Lay optometrists are experts in normal eyes

Lay optometrists and their advocates are planning rallies at Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) offices around the country today. They are protesting what they believe to be the coercive tactics of the DMV in mandating vision correction for drivers with less than perfect vision. Simply put, anyone applying for a license must submit to a vision test, and anyone who has been diagnosed with nearsightedness must wear glasses or contacts while driving.

Members of the group Optometrists Alliance of North America (OANA) think that is wrong.

According to their spokesperson Ima Frawde CPO (certified professional optometrist, formerly known as a lay optometrist), human eyes are designed by nature to see perfectly.

Are we really supposed to believe that 25% of the population needs vision correction? That's simply laughable. We wouldn't be here if nearsightedness were so common. We would have died out long ago.

And who would know better than certified professional optometrists "experts in normal vision"? Ms. Frawde explains that unlike real optometrists who spend years learning about pathological vision and work only in offices, CPOs are the only optometrists trained to provide vision care at home.

According to Ms. Frawde:

Many people don't realize that CPOs carry the exact same equipment as regular optometrists, but instead of brief office visits once a year, CPOs provide home appointments each and every month to educate people about their vision options and talk about their "vision plan"

Dr. I. C. Yu, CPO, who runs the blog Vision Without Fear, explains the ten affirmations that lead to perfect vision:

Eyeglasses and contacts are unnatural. Nature never intended human beings to have vision correction.

Relying on natural vision instead of giving in to glasses is empowering. Anyone can drive safely wearing glasses. It is a true achievement to drive safely without them.

The requirement for a vision test for driving is absurd. All you have to do to drive it to see; it is hardly necessary to test every single person for vision impairment.

We need to trust vision. It's time for us to reject the notion that human eyes are broken and need to be "fixed" by artificial means.

People should rely on their intuition about vision. If they believe that it is safer to drive without glasses, then they should drive without glasses.

Vision affirmations lead to better outcomes. Drivers should continually remind themselves, "I can see the car in front of me" and that will naturally improve their ability to see.

The decision to wear glasses is a choice. The DMV has no right to interfere with individuals' right to make their own choice about whether they will wear glasses or contacts while driving, or even whether they will submit to the vision test when renewing their license.

Vision junkies are far more educated on the topic of vision than others. Most people behave like sheep when told that they need glasses for vision correction. They just go out and buy them, without ever questioning whether they are truly necessary.

There's no scientific evidence that driving with glasses is safer than driving without. No one has even bothered to study it. Those in authority simply assumed that correcting nearsightedness is safer.

No one should underestimate the influence of "Big Glasses." The vision industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. No one profits by declaring that you have perfect vision. Eyeglass manufacturers, contact lens manufacturers, optometrists and opticians only profit if you need vision correct. Is it any wonder that so many people are told they need glasses?

According to Dr. Yu, who is a professor of anthropology as well as a CPO:

It’s a travesty around the world that Western-style optometry have come in and annihilated long traditions of traditional optometrists. Lay optometrists peel away these fictions of medicalized eye care, exposing strong and capable women who “see” outside the regulatory and self-regulatory processes naturalized by modern, technocratic optometry.

Dr. Yu counsels:

The American people need to "take back vision" from those who have tried to intimidate us into believing that our eyes are broken. We should stop giving in to the perceived need to actually see the road and return to our natural roots. We must learn to see the way nature intended, without glasses and without contacts, and we will surely feel empowered as a result.

Adapted from a piece that first appeared in September 2009.