Hi there! I’ve been legally blind since birth. I was diagnosed with Ocular Albinism and Nystagmus. OA is what pulls pigment from mainly my eyes, but also skin and hair. The lack of pigment in my eyes causes my eyes to retain too much light, making me legally blind at 20/220 vision.
Nystagmus is the uncontrollable twitch of my optic nerve. My eyes shake or “dance” all the time. It isn’t painful, just annoying at times when I’m trying to focus.

If any of you are like me, I was stubborn as heck as a kid. I didn’t want a cane, I didn’t want any of the visual aids that were offered to me, because to me, accepting my disability made me feel broken. But oh boy, I was so wrong. Accepting my disability, was the first big step to accepting myself.

It wasn’t until recently I was able to accept who I am. I didn’t know anyone who was like me. I didn’t want to be different. So, I went onto YouTube and typed my condition, and a young man named James Rath popped up.

**James Rath** is a young film maker/ producer based in Los Angeles, California. He is legally blind with Ocular Albinism and Nystagmus . He creates content about accessibility and technology. His channel also features short films about accessibility, and even some sit downs with other youtubers who are disabled.

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Here James demonstrates in his own way, what his vision is like. This is a good tool for anyone else who has the same/ similar conditions, and who wants to show a sighted person what the world is like through their eyes.

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Here, James explains that his vision isn’t a problem. It’s a very uplifting video about James explaining that his vision doesn’t hinder him. One of my personal favourites that helped me accept myself.

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Here James sits down with a Blind YouTuber names Molly Burke. I’m using this as a segue into Molly, but Molly is totally blind. She used a guide dog and James explains why he doesn’t.
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**Moly Burke** is a fashion/health vlogger who has Retinitis Pigmentosa and Nystagmus. She talks about her life being totally blind, and how to plays into her love for fashion and makeup. She has completely raw videos where she talks about going blind and how she handled it. She’s a bubbly girl from Toronto, Ontario who recently moved to Los Angeles, California.

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This is a lengthy video Molly has detailing her entire experience of RP and other Ocular conditions. It’s a good introduction to RP if you don’t know what this condition is. She reiterates a few times that not everyone has the same experience with Retinitis Pigmentosa.

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Molly shows how she uses Apple Technology to aide her in not only her daily life, but for leisure use too. She demonstrates how to turn accessibility features on, and walks through what Apple has done to make accessibility so easy to use. This is a great video if you’re visually impaired and wondering if Apple products are worth it for accessibility. (Spoiler alert, they are, even James Rath will enthusiastically promote these products for accessibility).

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I really like this video, its quite cute and interesting to see how Molly applies makeup! She uses her hands for almost everything. This could be a great video to watch/listen to if you’re visually impaired and worried about makeup and wondering how it could fit into your life, if you thought it couldn’t before.
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Lastly, I want to show you **Tommy Edison.** Tommy is an absolutely hilarious, born-blind person who uses his humour to answer a lot of common questions about being blind. He gives some social commentary as well, but his humour is his number one feature. His videos are done in collaboration with Ben Churchill, who produces, edits and directs all of Tommy’s videos.

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Here, we are an introduced to a spectacular Deaf YouTuber named Rikki Poynter. They talk about how they communicate with each other and what aids and methods are good for talking with a deaf person and for blind people. They both use great humour throughout the video.

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Tommy puts a positive twist on perks of being blind. It’s a fun morale booster, and lets you laugh about things that maybe used to seem negative.

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A great social commentary about racism. Tommy tried to fathom the idea of discrimination based on “race” or “appearance”. Although he talks about how personality is so much more important than what is just skin deep.
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This was a long post, so forgive me. But if you are blind/legally blind, these videos are great to watch and learn from. You get to enjoy and celebrate other people in this world who have visual disabilities, and are happy and successful.

And if you’re sighted but curious, these people are great for you to learn a bit about what life is like for us.

I hope someone here gets some use from these resources.

Have a great day, friends. 😊