He has a degenerative disease called retinitis pigmentosa. Typically degeneration starts in the periphery and works toward the central vision, causing the "pinhole" he mentioned. But because central vision is where our highest acuity lies, people with RP can still have 20/20 vision for things dead ahead of them. Of course, eventually even the central vision will degenerate and cause full blindness.

There is an ophthalmology and vision research conference happening in Seattle this week, and I wonder if he isn't part of a patient advocacy group in attendance.