Half a Mind to ..

Life after brain injury – one small victory at a time.

Tag: vision

  • Visual Field Loss – (Challenge 001)

    Visual Field Loss – (Challenge 001)

    I have left-sided hemianopia (or Hemianopsia, which means I cannot see the left half of my visual field; true for both eyes. To a great extent I am unaware of the issue in for the most part daily life these days. There’s no additional edge or the like in what I see, it simply tails off into nothingness in the same way that a normally sighted person experiences. There’s just less information coming in.

    Seventeen years ago, after surgery required sacrificing part of my vision, I would bump into people or objects on my left side almost daily. Although I rarely bump into things now, certain environments remain difficult to navigate.


    In particular, walking through areas of medium crowd density is most challenging. When people have the space to move and change direction unexpectedly, it is very difficult for me to anticipate their movements on my blind side. Low crowd density situations pose fewer problems, and very crowded spaces can actually be easier to manage because movement is slower and more predictable.

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    Lending Central Vision (Strategy:001)

    Related topics – Ch:xxx getting insurance, Driving license, In:xxx:visual field loss

  • Lending Central Vision (Strategy:001)

    Lending Central Vision (Strategy:001)

    One of the quirks of living with hemianopia is that I’ve had to adopt little tricks to stop myself colliding with people. A favourite strategy is what I call my Lend-central vision. Instead of walking like everyone else, I tilt my head slightly to the left whilst my body continues to walk straight ahead. That way, part of my central vision picks up what most people would normally see with their left side peripheral vision; the bit that I’m missing .

    It means I’m steering myself forward using what’s left of my central vision, plus my right peripheral vision. It also means that I’m avoiding colliding with people using a partly out of focus scene. Odd as it sounds, it works — I hardly ever bump into anyone these days. If I’m carrying a symbol cane or a white stick, that helps too: not just for safety, but because it saves people wondering why on earth I’m walking around with my head cocked at an angle.

    Visual Field Loss – (Challenge 001)