Empowerment. Engagement. Authenticity.
Science and Fiction
Sleeper Cell Conspiracy?
If anyone asks, I say I have tunnel vision in my
right eye and light perception in my left. For my ESL and literacy
students, I put a hand over my left eye and hold two fingers in a circle
around my right to demonstrate. Apparently, I see the world through a
five degree sliver and what I see is two dimensional. I say apparently
because this is what I’ve been told, what tests have proved.
Legally blind since birth, this is my normal. Consensus says I should
root for a cure.
Waiting for the train one day, I was approached by Assisted Death
advocates urging me to end my suffering. Another time, two religious
zealots pissed me off when I missed my bus as they chanted, excuse me
prayed for the restoration of my sight. I heard the bus belch from the
terminal just as they jubilantly uncovered my eyes and announced I was
healed. God have mercy if we ever meet again.
And now, drum roll please, science promises to make the blind see again.
According to Dr. Alexandre Gregoire, stem cells injected into the flacid
floss of an inactive optic nerve will return the damaged mass to the
pink ribbon banner necessary for 20/20 vision. Save the date and start
the crowd funding campaign – cures don’t come cheap – but I’ve been
lectured to definitely be the first in line.
But let’s just pause for a minute.
Being visually-impaired doesn’t suck for me. I don’t know any different.
Sure, when it’s pouring rain or slick with ice I wish I could drive.
And, yes, I hope the trend of using symbols instead of words dies a
horrible death. But I’d rather face the challenges of disability with
the familiar rather than the uncharted.
Stem cells are touted as the be-all and cure-all fairies of our
generation. However, I won’t risk my sliver of sight on a sweat shop of
microbes that may or may not balk at the amount of renovation my brain
fibres require. Suppose they get tired mid-project and splat? Suppose
one of those organic minions slays its buddies and calls for a system
shutdown?
No thanks. Maybe ask me again in twenty years.
(c) Kristy Kassie, 2016
Science And Fiction
In this piece is used a bit of science (stem cell
research) and imagined a cure for blindness caused by optic nerve
damage. The doctor's name is fictional as is the theory of implanting
stem cells to regenerate nerves.
