My eyes suck, need advice!

Cocolola · 28-09-2008 1:00am #1

Hi this is my first post. I've been reading the Garda Recruitment forum for ages now, obvioulsy 'cos I'm really interested in becoming a Garda!
I'm a 21 year old female btw.
Right so here's the thing, I had a lazy right eye when I was a child and had to wear a patch and all that but unfortunatly it didn't do any good. I can see things with it when I cover my good eye but not in great detail.
Anyway I went for an eye test today at Specsavers to see if I even met the minimum requrements and the lady told me that my left(good) eye has superb vision, the best you can have, but my bad eye falls just short of the requirement. She said my overall vision is great and that I'd have no bother if they didn't look for both eyes to be good.
I know that they are really strict and I understand that they have to be but does anyone think that seeing as how I have excellent vision overall that I might have any hope of passing a medical IF I ever gor that far!?
Really clutching at straws here, being a Garda is all I've wanted to be (sorry such a cliche!).
Thanks for reading guys.

PS I haven't seen a specialist but I don't think it can be fixed. I'll have to accept my fate if that's the case!

TheNog · 28-09-2008 7:42am

i did my medical 2 years ago and they tested both eyes with a chart at about 25-30 feet away. whether that has changed i don't know. If you do get to the medical and fail you, you a second chance to get the eye done if possible. you can then do the test again at a later date but be prepared to get it done asap.

Cocolola · 28-09-2008 8:14am

Thanks Nog, had a horrible feeling that was the case but I guess I was just hoping! Edited my first post to say I don't think it can be fixed, it's a muscular problem rather than focusing as far as I know.
Thanks anyway.

li@mo · 28-09-2008 11:58am

Im in the same situation. I have a lazy eye. Went to specsavers during the week aswell with a copy of the garda requirements. the optician said she didnt quite understand the requirements but when she did eventually make sense of it she thought i would pass.

If lazy eye is not corrected at a young age it is uncorrectable im led to believe.

From Garda website:

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The vision standard requirement of a Garda trainee is Binocular Vision of not less than 6/18, 6/18 (correctable to 6/9, 6/12) unaided by glasses or contact lenses, with normal color vision.[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]

She said the word Binocular was key because It means both eyes together. The 6/18 means reading size 18 letters on the chart. etc.

Cocolola · 28-09-2008 3:39pm

li@mo wrote: »

She said the word Binocular was key because It means both eyes together. The 6/18 means reading size 18 letters on the chart. etc.

Thanks for that. The optician I had wasn't completely sure either but said not to get my hopes up just in case.
I really hope that you pass though!! It's such a shame because I'm sure your eyesight is fine overall too?

My eyes suck, need advice!

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