She was not blind before being dehydrated to death. Dr. Hammesfahr observed her to be acutely near-sighted and measured her ability to see -- for practical purposes, she could see only five or ten inches. That matters a lot because tracking is a big part of diagnosis. Before Hammesfahr reported her limited vision, Terri was being asked to track things too far away for her to see -- and they flunked her for it when the problem was with her eyesight, not her tracking.
Dr. Cranford also found that she could see, and told her so in his videotaped exam. He complimented her on following his instructions and told her -- I think this is the exact quotation -- "You CAN see a little, can't you!" Bizarre thing to say if she were either blind or PVS.
So, both sides found that she was sighted, if only a little.
Dr. Thogmartin's finding (= cortical blindness) was hypothetical and post-mortem, not an observed fact.
Certainly Terri could swallow. The autopsy did not "prove" she couldn't. (Go back and read it.) What it did say was that she could not SAFELY be fed by mouth because of the RISK of aspirating.
The autopsy proved she was blind for a long time. That kind of atrophy doesn't happen in the time span of a week and it's never as localized. She was blind and the testimony by docs, claiming she followed objects, is a flat out lie.