Sight for the Blind

Narrator: This sixty-two-year-old man was given back the gift of sight today. Jerry has been blind for twenty-five years. A disease of the retina made San Diegan Craig Schneider lose his sight a year ago; he is completely blind.

Craig: It's something most people really don't quite understand until you experience it. People will close their eyes and then they'll always try to cheat, you know, when they get to a point where they don't feel secure. You know, when you're blind, there's no cheating.

Narrator: But today, doctors at the Dobelle Institute in New York helped Jerry cheat. They hooked him up to an electronic eye. Jerry wears sunglasses with a tiny camera mounted on one lens and an ultrasonic rangefinder on the other. The device makes electronic signals highlighting the edges between light and dark. The signals enter Jerry's brain through wires entering his skull behind his right ear. The electrodes stimulate certain brain cells enabling Jerry to perceive the specks of light. This monitor shows what Jerry can see which gives hope to Craig back here at the Braille Institute in San Diego.

Craig: My biggest dream would be able to drive a car again- would be something I would say would be a dream that I would like to see in the future.

Narrator: The technology could be used by people with a wide variety of reasons why they're blind, and that is exciting news for many people.

Craig: Technology advancing at this torrid pace. I think we have a bright future for helping people who are disabled.

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