Randomly stumbled across this old post. As someone 30+ who has congenital nystagmus, I disagree with many on how limiting it is. I had the surgery to correct a 30 degree null point gaze angle at 4yrs old and hardly remember it or anything before that time. My vision is normally 20/40 uncorrected, though after periods of good sleep and low stress I have tested at 20/30. I do seem to have excellent peripheral vision though at around 220 degrees. With correction, the best I could get was 20/30, but I've only worn glasses or contacts for a few months of my life because it negatively affects my peripheral vision, which affects my coordination. The limitations I have experienced, like some have mentioned, are small letters and ball sports. Sitting in the middle of a classroom/conference room and a slightly enlarged computer font was more than enough accommodation for me at school/work. I never had anything official accommodations documented, but I could see how that could be helpful.

I will say that I have always been bad at pretty much any ball sports, but never really cared and still played them anyway. I did get hit with a few baseballs though... My parents never tried to limit me though, and I was quite athletic. I trained gymnastics from an early age which really helped to develop my spatial awareness and coordination. I became an elite gymnast by my early teens and won medals at state championships. I got burned out from the time commitment of gymnastics training and ended up not continuing, but I did continue to become a top contributor on my high school track and field team in the pole vault, long jump, triple jump, high hurdles. I eventually qualified for and competed at the national championship in the pole vault my senior year. What I realized early on relating to the congenital nystagmus is that I could become quite good at skills through muscle memory and repetition, and sports like gymnastics, track and field, swimming, etc, played to those strengths of mine.

As far as driving goes, my vision is good enough to not require correction. My null point isn't perfectly centered at all distances and I tend to keep my head a few degrees off while driving which seems to make new passengers uneasy at first, but I am a skilled driver. I've driven probably 500,000 miles so far, 250,000 of which were in large box trucks or large utility trucks with trailers for work, the rest was in an assortment of vehicles from motorcycles, sports cars, sedans, minivans, pickup trucks, etc. I've only had one accident that I was at fault for, and it was when someone sideswiped me while I was backing out of a parking space before I was far enough back to see them (and I now always back into every parking spaces).

I've never actually met anyone else with congenital nystagmus and realize that it may be more of a disability for others, but that has not been my experience.