Finding the Exit in a Room of Mirrors

Understanding functional vision after brain injury

Inspired by the imagery in the Eagles’ “Hotel California.”, this original Vision2Brain story explores what it can feel like to find your way out after a traumatic brain injury

You wake up somewhere you’ve never been. In the dim light, you make out a wall, the edge of a door, the beginning of a passage. The rest of the space takes time to come together.

The corridor stretches ahead. You can just make out the next turn. Lines and patterns run across the floor, and it takes a moment to see where the corridor actually turns. You look back. The doorway you came through looks like all the others.

Then you look up. The ceiling is covered in mirrors. For a moment, it looks as if another corridor runs above you. You catch the green glow of an EXIT sign and start towards it before realising you’re following its reflection.

Then you spot the sign itself, far ahead. EXIT. You can read it clearly. You try one of the passages, but the sign slips out of view. When it appears again, you’re seeing it from an angle you don’t recognise.

You stop. You can still read the sign. You don’t know where to put your next step. You turn to go back, but you can no longer tell which passage brought you here.

After a brain injury, even a familiar place can feel like that hotel. You can see the things around you and still struggle to work out where they are in relation to you, which details to trust or how to use what you see to move through the space. That is the part of vision this story is about.

With dedication and compassion to the people experiencing vision dysfunctions as a consequence of brain or neurological disorder and their families.

Here you have the link to the "Hotel California". As you listen, keep this image in mind: the symbol of the Hotel in a dessert area, with darkness and disorientation that may reflect the experience of a person trying to find their way after a brain injury. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09839DpTctU