What happened to Scott in Iraq?

Scott was awarded a Purple Heart after surviving a bullet to the left side of his head while serving in Iraq in 2004. He is legally blind in the right visual field of each eye, cannot feel the right side of his body, hearing impaired on the left side, and has aphasia. The .762 bullet is still in his head.

Scott in his Class A Army uniform with a straight face and a noticeable missing section of the left side of his head where he was injured.

What is Orientation and Mobility?

Orientation and Mobility is a type of training for people with visual impairments to teach them how to navigate safely. Orientation refers to how to stay oriented as you travel through your enviornment and mobility refers to what tools you are using to be safe. The most familiar tool is the long white cane. Ashley is a trained Orientation and Mobility Specialist, and like Scott, a person does not have to be totally blind to use a long cane!

What type of vision loss does Scott have?

Scott is legally blind due to right homonymous hemianopsia. That means he is blind in the right visual field of each eye. The way the eyes and brain communicate is through various processes and pathways, and although there is nothing wrong with Scott’s eyes, there is something wrong along a pathway where his brain and eyes try to communicate. The most common cause of this type of sight loss is due to trauma which is what happened to Scott when he got injured in Iraq.

Scott’s vision loss is due to #7 from the graphic above except his injury is on the left side of his body which results in vision loss in the right visual fields.

What does #itsjustacane mean?

“It’s Just A Cane” was created to reduce stigma and stereotypes of people with visual impairments by showing that people with visual loss can do the same things as anyone else, but just in a different way!