Edited to add:
I didn’t expect so much backlash – I have a lazy eye.
I’ve had it since I was a kid. I work hard to keep my eyes together but when I’m tired you can tell
Recently I’ve been seeing TV sketches, reading memes, things like that but all implies somethings wrong with a person who has a lazy eye
I’d like to know what society assumes when they see someone with a lazy eye because I think it may have something to do with why I struggle to make friends
Comments
I’ve never heard of this.
What?
The eyes are a very biologically and culturally important feature of the face. It’s what everyone expects you to look at when you’re talking to them. Disabilities in this area are harder for people to ignore than other disabilities even like a missing leg.
Eye contact is considered one of the hallmarks of sincere social communication. Lazy eyes make that impossible. Its appearance is also cartoon shorthand for low intellect and low sanity.
Is this perception deserved? Of course not. But it exists nonetheless.
I had a lazy eye in my youth, surgically corrected at the age of eight. It was an unpleasant recovery, but completely worth avoiding the social stigma.
I’ve never heard that, and I grew up with one
Are considered? Or more like YOU consider them.
Such a superfluous trait, no one would ever consider someone “less than” for having a lazy eye of all things.
Ableism
I had 2 surgeries to correct mine when I was in my 40’s. Now in my 60’s. It was the best decision I ever made. Look into it. Your eyes can be corrected. I know how you feel.
I had to have mine surgically corrected in my 20s. I have a left eye dominance and i’ll only be looking at you with my left. I know my right will wander since my strabismus will always be a problem. (FYI, what you’re describing is strabismus, a true “lazy eye” is something called amblyopia, which is basically my eye dominance issue i described there).
Having it surgically corrected im sure helped me but I made it through med school so it didn’t hold me back.
Okay I have a lazy eye and def felt treated poorly in middle school. People would wave their hand in front of my face and ask if I was even looking at them. I think people are uneducated and cruel sometimes. I feel like people think of the “dumb” stereotype include misaligned eyes. I don’t know how much relates to that but it’s just an idea I had.
Mine also is mostly when I’m tired. Recently got prism glasses and it def helps keep it in. I had surgery when I was 2 now my eye goes outwards. Go figure!
guess you……didn’t see it coming?
I have strabismus and I think it’s definitely altered my behaviour, I made less eye contact when I was a kid because I was conscious of it, and now I’m just used to not looking at people a normal amount. It 100% affects my social life because I seem like I’m not showing interest in people or I just look awkward when talking.
I think people just pick up on something being off, and I guess that since people with normal vision go cross-eyed when they’re intoxicated or in pain it might just be a flag that something is wrong that not everyone can separate from a disability that presents the same way.
I also think part of it might have to do with the fact that it affects people’s facial symmetry and that is unattractive to most people even if it’s subconscious.
My kids pediatrician told us when he was tow via an app on a modified iPhone that he likely had amblyopia and we didn’t believe it but sure enough one eye wasn’t working at all at the optometrist, glasses and a year of patching later he was using both eyes equally but earlier they catch it the easier to correct.
If anyone with a lazy eye is reading this and wants someone to talk to, feel free to shoot me a message – I grew up with it my whole life and managed to find ways to cope with it. I now live in NYC with a good job, plenty of friends, and a Fiancé. It’s possible.