[nagdu] apolgies

[Marion Gwizdala]

Gail,
    First of all, I need to say that ophthalmologists are, for the most 
part, very ignorant about blindness. They see it as their failure and have 
no clue what services are available for the blind nor any perception of how 
a blind person can function independently. Furthermore, their focus seems to 
be only on acuity, not field of vision, both of which are considered in a 
determination of legal blindness. Though I am not an ophthalmologist, your 
comment about depth perception issues leads me to believe that your field of 
vision is very restricted and your acuity in your worse eye may be less than 
what the doctor is saying. BTW, Most schools consider the whole definition 
of legal blindness when making a determination of eligibility: 20/200 in the 
better eye after correction and/or a field of vision of less than 20 
degrees. I would encourage you to not give up too quickly, as there are 
schools that might work with you. Check out GDF and Southeastern before you 
give up completely.

fraternally yours,
Marion Gwizdala



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gail" <deerskin at oct.net>
To: <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, June 25, 2010 11:04 PM
Subject: [nagdu] apolgies


> Thank you all for caring. It means so much to me But it looks hopeless. I
> should never have dared to allow myself this hope, since I cant deal with
> the agony of the rejection. And there are things that make it so that 
> there
> is no hope.
>
> Wayne didnt tell me till just now that whe he canceled the MRI with that
> stupid doctor, they told him that
> 'She isnt blind by any definition, shes 20/25 at worst.' they threw out 
> the
> humphries exams, all of them, and threw out what I said about my depth
> perception. So anything now to GDB, or any other school would be a wast of
> time....to everyone, I'm just a fat lazy liar, like that doctor asked me. 
> No
> school would take someone like me, not legally blind, who cant breathe 
> well,
> who cant walk miles after getting a dog...
>
> The amout of walking GDB told me I would have to do would have been
> impossible even in my 20s....my lungs are a mess from years of brochitis
> that is only kept under control by my not being outside much, staying in
> where there is AC. That was how I trained my own dogs....I was able to 
> drive
> 2-3 times a week to the market or hardware store, and work there with the
> dogs. I cant drive now, obviously, and with the amount of work my husband
> has, there is no chance he can take me to the nearest store -15 miles 
> away-
> that has a place I could sit and rest. I've never walked around and around
> the town, because too much of it is hilly, making it hard to breathe. Now
> that the meds and my lousy metabolism have put on weight on me, its even
> worse. The way the training walks were described, I thought I could handle
> them, because of the climate. Here, in the humidity in the summer, or the
> windy cold, which always makes me sick, I cant walk that much. Both affect
> my breathing badly.
>
> So. Here I am. Without any hope of any kind of service dog. My husband has
> this fantasy that if he just argues enough with me, I will suddely be able
> to walk all of that, and that if he argues enough with them, GDB will
> suddenly take someone who isnt blind and give them a dog.
>
> Why, oh, why did I ever dare to let myself hope for freedom from this
> corner?
>
> I beg everyone's pardon for being such a disruption to the normal flow of
> threads and conversation here. Please, just forget me...I dont  and never
> did belong here.
>
>
> Gail
>
> _______________________________________________
> nagdu mailing list
> nagdu at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> nagdu:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/blind411%40verizon.net