[Nfb-krafters-korner] Monitoring someone with low vision

River Woman riverwoman at zoominternet.net
Sat Nov 12 13:19:47 UTC 2011 

Dinise,
I think I am very fortunate because my sight loss happened suddenly and with 
no forewarning. I have Ischemic Optic Neuropathy. It happens instantly - one 
minute you can see, the next, you are plunged into a perpetual fog.

I immediately had to figure out how to do things - like how to trim my 
toenails when I cannot see the clipper or the toes. And, yes, the tooth 
paste - a squirt into the mouth does it just fine. After 5 months of sight 
loss, I got into a rehab program at Homestead, PA and it taught me how to 
live my life with no holds barred. At times I did not like my situation at 
all, and frankly, there are still moments when I am "pissed off" about it. 
But those are just moments and I never let them take over.  There are lots 
of times when I am very aware of my blindness and those times can be 
frustrating.

My advice to everyone, get HELP right away. Don't think that you are not yet 
ready for help, or that you don't want to go down that road yet. You are 
already on that road, and the sooner you learn how to adapt to sight loss 
the better it is for you and everyone around you. And, finally, nobody who 
has not had sight loss has a CLUE about how it feels even if they are a 
rehab teacher. If you are not living this life 24/7 you have no idea what it 
"feels" like - don't even bother to debate that point. The sooner you get 
over the pity party, the sooner you can be on to your LIFE. It is a GREAT 
LIFE, with or without sight and that is the bottom line for me.

I would realy urge anyone who is beginning sight loss to get involved in 
whatever rehab program is available to them and to fully emprace it and 
learn about adaptations from people who have made those adaptations 
themselves. They will be so much more independent and confident once they 
do.

Lynda River Woman
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Barb Roland" <barbwire59 at gmail.com>
To: "List for blind crafters and artists" <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, November 11, 2011 10:45 PM
Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Monitoring someone with low vision


> Denise, I can relate to the two ladies who are losing vision. I myself am 
> slowly losing vision and have been doing so for the past 26 years. 
> Sometimes I wish it would just happen and get it over with. With RP 
> (retinitis pigmentosa) the vision loss is a slow process, we lose some, 
> get adjusted then lose more and have to readjust again and again, it can 
> be very frustrating and triing. When one is so use doing things one way, 
> such as using their vision, it takes time to adjust to relearn how to do 
> it differently. I feel for these ladies and understand how they are 
> feeling right now, they will need time to adjust and relaearn how to do 
> things.
> How to encourage them? Thats a hard one because everyone is different, 
> first they will need to come to terms with their declining vision, then 
> they will need to learn how to do things differently. They will need to 
> start out small and build on their confidences with positive things. In 
> trying to remember some of the changes I had to make as time went by was 
> having to relearn how about  brushing my teeth, with vision, one is taught 
> to put the toothpaste on the toothbrush, as my vision got worst, I 
> switched to a colored toothpaste so I would have the contrast between the 
> brush and the paste, then my vision got worst and I had to figure a 
> different way, someone suggested just swirting the paste into my mouth, 
> this went against everything I had learned, but now it's second nature to 
> me.
> They will need to start off small and simple, finding new ways of doing 
> things. When I started crafting, first I had to find something that would 
> not require me to use what sight I have left, but this was hard to do as I 
> was still trying to use my vison, so having contrast was the way for me to 
> get started, as I lost more vision and the contrast thingy was not working 
> so well, I started learning to use my hands. I still try to use what 
> vision I have left, but the more I craft (loom knit) the less I'm using my 
> vision and just using my hands/fingers.
> Let them use what vision they have but encourage them to also use their 
> hands to get use to how things feel, then encourage them to close their 
> eyes and feel things.
> Hope this helps some.
> Barb R.
> Z6
>
> 'Just living is not enough,' said the butterfly, 'one must have sunshine, 
> freedom and a little flower.' ~ Hans Christian Anderson
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Denise Shaible" <denise.shaible at att.net>
> To: "List for blind crafters and artists" <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, November 11, 2011 6:07 PM
> Subject: Re: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Hi from a new member.
>
>
>> Hi Pipi,
>>
>> Welcome.  I'm Denise Shaible and I live in California.  Hi to any other 
>> new members.  this list is growing so fast and it's great to meet all of 
>> you.  I hope you take some classes so we can get to know each other by 
>> voice and not just by list.  Pipi, I know you'll get lots of information 
>> about crocheting from the many folks on this list who do it.
>>
>> By the way, let me take this opportunity to ask a question of some of you 
>> who knit or crochet and who are totally blind.  I have light perception 
>> and do all of my knitting by using my hands.  I guess others out there 
>> can identify with this.  Can any of you give me  suggestions about how to 
>> mentor someone who has a little vision left and doesn't believe she can 
>> just use her hands?  I met two people at the Braille Institute last 
>> Tuesday who are losing their vision and don't believe they can just use 
>> their hands.  I think I put my foot in my mouth with one of them when she 
>> said she had to use her vision to see the congtrast between her yarn and 
>> needles.  I had spent half an hour listening to this type of talk and I 
>> guess I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to say that she didn't need 
>> her vision. Maybe there's a better way.
>>
>> Our teacher has low vision and she does a great job with knitting and 
>> crocheting.  In fact, she gave me the idea to want to crochet.  I had the 
>> same experience as Pipi in that someone sighted tried to teach me.  I 
>> remember the chain stitch so, maybe my teacher will be able to teach me. 
>> I don't know.  I'm sure lots of you have opinions on this topic.  I look 
>> forward to hearing from you.  Again, welcome, Pipi and all of our other 
>> new members.
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Denise
>>
>> -----Original Message----- 
>> From: Pipi
>> Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2011 8:58 PM
>> To: List for blind crafters and artists
>> Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] Hi from a new member.
>>
>> Hey y'all,
>> I joined the list a couple of days ago and thought I should introduce
>> myself.
>> I'm Pipi, from Kansas. I wanted to join the list because I've always 
>> wanted
>> to learn how to crochet. I attempted to have my mom teach me years ago, 
>> but
>> it didn't work for us. She didn't know how to teach a blind person and I
>> didn't have enough vision to see what she was talking about.
>> As far as crafts go, I have made several throw blankets and have been
>> working on my own queen sized quilt for years. I don't know if I'm 
>> actually
>> making an actual quilt because I don't know the proper way to do so, but 
>> I
>> decided that I wanted to make myself one for my bed and went from there.
>> I also do a bit of scrapbooking, mainly for my daughter's keepsakes and
>> record of her life.
>> How do I go about learning to crochet? I've noticed some classes that 
>> have
>> happened and that will be happening in the future. Can someone give me a 
>> bit
>> more information as to what these are about?
>> Thanks for reading if you made it this far.
>> Pipi
>>
>>
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