Comment on ‘Vision Without Sight

My Own Personal and ongoing struggle to retain my sight was, no doubt, a significant factor in the decision to extend to me an invitation to comment upon this most interesting paper, and I am grateful for that opportunity.

Annie Lampl's moving and human account of her journey into blindness was one which, as I understand it, extended over a period of three to five years, and began at a time of life when several important milestones or goals along her separation/individuation pathway had already been achieved. One might say that her education, her marriage and her parenthood are among the external reality developments reflecting those inner achievements.

I was only four years old when my own visual problems commenced. Furthermore, the rapidity with which my vision deteriorated seemed quite terrifying. I needed stronger spectacles almost every four or six months, and my parent's well-meaning but vain attempts to calm and reassure me were not, even at that tender age, taken seriously be me. I ‘knew’ that one day I would face the threat of blindness, and so I made my plans accordingly. My ambition to become a doctor, and later on, an analyst, grew out of a combination of my own convictions, but were, at the same time, significantly influenced by my parent's personal response to my wounded state. (I shall have more to say on that subject later.)

The mythological link between blindness, sexuality and guilt is a theme that Lampl and Oliver consider in detail, so there is no need for me to comment further. However, the timing of the appearance of the (blindness) wound is crucial, as is the ability of the environmental response to remain facilitating.

Although it is not unreasonable to assume that the earlier the wound reveals itself, the greater is the likelihood of it having an adverse effect upon the developmental processes, that supposition is valid only in relation to ego development rather than to chronological age. For that reason I find it extremely difficult to be age s