Walter & Group...
[GH] Here is a fresh interim topic which we have not addressed in the 10 + years the Study Group has been operating.
[GH] From Carole Katz :
Gordy,
Do you have any experience working with the seriously visually impaired? Do you have any suggestions for doing so?
I was recently contacted by the director of a new Blind Rehab Center at the Long Beach VA Medical Center. She was inquiring about whether some of her blind or nearly-blind veterans can participate in Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing. We have a negligible amount of experience with this in PWHFF, so I figured I would ask the experts.
I’d appreciate any help you can offer.
Carole Katz
National Trustee
Southwest Regional Coordinator
Program Lead, PHWFF @ Long Beach VAMC
Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing
Healing Those Who Serve
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[GH] Carole,
I have no personal experience teaching visually impaired students to fly cast.
My Master Study Group, however, has 334 members representing 16 different countries. I'll put your request out to them and send you the results.
Best,
Gordy
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Then I thought long and hard about that. Turns out I had had a personal brief "taste" of visual problems when casting.
Years ago, I fell while fishing in Alaska. Put my foot on what I thought was a solid rock in the river which turned out to be a hovering "tundra-ball". As my foot plunged through it I went down and struck my head on a real rock.
To make a long story short, I had traumatic retinal detachments in both eyes requiring a series of operations on each eye. Complications resulted in a period of about a year and a half during which time I had poor vision in one eye and my other was blind save for light/dark shadows.
It was then that I retired from performing surgery and took to doing office consultations and teaching.
After a couple of frankly miracle results following cutting edge advanced eye surgery, my vision returned and has remained quite good.
During those months of poor vision I cut way back on my fly casting teaching and couldn't do any flats sight fishing. My casting accuracy was terrible.
Even after return of good images, I had double vision for about a year. For any accuracy at all, I would close one eye and move my head back and forth to gain distance perspective.... which eventually worked. I got the idea after spending time with Joan Wulff, learning her "accuracy triangle" principles using the image of the eye target line and hand target line.
Then, my brain made remarkable changes with no further treatment resulting in a re-interpretation of my images so that the double vision disappeared (except when I'm very tired or if I drink alcohol.)
Now I hardly ever touch anything stronger than a little wine, and I have no trouble with casting accuracy and can spot fish OK. I am both thankful and blessed.
Now, as I think about it, that little trick of moving my head to achieve two images for depth control was something I'd taught myself, with Joan's help !
Many of us teach fly fishers to cast so they can fish at night. I'm sure there must be methods of doing this for fishers who have perpetual "night".
QUESTION ON THE TABLE : HAVE ANY OF YOU HAD EXPERIENCE TEACHING FLY CASTING TO FOLKS WHO ARE SEVERELY VISUALLY IMPAIRED OR EVEN BLIND ?