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Vision Links
Web connections
I.S.E.E
Stands for the International Society for the Enhancement of Eyesight . Vision website with the coolest acronym around. Contains lots of useful information on vision improvement, and even has a mailing list. Unfortunately, the quality of the mailing list has gone downhill. Now it's dominated by:
- commercial advertisements (a vision improvement teacher regularly "contributes" with a signature 5 paragraphs long!),
- slagging battles between emotional pro-Bates people and rational sceptics who wish to see hard proof that the Bates method works (no concreteevidence exists, BTW, just lots of stories)
- long, tedious emails on the perils of consuming NutraSweet (for some reason, the mailing list is about diet and nutrition on some days)
The letters and comments are generally not very useful, but always good for a laugh. Novices may get confused though.
Buena Vista
An Italian website about eyesight improvement. This is an interesting one because I don't know Italian! But the nice fella has put a link to the Vision Improvement Site, so here's one to Cagnoli Maurizio!
Vision Freedom
The Vision Freedom system that improves vision through exercise and the use of plus lenses. There are some feedback on this system. If you have any experience you would like to contribute, please tell me about it!
International Health Force Center
Robert Zuraw has written a book called "Perfect Eyesight". He claims to have recovered perfect eyesight using the techniques detailed in his book. I have done a review of the book, you might like to take a look.
Other resources
UK
The Bates Vision Education Association of Great Britain
The School of Vision Education in Brighton trains practitioners in the Bates Method and can give you a list of referrals. Peter Mansfield, the school's principal, is the author of "The Bates Method : A Complete Guide to Improving Eyesight Naturally" and is one of its leading proponents.
Here's my experience with Peter Mansfield:
I was contemplating doing an experiment on the efficacy of the Bates method as part of my undergraduate psychology course. As I would need the research participants to go through a Bates method course, I thought it would be much better for an experienced teacher to instruct them. As I'm in Nottingham, who better than P. Mansfield?
Here are the excerpts from his reply, typos and grammar errors included (my thoughts in italics):
PM: "I am sorry, but I don't have the time or great incliniation to assist you with this: I don't at present see that many clients, being main concerned with training teachers.
HW: Since he is training teachers, why doesn't he contact one of his associates to assist in this experiment? If the Bates method works, then a scientific confirmation will be great news for his business, right? Maybe a scientific disconfirmation will be really bad news. Or is everyone busy teaching everyone else to be teachers?
PM: "There is no question from our experience, and from such research as has been done, that vision education based on Bates can be extremely effective with myopia as with a varitey of other problems: the rub is it always depends on the suitability of the individual.
HW: So.... whenever someone fails to improve after being on your course, it's their fault? What determines whether they are "suitable"? And if hard evidence really does exist, why not bring it to the attention of the relevant health authorities, such as the National Health Service in UK? I'm sure they will be mighty interested.
PM "Since you are obviously interested in the subject, I would recommend that you take some lessons with a view to experiencing some change in your own visoin: on that basis you might be better to work out valid ways of quantifying how it works.
HW: I have taken a vision improvement course before, and not seen much improvement. Trust me, I was very dedicated until the results failed to materialise. Wait, don't tell me, it's my fault, of course...
Oh well, at least Peter Mansfield bothered to reply. Some of the other so-called vision teachers ignored my emails and letters. So that's credit to Peter.
Contact information
Peter Mansfield PO Box 25 Shoreham by Sea West Sussex BN43 6ZF England tel/fax: 01273 881190 or 01273 424752 email: peterm@argonet.co.uk
USA
Natural Vision Center of San Francisco
Thomas R. Quackenbush has been teaching Natural Eyesight Improvement (NEI) classes since 1983 and has been training NEI teachers for 12 years in San Francisco and the Bay area. His new book, Relearning to See, is the largest and most comprehensive book ever written on NEI and the Bates method.
Nice sales pitch? It's just some of the exciting information you can see in his incredible signature of his emails. Even though I'm studying in Nottingham, I contacted Tom about my third year project for some advice from an experienced teacher. Well, basically it turned out that even though he supports the idea on the surface, he kept gaving disparaging comments like "You really need a vision teacher who's experienced like me, otherwise the results wouldn't be good", "You need good controls for the experiment", "Even with good controls, there's no such thing as a tight experiment".
After a while, I got the feeling that he doesn't really want the experiment to go ahead. And he kept harping on the issue of needing a good vision teacher, which would be inevitably followed by his sales pitch (much of our correspondence was on the I-SEE mailing list). A few of his former students (always those few) will jump in with glowing reviews. Well, you get the idea.
Just for fun, here's the infamous signature file I kept referring to:
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The reflection of the moon in the lake is clear ---only when the water is calm.
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Regards, Thomas R. Quackenbush Natural Eyesight Improvement/Bates Method teacher since 1983
Author of Relearning to See---the largest and most comprehensive book ever written on Natural Eyesight Improvement
Nubeee9665@aol.com (or RELRN2SEE@aol.com) Internet website: www.nvcsf.com
Natural Vision Center of San Francisco P. O. Box 16403 San Francisco, CA 94116 Office: (415) 665-2010 Fax: (415) 664-2121
Natural Eyesight Improvement Courses Certified Teacher Training Programs
Contact information
See above.
Canada
Dr Jean-Paul Blouin
Dr Blouin, who speaks both French and English, uses a Visual Motor Therapy (Entraînement Visuel Moteur) and may be reached every Tuesday from 11am to 5pm (Montreal time) at 1-514-522-1142.
Contact information
Santa Maria Visual Clinic in Montreal. 1112 Mont-Royal East, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2J 1X8.