[nagdu] New information about more and more people becomingblind

Wed Mar 31 06:09:48 UTC 2010

Rebecca,

I'm a partial, and I still don't always get it.  /lol/  I can't imagine what
it's like to never have seen, I can't imagine what it will be like to
totally not see, I'm starting to think sighted people are weird for using
flashlights to look around the yard after that (don't they need a cane to do
that?), and I can't figure out what I can or can't see half the time,
because my brain just doesn't know what to do with the increasingly limited
information it's getting these days that it still assumes it's supposed to
make images out of.  Good grief!

Every now and then, I will be talking to someone, and they will want to show
me something or demonstrate something and will ask, quite reasonably, "I
know you're blind, but it seems like you can see something, so...  I guess
that makes you visually mpaired, so...."

I feel I should help them out by this time, throw them a hint or something,
but I'm trying to remember which terminology about degrees of blindness
apply to me and whether the other person will think the phrase "I'm a
partial" is not politically correct and be offended.

Then they will drop the subject.  Whew.  And cut straight to the chase:
"How much *can* you see?"

I guess that awful tendency of mine to break into a nervous giggle at the
worst possible moment because I don't know what to say really does come in
handy sometimes.  Because the truth is, I don't know!  I don't know what I
can see or what I can't really, not in any definable terms.  I don't know
how blind I am.  I don't even know what level of partial I am!  I'm not even
sure where I fit on the RP scale...  I haven't entirely lost color yet, but
it seems I'm losing light perception faster, so do I qualify as light/dark
even though I can pick up some color in some light?  I don't know!  It
doesn't really matter that I don't know, although I find it very strange for
me not to, since I am the sort of person who can't do a third grade
arithmetic problem without rounding things to the 4th decimal point, and
even then, I think it's pretty darn iffy.

But when it comes to blindness -- specifically my blindness -- I don't have
a clue how to define it on any level.

The giggle is so embarrassing that I'm no longer ashamed to admit to that,
and I guess the other person feels more at ease then, so we can carry on
while they figure out how to show me whatever it is and I figure out how to
be shown...  Which I really haven't figured out yet, either.

Probably one of the smartest decisions I ever made when I learned that my RP
was on the move and I had gotten to legal blindness was to just give myself
permission to have some rocky psychological and emotional times and to not
try to worry so much about the literal "going blind" bit but just go with it
and live the adventure.

The adventure is exhausting, but weirdly interesting.  I wish I could speed
up and get through the adventure and return to my regularly scheduled life,
but for now I just have to go with it and figure that I will be weird for
the duration.  Whatever works! /grin/

Tami Smith-Kinney

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC)
Sent: Monday, March 29, 2010 12:01 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] New information about more and more people
becomingblind

Compitent or not understanding what you can and can't see and how that
applies to a given situation? 
I have to confess, I have no idea how partial vision works. I'm totally
blind, and in my mind either a person "can see" in that they can use their
vision to help them function, or they can't. I'm not saying I'm right, that
I simply don't understand. I'd probably be thrown if I thought someone was
blind and then they commente on the color of something I was wearing. Again,
I'm not saying I'm right, just that would probably be my gut level reaction.

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Jewel S.
Sent: Friday, March 26, 2010 5:04 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] New information about more and more people
becomingblind

I feel that I get treated differently as soon as a person finds out
that I'm not totally blind. For example, today I told a lady that I
liked her shirt, that it was a pretty colour (it was a bright pink,
one of my favourite colours). As soon as she heard that, she said "Oh,
you must be partially blind not totally." And I said, yes, that I was,
and all of a sudden the people around us who were concerned about my
travel and getting to a chair (which I didn't want that concern) let
me be and seemed no longer concerned. It was as if they thought that,
because I have some vision (no matter how little, since I see only
colour, shadows, and light in only one eye), suddenly now I am so much
more competent. Actualy, it's not true, because my vision often gets
in the way, making me think something is there that isn't or vice
versa, and bright colours often distract me from what I really should
be doing.

Two cents,
Jewel

On 3/26/10, Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC) <REBECCA.PICKRELL at tasc.com> wrote:
> William makes some excellent points.
> I'd be curious, how/why do some of you think those people who had sight in
> that undefined time as "before" are treated differently?
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of William ODonnell
> Sent: Thursday, March 25, 2010 3:11 PM
> To: the National Association of Guide Dog UsersNAGDU Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] New information about more and more people
> becomingblind
>
> Take note to the fact that there are those of us who have had no vision
> since the beginning of life.  With this said, the rule does not apply that
> parents used good teaching tools and learned from the beginning.  I know
too
> many people who have been razed by parents that assume the role of
teaching
> to the "blindness" agencies or professionals further entrapping there
> children in to living within the means of the "status quo."  In other
words,
> many children end up learning to deal with what is given to them in a way
to
> feel as if they and the services are "normal" since from an early age,
they
> are not properly taught about advocating for themselves as well as the law
> that is supposed to protect them.
>
> --- On Thu, 3/25/10, cheryl echevarria <cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> From: cheryl echevarria <cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com>
>> Subject: [nagdu] New information about more and more people becoming
>> blind
>> To: "nagdu" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
>> Date: Thursday, March 25, 2010, 2:20 PM
>> Now it is interesting because this
>> was on ABC New Last night.  The a new study of people
>> with Diabetes whether type 1 or type 2.  The story
>> emphasizes on diabetics but it should also go for people to
>> get there eyesight check once a year.
>>
>> Because more and more people aren't properly getting check
>> for diabetes when they go to the doctor, or if they have
>> diabetes that they won't go blind as long as there sugars
>> are controlled are absolutely wrong.
>>
>> I know because I lost my vision to diabetes.  It
>> showed that the blood vessel around the retina get blocked
>> and will get to the point where the is no blood flow and
>> your vision will get worse and worse and there is no way of
>> stopping the damage was it starts it may slow down for
>> awhile.  But Diabetes is the no 1 cause of blindness in
>> this country.
>>
>> I say this on this list because a it seems to me that
>> people who have had vision and now don't seem to be treated
>> differently.  I find this true and in fact a friend of
>> mine out here who is blind and not from the NFB and is a
>> guide dog user, its true she told me she said that she was
>> jealous of me that I was able to see and describe to her
>> things she couldn't see. I still see things, but more black
>> and white and blurred but still shapes and objects.
>> But at the same time I told her that I was jealous of her
>> because she learned from day one from parents that made sure
>> she had all the right tools and no how so she could be
>> independent and I am still learning my ABCs so to say.
>>
>> There will be more and more newly blind people, especially
>> those return home from fighting wars for our country, and I
>> think we need for them to know the laws and the mobility
>> that is out there and work on those issues instead of trying
>> to see who knows the laws better then the other when
>> everyone interprets it in the own way.
>>
>> This statement might be all over the place but you get my
>> drift.
>>
>> Cheryl Echevarria
>> Independent Travel Consultant
>> http://Echevarriatravel.com<http://echevarriatravel.com/>
>> 1-866-580-5574
>>
>> http://blog.echevarriatravel.com<http://blog.echevarriatravel.com/>
>>
Reservations at echevarriatravel.com<mailto:Reservations at echevarriatravel.com>
>> Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose
>> Travel CST-1018299-10
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>
>
>
>
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