a year ago. My insurance covers it but I have a huge deductible in order to be able to afford insurance and with the 80/20, I was looking at about $5,000 and ended up postponing the surgery. I have felt guilty for a year about spending that kind of money. Yet the problem has stressed me out so much and made me feel so self conscious that I am slipping into depression a bit too much - then i feel guilty for that - it's ridiculous! At my low points, I convince myself I am the only person at my age on the planet who hasn't gotten married because of my eye. I have even photo-shopped my pictures before putting them on my business website and facebook just to be able to stand it. Your list of 25 things beautifully articulated my thoughts and feelings over all these years. I'm going back to the surgeon I picked last year and making plans to have the surgery despite the high cost. I wish you the best of luck and want to thank you for taking your time to post like you did. Blessings to you. Jackie
Fantastic information. Just want to share. I saw in 3-D for the first time. I cannot express the excitement, joy and wonder of seeing space between things. cures for lazy eye
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