James, wearing sunglasses, smiles for the camera. His wife stands beside him holding a small child wearing a blue T-shirt.

James’s nystagmus story

This Nystagmus Awareness Day we’re asking you to share your story. This is James’s story.

You can share your story here

Until my son Sullivan was born, we as a family had no idea what nystagmus was, that there was a charity called Nystagmus Network and a wonderful community available for support.

We noticed within a few weeks of Sullivan being born that something wasn’t quite right with his eyes. After several doctors and hospital appointments and being told repeatedly ‘‘He’s only a baby, stop worrying’’ we finally found out Sullivan has nystagmus, with ocular albinism.

Receiving this diagnosis was hard to take. As a parent you want to do everything you can to protect them. You also have the initial shock which clouds your rational thinking – which is something I have noticed through the Nystagmus Network forums. Panic is the first reaction which is only magnified once you turn to Google – Never turn to Google!

As a few weeks passed and further appointments were made at Moorfields Eye Hospital with the incredible Maria. Maria is unbelievable. She was available for video calls and in person appointments – Maria has also supported Nystagmus Network events, so something to keep an eye out for!

Our story with the Nystagmus Network started with the Facebook Parent Forums, which provided our first chance to speak with other parents with children with Nystagmus. Its hard to explain how beneficial that was and still is today! Once meeting some of the trustees and most importantly Sue, I decided to focus on local fundraisers in Jersey with an annual Nystagmus Golf Day and I’m now proudly a trustee.

Sully is now 3, due to start pre-school this September and primary school the year after. It’s from there I feel his struggles will be more noticeable. But we will deal with them as they come. This is only the start of our nystagmus story with great things to come.

If anyone with Nystagmus is to read this, then please get in touch with the charity or myself directly!

James  

Child with albinism.

The impact of glare on reading

Researchers are investigating the impact of glare on young children with albinism and nystagmus to help ease important day-to-day tasks like reading.

Jointly funded by Nystagmus Network and Fight for Sight, a team of researchers at the University of Leicester will be investigating glare in patients with infantile nystagmus.  

People with nystagmus often experience glare, but this has not been researched thoroughly despite the discomfort it can cause and the impact it has on reading.  

Led by Dr Frank Proudlock, the study will measure the effect of glare by testing reading overlays, tinted contact lenses and other means.

Although there are several devices that doctors use to measure glare in eye clinics, few of them have been tested as to how well they measure glare in nystagmus. Also, it is very difficult to measure glare in young children.

The team at University of Leicester will study four groups of people: people with albinism; people with idiopathic infantile nystagmus; people with achromatopsia; and people without nystagmus.

The team hopes the study will help doctors to make reliable measurement of glare in people with infantile nystagmus, especially in young children.

Understanding how glare can affect reading in people with infantile nystagmus and ways of managing it will help provide useful information to parents, teachers, doctors and patients to come up with the best solutions for reading at home, work and at school or university.

Keith Valentine, Fight for Sight CEO said:

“We’re pleased to continue our important partnership with the Nystagmus Network, funding these vital projects. With one person in every 1,500 people having nystagmus, it’s vital that we fund research that can help improve lives and make sure children and adults with nystagmus live their lives to the fullest.”

Donate to the Nystagmus Network research fund here

The logo of international Albinism Awareness Day

International Albinism Awareness Day, 13 June

We are delighted to mark international Albinism Awareness Day with our friends living with albinism both here and across the world and especially with Albinism Fellowship UK.

Find out more about the 2022 theme – United in making our voice heard on the United Nations website.

Jay Self

Does albinism protect against AMD?

We are seeking potential research candidates on behalf of researchers in Southampton (Jay Self and Helena Lee) who must be over the age of 60 and have any form of albinism (OA, or OCA). Thank you to those who have already responded. We have already found 12 people, but we really need 20 for a viable study. If you or anyone you know fits the bill, please read on …

Jay and Helena are seeking to understand two questions which have baffled researchers for some time and they need your help:

1.       Why has Albinism and Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) never been seen in the same patient when AMD affects 1/3 of people over 75? Are people with Albinism protected from this condition?

2.       Why does the retina lose function late in older animals with Albinism, but apparently not in humans?

If anyone with Albinism, who is over the age of 60, would like to help Jay and Helena find answers to these important questions, please complete the form below. Please note that by completing the form you are giving us your permission to pass on your details on to the relevant research team.

Thank you.

B4 logo

Discrimination against B4 athletes within International Blind Sport

Charities supporting people living with vision impairments, including the Nystagmus Network and the Albinism Fellowship UK, have signed an open letter from B4 International Blind Sports, outlining concerns about discrimination towards athletes classified B4 in international blind sports.  The letter is addressed to the IBSA (International Blind Sports Association) and the IPC (International Paralympic Committee).

Classification currently sees many athletes and sports men, women and young people with nystagmus classified as B4. This means that, whilst their sight is sufficiently impaired to prevent them competing fairly alongside fully sighted people, within the current regulations, they are unable to represent their country in any sport at international level.

We would argue that the B4 classification does not fully recognise the variability of vision or the impact of glare on people with nystagmus and ocular albinism. For this reason the letter includes the following:

“A frustration further compounded by the fact that visually impaired athletes have varying levels of functional vision, and the difference from B3 to B4 is, minimal in some conditions, and could easily be affected by external factors, such as tiredness, light and interpretation of visual cues.” 

B4 International Blind Sports have also set up a petition for anyone to sign who wishes to have blind sports classification re-examined.

Please sign the petition here 

Neil sits on a bench.

Nystagmus in lockdown

In this Guest Post, Neil writes about his experiences of lockdown as a visually impaired person.

I’m registered partially sighted and diagnosed with nystagmus and ocular albinism from birth. Both conditions will never improve, but fortunately will never get worse either, so I’m told.

Basically, I’m extremely short sighted and on a good day (with the correct lighting) I can clearly recognise a person’s facial features and movements from about two feet away. Any further and people just become a blurry shape. I also have very limited depth perception so cannot see stairs, pavement edges or judge distances.

When the pandemic started in early March, I began to feel more anxious about catching the virus myself and passing it to my fiancee, who had just come out of hospital. At this stage I wasn’t really thinking about how it would affect me from my disability standpoint.

Each day I was travelling on the train to work. I was getting more and more worried about taking the virus home with me. On 18 March it was announced that schools would be closing and all staff would be working from home. That announcement was such a huge relief for me; my fiancee was still recovering and the thought of her or the kids catching this virus terrified me.

A few days later I was called by work and advised that we would each be working a day in school on a rota basis, as our school would be providing childcare provision for key workers.

I can’t describe the sheer panic that I felt during that phone call. By this time, we had isolated ourselves as a family and were happy to live that way for the foreseeable future, risk free. Now I was faced with the prospect of venturing out of the house. This is the first time I can recall thinking about how I was going to cope without being able to see other people clearly.

The first journey was nerve racking, to say the least. However, when the bus pulled in, I did feel a small sense of accomplishment. The train journey home was helped by the fact that I was the only person travelling in a carriage, so my anxiety about being close to others didn’t really come into play.

As the weeks have gone by my anxiety levels have diminished. I certainly feel a little braver when I leave the house for work each time. But those anxieties never really leave you.

The next big issue for me was leaving the house for shopping. The first few weeks of lockdown, our daughter was happy enough to pop to the local shop at quiet times for the essentials. We knew this would have to change as we were slowly eating our way through the supplies in our chest freezer. This is when my second major pang of anxiety kicked in. How can I maintain a social distance from others when I can’t see them clearly and have no idea how close they are to me?

My fiancee and daughter went shopping a few times to quieter supermarkets, but I felt more and more guilty that I wasn’t able to assist with this. So I made the stubborn decision. I was going to brave a walk across the road to the shop on my own.

My fiancee is so supportive of me and knows that when I’ve got my “I’m doing this for my own self confidence!” head on, its best to leave me to it. So I arrived at the front of the store, disabled lanyard on, white symbol cane in my hand. I could make out a massive queue of people stretching around the corner and had no idea of where to go / what to do. The staff there are extremely helpful, but even so I came close to a few people and was told in no uncertain terms I was too close and what was I thinking of. It was a nerve-racking experience.

I’ve always relied on being able to pick items up, check labels to ensure I’m buying the right thing. This was now not allowed. I opted for the easy way out that day and picked up a few things I already knew the locations of. Thank goodness they didn’t change the layout that day.

When I got to the till I started to panic again. What do I do? Where do I stand? Then I heard a familiar voice call my name. It was someone I knew. I was saved! Since that day I’ve been shopping with the family on numerous occasions, but I always feel more of a hindrance than a help, because I can’t social distance. I’ve raised many an angry eyebrow by nearly bumping into people in shop doorways and aisles.

COVID-19 has presented us all with so many life-changing challenges and experiences and I hope I’ve been able to give you a small insight (no pun intended) into what it’s like for a person with a visual impairment.

I would encourage everyone to share their experiences during this pandemic, because by sharing we are hopefully helping others to understand and make life that little bit easier for people who have found themselves less able to be self-reliant over the past few months.

Stay safe everyone!

Nystagmus Aware logo

Does nystagmus or ocular albinism affect my immunity?

Lots of you are asking us this question and some of you have received notification letters from the government.

We asked for expert clinical advice and received the following statement:

“IN (infantile nystagmus) or OA (ocular albinism) in isolation are not associated with compromised immunity.

“There are some syndromic forms of albinism that are associated with immunocompromise and these patients would already be aware of this and/or have been notified by the UK government that they are in the vulnerable group.”

Whether or not you have nystagmus, please remember to follow scrupulous hygiene practices, including thorough hand washing, whenever inserting, removing or cleaning your contact lenses as we understand that the coronavirus can enter the body through the eyes.

If you wear glasses or sunglasses, please wash these regularly using non abrasive soap – we find washing up liquid does the trick.

If you are registered sight impaired (SI) or severely sight impaired (SSI) you can ask to use priority shopping times and online supermarket delivery slots.

Keep asking us you questions. We will find the answers for you.

Say safe and well

Research into albinism could be good news for babies born with nystagmus

Dr Helena Lee from the University of Southampton was happy to announce this week the publication of a first paper from the OLIVIA study which shows the potential for L-DOPA treatment to improve the vision in albinism.

This means that the sight of newborn babies with ocular albinism could potentially continue to develop and improve with treatment.

Delegates at the Nystagmus Network Open Day later this year will hear first hand from Helena on the progress of her work with L-DOPA.

Meanwhile, you can read the article in full, here.

Roselle is coming to Open Day

Because there is such a close link between albinism and nystagmus, the Nystagmus Network works closely with Albinism Fellowship UK. Chair of AFUK, Roselle Potts, will be joining us this year at Open Day to speak with researchers, to find out more about our education advocacy service and chat with families affected by ocular or oculocutaneous albinism.

Jay Self wearing scrubs.

Does albinism protect against AMD?

We are seeking potential research candidates on behalf of researchers in Southampton (Jay Self and Helena Lee) who must be over the age of 60 and have any form of albinism. Thank you to those who have already responded. We have already found 12 people, but we really need 20 for a viable study. If you or anyone you know fits the bill, please read on …

Jay and Helena are seeking to understand two questions which have baffled researchers for some time and they need your help:

1.       Why has Albinism and Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) never been seen in the same patient when AMD affects 1/3 of people over 75? Are people with Albinism protected from this condition?

2.       Why does the retina lose function late in older animals with Albinism, but apparently not in humans?

If anyone with Albinism, who is over the age of 60, would like to help Jay and Helena find answers to these important questions, please complete the form below. Please note that by completing the form you are giving us your permission to pass on your details on to the relevant research team.

Thank you.