By: Helen Thomson | ‘Suddenly my world would flip’: the woman who is permanently lost | Neuroscience | The Guardian
Sharon’s world is regularly reversed by a rare brain malfunction. Now neurologists, and Wonder Woman, have come to the rescue
In 1952, when she was a child, Sharon was playing in the front garden. She was blindfolded while her friends ran around her, laughing, trying not to be caught in a game of blind man’s buff. Sharon grabbed hold of someone’s sleeve and whipped off the scarf that covered her eyes. “You’re it!” she shouted.
Then she blinked and looked around her. She panicked. The house and the street looked different. She had no idea where she was. Sharon ran into the back garden and discovered her mother sitting in a lawn chair.
Her mum pointed a finger at Sharon, aged five: ‘Don’t tell anyone about this. They’ll say you’re a witch and burn you’
Spinning fixes the problem. ‘I go into a cubicle, close my eyes and spin around. It’s my Wonder Woman impression’
They said I needed to see a psychiatrist – they thought I was crazy. I wanted to die
The doctor looked at me like I was telling a made-up story. She asked how I correct it and I told her I spin around
Sharon’s brain looks anatomically normal, but several of the areas involved in navigation don’t communicate properly
