While you have vision, start learning basic Braille. A couple years before I went blind I had the opportunity, but turned it down. I regret it immensely.

Also, if you do lose vision, don't be too proud to use a cane. I know several people who have high amounts of vision but total blindness in some areas that have had major injuries, like several broken bones, concussions, etc because they were too proud to use their cane.

On the flipside of that, take everything you're taught as one tool. As you learn and grow more in terms of blindness skills, you will note that some things, like using pins on your clothes, may not be helpful, but others, like using sock clips to keep pairs together, may be. Some people love certain screen readers and only use that one, like me with VoiceOver on my Mac, while other people are comfortable using many platforms.

Don't be afraid to ask questions, since we all had to learn once.

Also, you will grieve for your vision loss, you will go through the stages of grief, and that is completely normal and fine. It's up to you to work through it, maybe with a professional, and come out to acceptance on the other side. You can also go backwards from acceptance, and that's fine too.

Agencies for the blind exist and can be helpful, but you are not obligated to take anything they offer you, and you can say no to items, help in certain areas, or even people. That's one that isn't talked about much.

Guessing from your post history (and the fact it was an endocrinologist), I would guess the doctor is having an eye specialist check for diabetic retinopathy (just a guess, it could be something unrelated).

It is best not to wear make up, especially if they have to put drops into your eyes. Some of it can run out, and some of those drops make you tear up as well.

Depending on the cause of vision loss, there may be some treatments for them. But before jumping right to the treatments, take the time to research some of the side effects. You can also always ask for a second opinion, if you aren't confident in that eye doctor.

If you do have the start of some vision loss, definitely connect to your local rehabilitation agency. Getting training earlier is helpful, even if it turns out you don't need it.

The way I lost my sight was extremely odd. I was born with glaucoma and lost vision in my left eye very early, and since the pressure in my right eye was hard to control I knew that eventually I would go fully blind, however when it started to finally happen nobody was prepared for it, and that includes 3 glaucoma specialists who thought I was lying when I complained about loss of contrast perception, because $1 among ophthalmologists that glaucoma affects the peripheral vision first, and since my pressure was fine, my field of view remained unchanged, and both my cornea and lens were clear the only possible explanation was that I was lying. This lasted until a year later a cataract was diagnosed and immediately blamed for the loss of contrast, and I was advised to do nothing about it until I was completely blind. Another year later my pressure started to increase, so I had surgery to implant a glaucoma valve which was supposed to free me from medication, though 3 months after the surgery my pressure was already back to its previous levels. Eventually my contrast perception got so bad that I was having trouble walking on the street , so I decided to have the cataract surgery, which left me seeing everything extremely blurry and didn't restore my contrast perception, leading one of the doctors to finally conclude that it was probably due to optic nerve damage. Following this I had another surgery to control the pressure because my mother believed that it was still possible to do something about my vision and it actually brought the pressure down but it was already too late.

In my case I wish doctors had been quicker to figure out that my optic nerve was getting damaged and attempted the surgeries as early as possible to avoid blindness, but unfortunately due to the aforementioned misconception coupled with their inability to actually observe the back of my eyes since my pupils don't dilate I ended up going blind.

I was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa at age 12, and was told I'm going blind, albeit slowly. Since then (26 y/o now), I've lost an additional 80% of my sight and am legally blind with a FOV of only 5 degrees, though I can still read and use the phone/computer provided there's good contrast and font size.

I think for me it was a bit easier because I've grown up knowing that my sight is slowly escaping me, but it doesn't mean that I wasn't scared or that I don't still mourn it sometimes. Now that I've entered the stage where I'm having trouble being independent and also losing the ability to read/watch movies etc. it hurts even more.

As other commenters mentioned, you will grieve and experience loss, anger, depression and the lot, and please do allow yourself to feel those things without anu self-judgment. They're normal and human. Still, at the end of the day it's important to remember that you are *not* your eyes, your body is not you, and the loss of vision doesn't define you as a person. You are only as 'disabled' as you allow yourself to be. With new technologies, help from other people and some self-compassion, you will learn how to make peace with this new chapter in your life. <3