(Revised/Update on July 29, 2020)

Ok, I have Hemianopia. And now?

Then you come out of the hospital after 3 months.
You still have Hemianopia.
And now?

That was my big question.

What now and how further and what can be done about it?
When I came home after 3 months, you first have to spend some time getting used to your “new normal” life and environment.
I also had to attend heart rehabilitation.
During this time, I also made an appointment with my doctor to see, if there was anything that could be done about my hemianopia.

In our talk, the doctor mentioned what it was that I had.

Finally, I knew the correct spelling of the word.
She also pointed out to me an organization here in The Netherlands.
This organization is specialized in and for people with a visual impairment.
The name of the organization is Bartimeus.

When I came home, I first looked on the internet to see what Hemianopia is and what Bartimeus could do for me.
I decided to contact them.
They were very helpful with everything.
All my first questions were answered.
And an appointment was made to see how they could help me.

During the first meeting, they also took an eye test.
This was to see how much and what I could see.
Based on that, they would then look further.
An appointment also was made with a Social worker.
Just to see, how it is at home with the disability.
This was also important because it has an impact on me and the people around me.

In the next visit to Bartimeus, they also looked at how my brain continued to function after the brain hemorrhage.
This is because there might be more going on.
Fortunately, this was not the case.
During other tests, it also became clear to me what my field of vision was.

Learn to look again.

Yes, you read that right.
Learn or learning to look again.

In one of the conversations at Bartimeus, they suddenly came up with the idea of perhaps following their viewing training.

This training is normally intended for people with a Hemianopia that is worse than what I have.
But the idea behind it was, “There is no harm in trying.”
After thinking about it, I decided to follow the training.
They already mentioned in advance that this could take a lot of time.

What does this viewing training mean?
What you are trying to do is to learn a different way of looking at your surroundings.
You learn a different way of scanning your surroundings.
The reason for this is that the part that you don’t see, that you learn to scan it in a different way.

It is an intensive training.
Especially in the beginning.
The reason for this is that it has to become something that you do automatically.
You learn how to apply the new looking/viewing automatic.
For this, you also have to practice a lot at home.

With me, after maybe a week, the penny finally dropped.
(So to speak)
After that moment you learn to apply the new looking, without you noticing it.
I must say that it certainly helped me and I am grateful to them that they offered me this training.

Besides that training, I also followed a Blind Typing course at Bartimeus.
And they also gave me a computer user course.
This was not necessary, because I was already familiar with computers.
But despite that, it wasn’t for nothing.
During that course, I learned different tricks for using the different things on the computer.

Again, I am very happy that I came into contact with Bartimeus.
And I certainly can recommend it to everyone.