UCL's Online "Eye-Search" Therapy issue

[Graham_P]

Hi Everyone,

I’ve just joined this wonderful online community following a stroke I had in my sleep a couple of weeks ago. This is my very 1st post.

I’ve been using UCL’s free online therapy website called “Eye-Search” to help with my eyesight issues (homonymous hemianopia).

Unfortunately, the “Start Therapy” action on the website has failed to load correctly for 3 days now.

Could I ask if anyone else is using “Eye-Search” and is encountering the same issue?

Or maybe someone can recommend an alternative website.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Many Thanks

Graham

[Susan_Jane]

Hi Graham welcome to our community. We are a merry band of stroke survivors and their carers and families and between us we have a wealth of experience and I hope you will find this a useful place to be.

I’m 8 years post stroke and in my early days of recovery I also used the Eye Search website although I didn’t have the problems you have encountered.

Another free app to help with vision problems following a stroke, also by UCL is

“Read-Right”. I preferred Eye Search but it might be worth a try while they sort out the problems with Eye Search.

Good luck

Regards Sue

[khyber]

I used eyesearch a while ago and I seem to remember I had to use a laptop as it didn’t work on my tablets or phones. I’ve no idea why . Maybe it works best with microsoft Windows,?? It was good for my visual inattention, I used it to train my left side attention and assess my progress. I improved enough to regain my driving licence eventually.

[Mrs5K]

Hi Graham just popping by to say hi & welcome to the community. Sorry you’ve had cause to join us but hopefully you’ll find it a useful place to be.

I haven’t used the eye search website but hope the issues are just a glitch.

Best wishes

Ann

[EmeraldEyes]

Hi @Graham_P and welcome to the forum🙂

I’ve never used eye-search but it only works with desktop systems apparently

So could you have maybe tried accessing it with some other device not compatible perhaps?

Lorraine

[ManjiB]

Hello Graham - welcome to the community and thank you for sharing this post with us.

I had not heard of this prior to reading your note.

I tried to use this and found the same problem - the “Start Therapy” screen hangs. I notice there is a little error message right at the bottom of the screen and you can easily miss it, but it says “InvalidOperationException …” - this looks like a technical error that might be used by the developers to troubleshoot their app as it does not mean much to an end user like myself.

.

I then tried to see if there is a helpdesk you can contact but I found nothing. The UCL website has many contacts but I don’t know if any of them might help.

Having looked at the website, I got the feeling it was almost like a student project that was abandoned after initial release. I couldn’t find any support information and it seems the application was developed and designed over 10 years ago and was compatible with Google Chrome browser and maybe Firefox but not MicroSoft Internet Browser.

Based on this, I feel it is not something that might be usable today as you might need a computer (laptop or desktop) that runs old browsers. With most things being done on mobile phones, internet (web based apps) are not fully functional and tend not to get updated.

I am sorry if I am talking “techie” speak but this seems to me to be a “techie” problem.

I found a link (not sure of this is where you came across this) on the Stroke Association website. Since it (Eye-Search) is being promoted by the Stroke Association, I have contacted them explaining this issue. Once I hear back, I will update on here.

For now, I conclude this is no longer in active use, but I may be wrong.

I note both @khyber and @Susan_Jane have used Eye Search but they may have used it before Mobile phones took off and everything worked on laptops and desktops?

I also tried to run the alternative “Read-Right” suggested by Sue and that didn’t work for me either (I am using a laptop for everything including this forum - god forbid they make it mobile app only )

UCL is an academic institution and think they have been known to have weak security on their systems making them targets for hackers - I got the message “Your connection isn’t private” when I tried to use Read-Right.

Unfortunately, I guess none of this helps you

Wishing you all the best.
Namaste|

[Baldrick]

Welcome Graham

Good luck with eye search - I can’t help im afraid but theres lots of very good knowledgeable members and im sure someone will have the knowledge.

Very best wishes…..

[Jbob]

Hi Graham

Just wanted to add another welcome, sorry I can’t pass any assistance on but best of luck n your recovery journey.

[Graham_P]

Hi Sue,

Many thanks for the very useful info.

I’ll be sure to give Read-Right a go.

Kind Regards

Graham

[Graham_P]

Hi Khyber,

Many thanks for relaying your experiences with Eye-Search.

I’ve been using Eye-Search successfully on my Desktop PC (Windows) for a few days, then it suddenly stopped working; just hangs trying to load up.

It’s annoying as I’m trying to improve my visual attention in preparation for an eye test/assessment sometime in December.

Kind Regards

Graham

[Graham_P]

Hi Baldrick,

Many thanks for your reply

Kind Regards

Graham

[EmeraldEyes]

Have you had recent Windows update, that’s usually on “Moscrosoft Tuesday” I think. But that’s usually when things get messed up, until Microsoft fix their errors

Lorraine

[Graham_P]

Hi EmeraldEyes,

I’ve been using Eye-Search successfully on my Desktop PC (Windows) for a few days, then it suddenly stopped working; just hangs trying to load up.

I can’t see how to report the problem to UCL

Anyway, many thanks for your reply

Kind regards

Graham

[Graham_P]

Hi Jbob,

Many thanks for the welcome and good wishes.

Cheers

Graham

[Graham_P]

That’s good thinking, so I checked.
My last Windows updated (11 25H2) was installed on 29th Sept.
Eye-Search worked okay for at least a week before it started playing up, so I guess I can’t blame Microsoft. Shame.

Thanks anyway

Graham

[Graham_P]

Hi Manjib,

Many thanks for your welcome and your very comprehensive reply.

To give you some background,

Like you, I spotted “Eye-Search” on the Stroke Association’s website and decided to give it a try.

I accessed it using the Microsoft Edge Browser on my Desktop PC running Windows 11Pro - 25H2.

It was pretty clunky and slow to load, but it DID work for a week or so (even with the regular tiny error codes at the bottom) before it started to hang/failed to load on 5th Nov.

I tried clearing the Edge browser cache and using other browsers and devices, but no joy.

I think your suspicions about the source of the programme are entirely plausible. No, Highly Likely !!!

Anyway, thank you so much for your sterling efforts to help me.

Kind Regards

Graham

[EmeraldEyes]

You could try getting in touch with them, I notice on the UCL contacts page there is an IT department contact you could. If nothing else they may be able to direct you further.

Lorraine

Contact us

IT

Matters relating to central computing, including passwords and audiovisual equipment in centrally-booked teaching spaces.

Read more about UCL Information Services Division (ISD)

Contact: IT services help and support

[Anna_Moderator]

Hi @Graham_P

Welcome to the community, I’m sorry to hear about your stroke.

It’s great that you’ve been using Eye Search and I’m sorry to hear you’ve been having problems with it. I think our website might have an out of date link which I’ll speak to our web team about. I’ve found the below link which seems to work both on a computer and mobile.

Eye-Search - UCL's free therapy for visual search problems

I hope this helps and I hope you’ll find this community helpful for your recovery. If you need anything whilst you’re using the Online Community, please don’t hesitate to tag me using the @ symbol and my username.

Anna

[EmeraldEyes]

Anna, I’ve just tried your link to Eye-search and still get the same message that it only works on desktop device. Couldn’t seem to see where there might be a mobile version. But then again, maybe I just didn’t look too deeply into the bowels of the website.

It’s not that I need it anyway, I don’t have any visual issues. I just like test out these things from a stroke survivors perspective

So, if there is a mobile version of the app, then they’ve just lost a couple of points on ease of access to to it But I think for the nature of the exercises it conducts, a mobile probably wouldn’t be suitable anyway

Lorraine

[Anna_Moderator]

Hi @EmeraldEyes Lorraine

Ahh yes, you’re quite right, there is a message that says it only works on desktops but I think that’s as you say, because it’s not going to be suitable for mobiles due to the nature of the exercises.

Hopefully the link I’ve provided will still help with accessing this on the desktop site.

Anna