A vision-aid device developed by a Middleton company helps profoundly blind patients “see” through electro-tactile stimulation to the tongue.

Six years ago, an attack left Andy Fabino blind. 

While visiting his family in Chicago, Fabino was beaten so severely that he was in a coma for fourteen days. In addition to leaving him physically debilitated, the beating damaged Fabino’s optical nerves beyond repair. He spent almost two months recuperating in the intensive care unit at West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park, Illinois.

Fabino’s recovery was incredibly difficult. “I had to learn how to walk and how to use my hands and arms again,” he remembers. “And then, I had to deal with the fact that I was blind.”

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