This is a 2-page spread from the July, 1999 National Geographic article titled “Quest for Color.” Titled “Lost in the No-fun House” it depicts what it was like for an autistic woman named Alex Michaels in Boston before and after receiving her Irlen tinted lenses. With the lenses the image was no longer distorted and she did not perceive the blue color of the tint. This shows the distortions perceived then shows the image she saw once looking through her Irlen filter lenses. Prior to receiving her tinted Irlen filter lenses she had great difficulty recognizing people she knew. She had prosopanosia, like Donna Williams, famous autistic and author. She might recognize a woman’s hairdo because the face was so distorted it resembled a Picaso painting. The facial features were not located in the positions they should be.

You will find more inormation about terms such as face blindness, visual fragmentation, meaning blindness and fragmented bodies by reading Donna Williams’ writings. See links in my Links at the left of the screen. Donna has her own blog which is quite helpful. Find it at DonnaWilliams.net

Alex was diagnosed by Ann Bonvallet, located at Visual Perception Testing in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Later she excitedly reported to Ann that when she was driving and someone opened a car door it came out into the street. She suddenly had depth perception for the first time.