So, on to one of the most common questions those of us with albinism get from normally sighted people is, "what do you actually see?" This question is also one of the questions that can cause problems for parents of children with albinism. Normally sighted people are often bemused and confused when we tell you our vision is NOT always "blurry".  So how is it that we have below normal visual acuity, yet don't have blurry vision? I'm no doctor, just a young adult with albinism who is just as curious about how normally sighted people see as you are in how people with albinism see, but here's my explanation of my understanding of our vision after a long discussion with my Dad and why it is not blurry.

 

Image Description (contents)

Imagine a large, clear colour photo printed on the front page of your newspaper.  Imagine that someone in the photo is wearing a polo shirt or T shirt with some lettering or a logo on the breast pocket as you would normally expect on sports wear. When you look at the photo close up, you will find trying to read the lettering printed on the shirt, you can't quite make it out. Overall, the picture is not blurry. Yet when you look at the finer details, you just can't make them out. If you were able to look at the original photo the paper used, however, you could make out those words.

So, the difference between the original photo and the photo as printed in the paper? Now here comes the technical bit.......... The difference is simply the resolution, or the number of dots that make up the picture.  The picture in the newspaper and on film is really made up of a bunch of individual dots that are different colours/shades. The picture printed in the newspaper is made up of fewer dots than the picture on film. Therefore, each dot covers a larger portion of the total picture and the amount of fine detail you can see is less...... ummmm, with us so far. To see how a picture is made up of dots, just look at the picture on your TV screen from a few inches away, careful now.... don't get mesmerised, or blame me if you can't see a thing for a few seconds afterwards......... You'll should be able to see the individual dots. The picture on the back of the human eye is also made up of dots - millions and millions of them! They're the "cones" and "rods" on the retina in the back of the eye. People with albinism have less of the cones then normally sighted people because of the lack of pigment. So, we have fewer "dots" to make up the picture we see, so to speak..... still with us, come on...... I never said it was going to be easy.... stick with us on this.

Another way to see how less resolution does not make a picture blurry is to look at a picture you have scanned into your computer and digitally compressed or plain reduced the resolution to the accepted 72 pixels to send as an email attachment. The digital compression reduces the number of dots in the photo so you can send it over the Internet faster (72).  Compare the digitally compressed picture on your computer screen to the original print. You'll see more subtle details in the original photo print. If you enlarge the picture it will diffract and pixelate.  If you have a digital camera, take a few pictures using your camera's highest resolution (pixel) setting, and then take a few on your camera's lowest setting. Compare the difference: None of the photos you took were blurry (we hope, unless you where balancing on a ball at the time or perhaps one drink to many), but you can see more detail & clarity using the high-resolution setting!  The difference between how those of us with albinism see and those of you normally sighted folks see is a lot like the difference between the low resolution digital camera photo verses the high resolution picture, or, between a Newspaper picture and a normal Photo....... Neither is blurry, however, we can't quite make out some of the finer details that you can. I find that by turning my head almost on its side helps me put the image into perspective, especially when there is a lot of straight edge lines.  This can look odd to anyone not in the know, so to speak as I move my head repeatedly from side to side, though appearing a little disjointed and bordering on the beginning of a weak impression of the Exorcist it helps me get the image into perspective......

 

Just like that low resolution digital image you email to your family or friends, however, we generally don't really need to see the details we're missing, to live a perfectly normal life from our perspective because we really do not know what we are missing. Had we had normal sight at the beginning and our sight changed to what we have now, that would be frustrating.  We can only imagine what it is like, just like you normal folk.  Nothing is impossible in life, to prove a point, I took and passed A level in Graphic design and I am border line Braille user.  However my teachers and parents have never really recovered from when I first told them what A levels I was going to take.  The sharp intake of breath from them all still makes me smile............ Dad & Mum just smile to each other and say the stubbornness comes from the other one, not them...........

 

 

Vision Comparison (contents)

So why do normally sighted people assume our vision is blurry? Those of us with albinism should keep in mind that for normally sighted people, the only reason they experience reduced vision is because the lens in front of their eye doesn't focus the image clearly onto the back of their eye. That's what near-sightedness, far-sightedness, and astigmatism are - focusing problems. Glasses and contacts correct these problems by reshaping the light entering the eye so that it does send an in focus image to the back of the eye, a little like you would do when correcting a blurry slide projector or a blurry image in your binoculars by turning the focus knob and thereby repositioning the lens. People with albinism also can have these problems affecting our ability to focus. That's why it can be important for young children and even babies with albinism to wear glasses if recommended by the doctor - the back of the eye and the children's use of their vision can both develop more fully in many children if they have the most focused image possible on the back of the eye.

 

In some cases however, like mine, it makes no difference due to the severity of my eyesight, so I was told to wear glasses but, once realised by teachers and Doctors that it made no difference, in fact I could get on better without them, I was allowed to leave them off and have progressed nicely.  I have managed to translate my images to what is out there from the normal view to such a degree that I can still spot a good looking guy at 10 paces........ 

 

The lesson hear is to observe and listen to the person with albinism.... do not assume they need glasses or don't, what ever the case may be....., just because a Doctor says so, the Doctor does not have albinism and will never be able to experience it, they can only offer what science has available.  I was fortunate that the doctors and teachers eventually realised it was not of any benefit to me.  That was in my case, in others the opposite could be true...... so once again listen and trust............

 

 

Best environment

I prefer my curtains drawn night and day so that my room is dimly lit, low subdued lighting is nice and restful, I normally only have the light from my CCTV, this has a 21 inch screen that I use to magnify and change the colour of the objects so that I am able to decipher what they are or what they say.  Also, I have many lighting effects that sooth me and make me very comfortable, i.e. bubble lamp, water pillar with multi coloured lights, oil projector (remnant from the retro era in the 70's, go Daddio), optics, etc.  Cloudy or early evening is great.  It has rubbed of on the rest of my family as we never have the main lights on, just the side lights only........ Hey, we think its cosy.........

.....You can get in contact with me, Bianca, for help on everyday life from a young person up to a young Adult............. 

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This information was adapted from the original concept by Matthew Bailey,

through NOAH (see Links Page).

Other Resources See Credits & Links

:: Bianca's homepage (large) ::

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