What is blind and/or visually impaired

What is Blind and/or Visually Impaired

                   


What would you do if you suddenly lost your eye sight?  Do you even know what being "Legally Blind" is?  Millions of people wear glasses and everyone is different.  Most cases don't happen as suddenly as the one in the video below but it can happen.

Blind Devotion by The Jubilee Project

My eyesight was considered "normal" until I was around 25 years old.  I wore glasses but nothing major.  I knew ahead of time that there was a chance of something going wrong with my eyes.  Both my maternal Grandfather and my mother were consider "legally blind" by the time they were in their 40s and 50s so I thought I had plenty of time to enjoy life.  I was wrong.  Time flies.  Life goes on.  By the time I was in my late 30s I was considered "legally blind".  My vision clinically hasn't changed since then.  There are certain aspects of my vision that have changed though.  For instance, color vision....it sucks.  There isn't a day that goes by that I mistake orange and pink or yellow, blue with green or black, and do get me started with pastels.  I have changed my wardrobe to have either vibrant colors or neutrals so everything goes together.  Another thing that has changed is the sensitivity to light.  Most days I wander around in the dark because lights hurt.  I don't watch TV much anymore because I can't see it very well from a distance.  I manage.  I can't see my feet when I walk so I trip over things. (Try explaining to a 2 or 3 yr old that they have to keep things off the floor or grandma will get hurt)  Like I mentioned in my last post I tend to not use my cane as I am supposed to.  I am making it my life's goal to do this more often.


                      

What do Blind people see?

As defined by the American Federation of the Blind, legally blind is having eyesight no better than 20/200 corrected vision in the better eye, or a visual field not extending beyond 20 degrees in the better eye, or a visual efficiency of no more than 20 percent.  To most people this is all Greek.  In everyday terms it basically means what a normal person reads at 200 feet a "legally blind" person can't see until it is 20 feet away.

Personally, I think the correct term should be visually challenged.  But society hasn't caught on yet.



Deconstructing Disability - The Stream

Educating the public will be my next blog but I thought the above video summed up the overall thoughts.