For as long as she could remember, Sue Barry struggled with her vision.
Cross-eyed from infancy, she went through three surgeries by age seven to make her eyes appear straight. On the outside, things looked “fixed”. But inside, her vision was far from normal.
Because her eyes never pointed to the same place, she could only use one at a time. Her brain couldn’t combine the two images, leaving her “stereo blind”, unable to see in 3D.
This made everyday life overwhelming:
School was the hardest of all (did we mention yet that she is now a professor?!). After struggling on a standardized test in second grade, her principal told her mother she needed “face facts” that Sue was a “dim child”. She was placed in a class for children with challenges, where expectations were low and her potential was overlooked.
Despite the labels, Sue’s mother refused to give up on her. She taught Sue to read at home, patiently working with her until she could keep up with her classmates. With time, persistence, and an excellent memory, Sue excelled academically eventually becoming a college biology professor.
For years, she built her life minimizing the difficulties her vision caused. She avoided driving whenever possible. She rarely looked into the distance because everything seemed to jitter. And she never truly looked people in the eye.
By her 40s, Sue knew something had to change. Teaching, parenting, and driving her children made it impossible to keep avoiding the world around her. That’s when she discovered a developmental optometrist and began Vision Therapy.
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The results of her targeted vision therapy were profound and unexpected.
Through targeted vision therapy, Sue finally learned to align her eyes so they worked together, sending correlated, not conflicting information to her brain.
And then, at age 48, something she thought was impossible happened: Sue began to see in 3D!
With her new found vision everything changed for Sue, and the world opened up:
“It wasn’t just that I had a new view of the world. I had a new feeling about the way I felt in the world. Stereo vision gave me a sense of immersion.”
Even social interactions shifted.
Sue once believed she was trapped by her childhood condition. But vision therapy taught her that she was not a victim of visual fate. The brain can learn, adapt, and change even decades later.
“Something I wish I knew is that I was not a victim of a visual fate sealed in early childhood. With vision therapy, I learned how to see in a new way.”
Her remarkable story caught the attention of neurologist Oliver Sacks, who profiled her in The New Yorker as “Stereo Sue”. Later, she published her own books, Fixing My Gaze and Coming to Our Senses, to share the science and hope of her journey with the world.
Her story has since inspired countless others with binocular vision problems to seek help and discover that change is possible.
For decades, Sue was told there was nothing she could do. Her experience proves that it’s never too late to change how you see.
At MyVisionFirst, we believe nobody should settle for “good enough” vision. With the right guidance, you can retain how your eyes and brain work together to unlock a new way of seeing, learning, and living.
If Sue’s journey resonates with you, we invite you to take the first step. Learn how our unique and holistic approach for vision therapy, Vision Performance Training, can help you discover what’s truly possible.
