Stories from the Clinic

No.48: Anna Bernard, the Blind Girl - Part II

By Emily C. Lierman

Last month I wrote about Anna, the blind girl becoming able to obtain
relaxation of her whole body and the muscles of her throat by
practicing the swing, with the blinking, which prevented the staring.
When I first handed her a test card and asked her if she could see a
letter on the card, she answered: "I cannot see letters, I do not know
the alphabet. I can only read and write by the sense of touch with the
Braille System." Here was another problem. Of course, there was the
test card with large and small E's pointing in different directions,
which could be used to test the sight, but I had other plans. I wanted
Anna to learn to read and write and give up the Braille System
entirely. Her sister was called upon to help me. She was directed to
cut out of cardboard, letters about the size and thickness of the big
C on the test card. Then she was to paint them black and bring them
with her next time she came.

Her sister had good news for me when I saw them again. She had taught
Anna some of the letters by the sense of touch. For instance a letter
T had a straight piece of cardboard at the top and another straight
piece through the center. A letter C was round with an opening to the
right.

We had made a good start I thought, on this, her fourth visit. I
handed her a test card, blank side up. At first she could not tell
whether there was print on the card or not, because she was very much
excited in telling me how quickly she was learning the alphabet. This
made her nervous and she strained. I got her busy with palming and
while she was doing this, I told her a story. I find that all patients
enjoy this, especially when they visualize or follow me closely in
what I am saying. I want to say right here that I am a poor story
teller but anyhow I do the best I can. If I remember a good short
story from a magazine, I tell that, or I might tell about a patient
treated by me who had obtained good results. After she had rested and
relaxed for ten minutes, I asked her to remove her hands from her eyes
and look at the card. She remarked: "It looks all white to me. There
seems to be no print on the card at all." I told her she was right. I
then turned the card right side out, and as she did the long swing of
her body, moving her head with her shoulders from side to side and
blinking her eyes with the movement of her body, she pointed to the
200-line letter on the card in her hand and said: "That's a letter C."
Can any one imagine the extent of my happiness?

For twenty-five years she was blind, born that way. Never had more
than a slight perception of light. Her sister forgot where she was and
screamed, "My sister can see." Anna and I cried with joy. We did not
talk, just held each others hands. I whispered in her ear: "Anna,
thank God with me, will you?"

"Yes, you bet," says she, "I'm doing that now."

We got busy again, and this time I told her to move the card from side
to side, and imagine her body swinging opposite. She kept this up for
several minutes and then she saw the R and B of the 100-line of
letters.

On September 9th, 1922, after one month's treatment, her vision had
improved considerably for the test card. She had to hold the card
about an inch from her eyes in order to see the letters. She was
directed to place her finger under the letter which she tried to see,
then to move her head slowly from left to right and in this way she
saw the letters of the 70 line, one at a time. Before Anna left the
office that day she said she had wonderful news for me. While walking
in the street with her sister she saw moving objects for the first
time in her life. In Brooklyn they have Hobble Skirt trolley cars with
an entrance in the center of the car. Others have an entrance on one
end only. Anna was able to see the difference from the sidewalk and
told her sister when a car passed by, just what kind it was. She
actually saw a letter-box fastened to a lamp-post and walked towards
it without assistance, to place a letter in the box. Later, Anna's
sister cut out figures from one to ten, of cardboard, and she learned
to tell them by the sense of touch.

On September 16, 1922, she began to read the 50 line letters of the
test card at one inch from her eyes. The first on that line is a
figure five. Anna puzzled over that for awhile and then she said: "The
first one does not look like a letter at all, it looks very much like
a figure five sister has made of cardboard for me."

I cannot express in writing, how happy she felt when she realized that
she had seen the figure five correctly. I placed myself in the sun and
immediately she saw a beaded medallion on my gown and also remarked
how my beaded necklace sparkled in the sun.

The next thing was to teach her colors. As she never had more than a
slight perception of light, the difference between bright red and
bright green meant nothing to her. One day while walking with her
sister, Anna stopped in front of a store where electrical supplies
were displayed. In one section of this shop window was an electric
heater and in the center of it was shown a red light. Anna drew her
sister's attention to this and remarked: "Isn't that an angry looking
thing?" When she related this to me she said: "I can get a pretty good
mental picture of Satan now, since I saw that angry light."

By September 30th, she had learned all the letters of the alphabet and
all the figures. Her sister very patiently taught her various colors,
so we had many things to work with in helping Anna to restore her
sight. I owe so much of our success in her treatment so far, to her
dear little sister Ella. (To be continued.)