depth perception
it's only when i drive, but i seem to have a mild problem with depth perception. it's only close range though. for example, i'm a horrible parker. every time i park in between cars, i'm afraid i'm gonna hit someone. that's why i usually part in an area where no cars are nearby. also i cannot drive anything bigger than a small car. otherwise i feel that the lane is too small. i lose concentration. this was particularity bad when i was learning to drive in a truck. i have a car now so it's better but even then when i'm in a lane that's right next to a sidewalk or something, i still feel like it's too small so i probably cross the center line all the time in these cases.
anyone else have a problem like this?
I don't have any depth perception secondary to another medical condition. It makes me really anxious about driving, so I know what you mean. I'm pretty clumsy, too, which could be related to AS or to my visual processing issues. Have you had your vision tested recently? There's a really simple test to see if you have normal depth perception.
I had amblyopia as a child (lazy eye) which is neurological and is either associated with ASD's or creates similar characteristics. My eyes don't work together exactly right so I have depth perception problems. If I'm driving towards a stop light at night I may slow down a block too early.
I've always been good with spatial perception. While driving, the thing I am most concerned about is other drivers. That said, the only object I have driven into is my house.
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This is also my problem. I actually cannot drive at night as I am significantly impaired- "night blindness".
daydreamer84
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I do not drive. I have normal stereoscopic depth perception. However, I do have some pretty severe spatial difficulties. I have a lot of trouble getting around unless I am taking a VERY familiar route to somewhere I have been going consistently for months. I am also incredibly clumsy and uncoordinated. I really want to learn how to drive, but I am afraid that it might be unsafe. A lot people (on this site) have given me good advice about how to improve my spatial skills, and/or how to compensate for some of my deficits. If I do learn I will definitely follow some of this advice. On the other hand, I am still very worried that I may be taking an unnecessary risk.
I have a bilateral strabismus which has caused a progressive amblyopia. Until I was about 12, I had normal vision in both eyes but no binocularity. Now, my vision is approximately 20/500 on the right and 20/40 on the left. The doctor suspects that this is neurological in origin rather than a physical disorder of eye muscle movement.
The ASD connection is really interesting to me, thought I hadn't thought about it before reading your post. Do you know of any articles or anything that discuss the relationship between amblyopia and ASD?
I have a bilateral strabismus which has caused a progressive amblyopia. Until I was about 12, I had normal vision in both eyes but no binocularity. Now, my vision is approximately 20/500 on the right and 20/40 on the left. The doctor suspects that this is neurological in origin rather than a physical disorder of eye muscle movement.
The ASD connection is really interesting to me, thought I hadn't thought about it before reading your post. Do you know of any articles or anything that discuss the relationship between amblyopia and ASD?
yes
http://www.devdelay.org/newsletter/arti ... yopia.html
Yes. My depth perception issues interfere with my life to an extent. I can not parallel park. Period. When I was in drivers ed the instructor got frustrated with me and just passed me to be done I think. In contrast, my ex-husband, who has been dx with adhd, borderline, and bipolar could parallel park a semi with no trouble at all! Sometimes I miss him
I have esotropic strabismus and -8D, but I don't have problems with driving/parking backwards. I have to know a car, watch it from all sides and make a model in my mind. Later I use this model to imagine how I drive. I have great spatial thinking. I prefer to drive with lenses, because they don't make double vision when I look back. But I passed my exam with thick nerdy glasses ( jar bottoms ), I had to convert double picture in my mind.
I don't have bigger problems with distances, but sometimes I don't see object, it can be highlighted, blurred, behind-the-glass or too fast. I have a little problem with speed perception, so I'm sometimes afraid to cross the street when I walk, especially in full daylight
Sometimes I have problems with balance and moving objects, they seem to be uneven or deformed. Especially stairways. I can get Autie-attack on them.
I'm somewhat blind, but I can feel the aim, if I don't have to run. I can play dart. I tried to play paintball and the best for me is be hidden somewhere, keep balance and shoot people.
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I have horrible depth perception, which made things like parking or even changing lanes a nightmare; I haven't driven in years. I remember once being stopped at a light such that there was the exit out of a parking lot directly in front of me. A car came to the exit, and it looked to me as if he drove directly THROUGH the hood of my car as he emerged, although he of course wasn't actually touching my car.
My spatial relations are a disaster in general; I can't catch a ball, or get paper into the trash can from more than a foot away.
I'm very uncoordinated and clumsy. My fine motor skills are so bad that I can't polish my nails; I get polish halfway to the 1st knuckle.
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My right eye has always been near-sighted, my left is near-normal so I never had good depth-perception or binocular vision. In the Army this helped me a lot on the rifle range as I could easily shoot with both eyes open. My left eye would focus on the target and my right would see the gun-sights easily. On the rifle range the targets would pop up randomly from 25 to 350 meters away and if you were looking one-eyed through a gun-sight you wouldn't see them all and if you don't see them you can't shoot them. Our battalion had several competitive shooters in rifle that shot national events and do well and a machine-gun team that won the Army title one year. These guys were the top dogs on paper bull's eye targets but usually couldn't qualify on the pop-up targets, so they would actually pay me to shoot for them!
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I have exotropic strabismus, something I only found out a few years ago. I'm short sighted anyway, but my right eye is almost twice as bad as my left eye because my brain tends to ignore its input (the left eye sees the "correct" image). Because of my total lack of depth perception, I'm terrified of ever driving. I don't trust myself not to drive straight into other cars at traffic lights or when parking.