Hello there.

I have severe low vision with chunks of my life totally blind. My boy was born blind but after a number of surgeries and therapy has severe low vision.

I was told that there was no chance I would have a child with an eye problem. Turns out medicine gets things wrong sometimes!

We were super scared and confused when it happened. Living through difficulties myself gave me an appreciation of the difficulties that would be coming for us.

In my view - the big challenges that blind people face are:

1. Transport
2. Employment/education
3. Insurance
4. Friendships/relationships

Transport - when your child gets older they will have fairly limited locations they can live because (unless self driving is solved) they’ll need access to public transport to study, work and play. I am lucky that I live in Sydney with kind-of-ok transport but there are many places in Australia I can’t live because I would not be able to get to where I need to go.

Employment/education - not sure about your country but unemployment rates are very high for low vision and blind. Vision Australia says it’s 60%. The key is to get help early with development, education, and career advice.

Insurance - In Australia being disabled often means exclusion from insurance. This has implications for travel, family, business and such. It’s starting to have effects in medical insurance in Oz. The tip - get good advice from other families to avoid pitfalls.

Friendships/relationships. These are obviously more challenging but attitudes are starting to change so who knows.

Speaking personally - my life has been hard but I have enjoyed it. At the least it is an interesting story. I look forward to seeing what interesting story your child brings to the world.

Good luck.

I’m probably not quite the person to help here. I wasn’t blind from birth and am very much not a parent. I’m a 17 year old girl with retinitis pigmentosa. I’m legally blind, and will lose the remainder of my vision in the next few months/years. My best friend is fully blind, with a little light perception. His retinas detached too when he was an infant,


And let me tell you, from both my experience and my friend’s: things will be okay. We both go to a school for the blind (I still go there, he graduated last year) which allowed me to do quite well school wise. I prematurely did my English exams last year, which I passed with the highest grades of the school. My friend is currently in law school and doing quite well for himself. Public schools are possible, but schools for the blind are an amazing option.


As for your concerns about your kiddo having a normal childhood, I can’t speak from personal experience, as I’ve only been visually impaired since I was 14, but I know from my friend and other classmates that were VI from a young age, I can assure you again: it will be okay. Some stuff, like playing sports, might be hard (Maybe look into Goalball when the time comes? It really helped me and it’s super fun) but there’s so much that’s still very much possible.


Cheesy as it may sound: Being blind isn’t a death sentence. On the one hand, I am legally blind. I take braille lessons, have mobility training, can’t safely cycle anymore (And I’m Dutch so you can imagine what a big deal that is) use a cane, constantly lose stuff, break down every once in a while, bump into random things, and am in hospital way more than I want to. But on the other hand I am also just a teen, who works out three times a week, goes to school, loves to bake, plays DnD and piano, lives and breathes memes, and is generally… quite happy. I know it’s hard to believe right now but there will be so much more to your life and your kid’s life than his disability. There are amazing resources out there, and you will find them.



If there are any questions feel free to ask, or PM me.

All the best!

Please what ever you do, allow your child to be as independent as they can. When they learn cane skills, let them go out, let them fall down, knowing they’ll get up again and let them learn.

I have been sheltered for most of my life and feel that this held me back from making friends like everybody else.

Blind people use laptops/computers, smartphones, talking TVs, talking ATMs and i’m sure there’ll be a lot more accessibility changes in their future.

So many feelings! So many questions!
Something to remember that blindness is somewhat of a good disability, by that i mean ‘my’ people often have full access to their arms, legs, mind and hearing (unless other factors are in play). That means there’s a lot of things that *can* be done such as sports, outdoor rec, living independently, walking to school etc.
For blind / visually impaired people it’s sometimes a bit scary to go to a new place since there’s a lot of unmowns about it. After awhile it’s not a problem. With tools such as braille, white canes, magnifiers etc - studying, working or visiting new areas gets easier.
Perhaps it’s a good idea to send your child to a regular school. They should be able to accommodate whatever needs are. Once the right tools and services are present - the disability disappears since they’re as ‘abke’ as other kids. I hope that makes sense.
Everything will be good, you’ll see. I promise.

I know I'm not the target audience for your question (I'm sighted, but my daughter is legally blind and I work at a center for the blind), and that initial diagnosis takes some time to process so I hope you're doing okay.

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Yes your kid is totally going to be able to play and I think it's very important to encourage that independence! That said, every kid is different. My work runs a summer camp for blind and visually impaired kids, and last year we rented a bouncy obstacle course, and there was one totally blind kid who shot through the 40 feet of obstacles in about 13 seconds. There was another kid who did have some vision, who took like three minutes to get through it. But they all did it, they were all safe, and they all had a great time.

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As for schools- its going to depend a lot on your kiddo and your schools and where you live. If youre living in the US, your son should get Early Intervention starting pretty young, so by the time he's ready even to go to school, you'll have professionals in your life that you can talk to about what's best for your kid. (you will spend a LOT of time in IEP meetings!!) And it's good to note here- pay attention to who works for the school and who doesn't. My daughter's going into middle school, and has a TVI (teacher of the visually impaired) and a O+M (orientation and mobility specialist) that dont work FOR The school, they're contracted, and honestly, they are my daughter's biggest advocates because theyre not beholden to the school. Personally, we chose public school for now, knowing that we also have a school for the blind close by. We have been thinking about sending her there for high school, mostly for the much more intense "expanded core curriculum" skills, like how to take care of herself, that I wouldn't be able to teach her in an effective way.

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It's not stupid to want you kids to have friends nearby! Friends are important. That said, as he gets older, you'll find that the friends being close isn't as important. All the kids have phones (and yes blind people can use smartphones- if you have an iphone, turn on voiceover and check it out! Also the app SeeingAI is amazing, but that is just for apple devices as well) and they'll all text and send each other videos on youtube and all that.

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If you want to talk more, feel free to DM me!

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Hello there! I'm just another person chipping in who probably shouldn't be chipping in. You've got a few great perspectives here which sounds helpful. Hopefully I can give you the side of what TVIs wish parents knew.
First off, congratulations on your baby boy! Your house will be filled with so much joy from now on. Make sure you take time with your family and friends to enjoy all the things your baby boy is doing and can do. It's easy to get caught in a trap of feeling bad and down about the situation. You need to grieve, but you can't let that grief forever place limitations on your son. He has the same potential to fly as high as any other child, but he might need more support and tough love from you to make it happen.
You will find very quickly that society will want to tell you and your son about all the things here cannot do. Don't listen to that.
Some random person decided one day to say that 80% of what we learn comes from visually observing others. While the number hasn't been scientifically proven, the amount we learn from watching others is quite high. This means that our children with visual impairments are at risk of falling behind if we don't recognize what they need to learn and teach them in another way. It does NOT mean your child is much more limited than anyone else in what he can learn. He just has to do it in a different way.
If there are three pieces of advice I could give you for the coming months it is to, verbalize everything you are doing now and forever so that you're child learns what is happening beyond his sense of hearing and touch. Set your expectations for your son high. Other people will try to crush his dreams. You don't have to be one of them. Stay positive and practice saying yes to everything. The only way your son will learn is with lots of hands on practice, which means he will make lots of hands on mistakes. Mistakes are wonderful mini lessons.
Good luck. You will do great. Your son will do great!

A big tip my parents give from raising me is, don't raise your child to be blind, just raise them. I'm a fairly independent person despite my disability and your child can be too. Don't limit them to what they tell you that is possible. Many people told my parents I would never graduate high school with out getting an assisted diploma which where i'm from is seen as a handout and not entirely valid. I got a normal one with like everybody else but it was a fight. Public school is hard but you need to advocate for child and help teach them at the early stages that they are not allowed to be wronged. That if a teacher is passively refusing to teach them because it is extra labor, it is wrong and that wrong can be fixed with intervention

So I believe that you've been receiving pretty decent responses, so a lot of the things that I'll say might just be reiterating some of them. I still wanted to go ahead and add my perspective as someone who was born totally blind and still lives that way:

First, it's perfectly ok for you to be upset. You didn't expect this to happen, and I definitely understand how this--in some ways--might be a devastating result for you. But as others have said: I promise, promise it will all be absolutely fine. There are definitely moments in my life that having no vision can be frustrating or limiting, but conversely, I also feel that I've so far been living a very fulfilling one.

It seems that people have already been doing a good job of reiterating this to you, but don't ever fall into the trap of thinking that just because your kid can't see doesn't mean that you should raise them any differently. I might even argue that maybe there even needs to be even more tough love in your parenting style--because you will need to do your best to make sure that your kid knows his capabilities for independence. My mother never, ever helped me accomplish a task unless I had at least tried to do it myself, and I honestly can't think her enough for that. By the time I was 6, I could prepare little meals for myself, clean the kitchen somewhat, was in gymnastics, and when I was 9 I almost skipped a grade--but none of that would have been possible if not for my mother's absolutely unwavering belief and certainty in my capabilities.

Conversely, you will need to do your best to acknowledge your kids differences--in the multitude of ways that that might manifest. They are going to struggle with self-esteem and conditions of self-worth. They are probably going to face bullying at some point in their schooling. They are going to struggle with experimenting in their independence--what will that mean for them? How much help can or should they ask for? Their development as a person is definitely going to be shaped by their disability, and if there is something that I wish the people around me had been more conscious of, it's definitely that. Growing up, I was constantly told that the only things I'd never be able to do were drive a car and fly an airplane, and that's patently untrue; I wish that the people around me not only would have been more aware of my limitations, but more comfortable expressing them to me. There's nothing wrong with recognizing that.

At the same time, I can't express the importance of raising your kid to be someone who will strive to test those limitations. Personally, I am so incredibly grateful to my support system for not sending me to a blind school--even though the one in my state is one of the best in the country, I believe that going to a public one really gave me the tools to interact with others. It also helped me learn how to be a self-advocate--a skill that definitely became more and more important as I went off to university; one thing that can be said for blind schools is that they are definitely more accommodating and receptive to one's needs, and while that can be an advantage in some ways, it doesn't prepare a blind student for the sort of experiences they will have to navigate in the real world.

Lastly, and I'm sure you've already gathered this from others but: despite all of this confusion and hurdles to navigate and considerations to weigh, he's really just your kid, so just treat him like one. There are going to be people trying to tell you how to raise him--whether because they are "blindness experts" or your mother who can't believe that you're letting that poor little boy run around by himself like that! But really, you'll know what's best--trust in yourself. And you'll make mistakes, and he will too, and if he gets into sports, he'll probably bust a tooth or sprain something (both of these things have happened to me), and you'll probably feel bad about it, but all of this is just life. When it comes deep down to it, his life and the way you raise him doesn't have to be terribly different to anyone else's.

I'm sending you the deepest love and support, and I can imagine that things probably still do seem daunting, but know that you have community here and around you as well. You don't have to take this journey by yourself! You've already done great by reaching out to the blind community here--please continue to do so if you have questions.

Good luck, we're here for you, and congratulations on the new family member! <3

i have a couple of invisible disabilities and it looks like my career is shaping up to center around disability awareness. i am a sighted person too so take my comment worth a grain of salt.

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start watching/reading biographies on famous blind people. sure all these people are one in a million but they are out there so its proof of what a blind person can achieve. your child will probably never be the basketball player or surgeon that you hoped for but there is still a good chance they can be a musician or lawyer or a long list of other really exciting things. they might need some help with certain tasks but they can make very valuable contributions to society. $1

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recognize that the worst part of any disability is the emotional baggage and social stigma. physically, your child will probably learn how to get by in life far better than you will expect without being able to see but the emotional side of having a disability is very challenging. its going to be harder for your child to develop healthy self-esteem. it might be good to make friends with adults and children who have vision issues to help give support. in general, please keep this in the front of your mind so that you can develop strategies to help your emotional development.

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i don't know if you are a dog person but imagine if you could hold a good conversation with a dog. if you could tell them about how poor your sense of smell is compared to theirs, they would be mortified. they would shower you with unwarranted pity and support. at the same time you have to realize that dogs actually have really poor sense of vision. they hardly depend on their vision at all and yet somehow they get by rather well. no one pity's them for it. your child might learn to perceive the world much differently than we do but that doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing.

I’m not going to answer your questions because I’m not really in a position to (I’m partially sighted and pass as sighted). But I would like to stress the importance of sports or other leisure activities. It helps build confidence and there are a lot of adapted sports available. You mentioned you are in Western Europe, there should be quite a few different organizations that will cater to VI kids for when he is older.

My daughter was diagnosed when she was 4 months old. All of the thoughts and feelings you have are perfectly valid. There is a grieving process that you need to go through and it is isolating because you don’t know anyone with this experience. You keep thinking of activities and experiences that they will never have. That is only because you have only experienced the world as a sighted person. They will do all the things they want (with some limited exceptions like driving), but they will do them a different way than you.

My daughter is now 3, she goes to preschool, has friends, plays on the playground by herself. If you didn’t know she would look like a normal kid.

Find out what services you qualify for, I don’t know what is available in the country you are in. We had a teacher for the visually impaired come to the house after she was diagnosed. This was through the school district. I took online classes at Hadley school for the blind that taught me what I needed to know as a parent. Such as describing everything that was happening that she couldn’t see. She can’t take in information visually so you need to provide the same information in a different way. “I’m getting a pot, filling it with water, turning on the stove, it is hot...etc.”

You have gotten a lot of information from other, please let me know if you have any questions

Hi.
There has been some good advice here so let me add what I can to the stack.
I am totally blind, married with kids, went to public school, and have a decent job.
I did a sport in high school, went to college, go out to various places both independently and with other people etc.
Depending on the personality and other abilities of your child, they can AND SHOULD expect to live a happy and normal life.
There will be challenges, but the biggest one will be their own ideas of their own limitations.
Also, more as a parent than as just a blind person, remember that you just had an otherwise healthy and happy baby. Enjoy this time and enjoy just being with your partner and child for a while.
You have a lot of time to figure ,this stuff out and you don't have to be worrying about sending the baby off to college quite yet. You have time to get to know your baby and figure their capabilities out.
Believe it or not, a lot of this stuff will fall into place..

Best of luck

For the first question, with proper orientation and mobility training, he will be able to go to places independently. Please do not do what my mother did and lock him up for 7 years because you are worried about his safety. If he has the training, he will be able to do anything. For the second question, I went to a normal public school and took regular classes. One of the first things he should learn besides OandM is Braille. Without, braille, he will not be able to read. Make sure that by the time he is 18, he is 100 percent fluent in the braille code. There are ways to get support from teachers and there are people who have the job of teaching blind kids. They are called TVIS and if. You don't really have to worry. He can definitely be successful. If you want an example of successful blind people, I recommend looking blind tripplet Eagle Scouts on google. Let's just say I know them. I hope this helps.

I think your already starting off on the right foot by going to the blind people who have lived it first, instead of the church or some random internet facebook group or something.

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Anyway all I can really add would be that teaching an appreciation for proper spelling is going to be extra important for a blind person that will probably use a screen reader later in life, and that you should start the kid with braille as soon as possible as the older you get the harder it gets exponentially it seems.

Learning touch typing skills on a computer and telephone keypad is also a useful skill, though they may not be ready for it until they are like ten when it comes to the computer keyboard at least...

If your kid ends up with a cranky old vision teacher and comes home upset every day, and it's beyond just the difficulty of braille as a concept, then try to see if you can get a new teacher ASAP because it seems that the worse the teacher's attitude, the worse the attitude towards braille later in life can be.

Cane and auditory skills are also very important at an early age, just don't be surprised if your kid starts threatening other kids with their cane when they get picked on, because it's pretty common LOL.

I haven't read the comments here, so I'm sorry if I am repeating what people have said so far. I was not born blind, but I did lose both eyes by the time I was about 2 and a half years old.
I was an extremely active, energetic, and adventurous child. I think that as a very young kid, like in preschool, kindergarten, maybe 1st grade, I had a para (a teacher assigned to working with me) at the very least watching me play outside. They didn't hover; I don't even have many memories of them getting involved. They let me interact with my friends and other kids as much as I liked to, which was a lot. I also spent before school and after school hours at a daycare where I was completely independent. I very quickly learned the lay of the land, both indoors and outdoors, and ran around and played at my leisure. I learned to recognize the sounds of different sections and follow voices of people around me. My friends were often with me to guide me if I really needed it, and the employees were very watchful of all of us, so I was never in danger. Yes; I ran into a lot of things. My mom threatened to start making me wear a helmet if I didn't learn to keep my hands out in front of me when I ran around like a wild child. I have quite a few bumps and bruises growing up, but I was never seriously injured and fully believe it taught me more than it hurt me.

Sometimes I needed an introduction to an area. For example, we moved a lot as I grew up. Before we started moving boxes into the apartment or house, my mom would walk with me into it, alone, and have me trail (follow with a hand) along the walls and counters so I could get my bearings.

Every blind child is going to be different. I was taught to believe that I could do nearly everything my sighted peers did, so I believed it myself. I participated in activities, sports, games, and most visual assignments.

I was raised in the public school system and in all regular education classes. My mom considered putting me into a school for the blind for high school, but the suggestion was immediately shot down by my TVI (teacher of the visually impaired), case manager, and all of my school teachers. I think that the schools for the blind have their benefits, but I fully believe that i have been benefited by not attending one. I have interacted with primarily sighted kids my entire life, outside of online places, and my social skills are better for it. I would not suggest putting your child into a restrictive school. Introducing him to other blind kids when he's old enough to understand it is a great idea, but the education system of most of these schools is too tailored to one specific type of person, which would prevent him from growing into his full potential.


I am now a 21 year old college student. I have lived on my own, I'm looking into getting another apartment of my own, and I have been growing increasingly more grateful to my wonderful mom, who never, ever let my blindness inhibit me. She took me hiking, camping, skiing, rock climbing... everything she possibly could. There was no such thing, for her, as letting me sit out cause i was blind. She's truly the reason why I have become as confident as i have been in my capabilities.

You have got this. Your child has got this. You are going to be amazing, and so is your baby. My mom had no resources when I was a baby. She didn't really search them out. She followed her gut, and the guidance of my TVIs throughout school, and she did amazingly. You will, too. Your kid is going to have a full, enriched life. Trust yourself, and reach out if you ever need anything or have questions. You'll find hundreds... thousands of open ears.
I understand your fear, as much as I can without being in your position. I'd be scared, too, and I know what it's like to be blind. But everything is going to be ok. Maybe not always easy, but it's going to be ok.
Please pm me if you ever want to. I wish you the absolute best of luck!

Look up youtubers such as molly burke, they tend to have great insight!

Firstly, congratulations.
Secondly, it is really encouraging to see parents like you on Reddit asking questions. I think you've gotten a lot of information at this point, and most of it somehow manages not to be conflicting. But I wanted to add some of my own and a bit of personal experience on the way.
I have been to both public and blind schools. Personally, I think blind school comes with many benefits but you will be severely limiting his expectations of himself, his social life, and his ability to advocate if you send him to one. At best, it will be a perfect utopia where he only interacts with people he can relate to because they're all blind, and where everything is accessible so he doesn't have to learn how to speak up and tell others what he needs (and thus, you won't either for that part of his life). At worst, he might not graduate with a diploma or receive a proper education. Blind schools have the target audience of students who can't be easily educated in the public system, and that is simply not true for him. It is going to be harder, and sometimes the teachers will resist you or tell him he can't do something, and sometimes even the professionals who are supposed to know how to work with a blind child will limit him, but all of that would be worse at almost any blind school. More importantly, he's not going to go to blind college. He will transition from a small school with all blind students, potentially sheltering staff, low expectations, and fully accessible materials, into a large campus where he is essentially on his own and held to the same standards as everyone else. (Sure; disability services is there, but mostly to bridge the gap with inaccessible materials and exams; he has to recognize a problem and speak up about it before they step in.)
That said, I think it is important that he interact with blind people sometimes. One of my most memorable experiences in early childhood was meeting other people who also couldn't see. They are the reason I learned technology at such a young age, and I think many of them helped encourage me to be more independent simply by existing and going about their lives. There are probably summer camps and local chapters of various blindness organizations near you.

As for travel, he will absolutely be able to play outside and travel independently. I grew up in a remote area, and the school district still somehow managed to find a specialist. One of the most valuable skills I think a blind person can learn, (and one many of them have not learned because of bad instruction), is what many of us call "structured discovery"-- in other words, learning how to navigate new and unfamiliar areas based on sound and exploration. Many orientation and mobility (O&M) specialists will simply teach the student how to walk to new places without really getting them to examine their surroundings, except perhaps at street crossings. This lack of emphasis on using your surroundings to navigate will make the student dependent on the instructor to find every new place, and make it much harder to recover from getting lost. It may seem like a small thing to some people reading this, but I think it is absolutely essential and something I will always wish I had started learning earlier in life.

My mother found a comfortable middle ground where she didn't always force me to participate if I didn't want to, but more often than not she would push me into something I wasn't entirely certain I could do. She did her research well considering I was born pre-google, and she found a network of parents of blind children, blind professionals, and others who could help her strike that balance. At the same time, I can't recall a single time she told me I couldn't do something. Sometimes she was visibly nervous, but she let me make mistakes, run into things, and eventually learn not to make those mistakes. She stuck up for me when school staff tried to put me with the mentally impaired kids, take me out of class for something the teacher wasn't comfortable adapting, or restrict me more than the other students. She made sure I had the best and earliest Braille and travel instruction possible. I would not have believed myself capable of everything I do now if she hadn't supported me and helped make it happen when I was too young to make those choices myself.
There are going to be many people who tell him he can't do something. Your job as a parent is to decide whether that's true and crush those ideas before they worm their way into his head. Your unwavering support might possibly be the most valuable thing you can give him. You will let him make mistakes, and sometimes he will make them, and sometimes he'll be a stubborn kid who just doesn't want to do something. If he is capable of learning, letting him off the hook will just teach him that he is less capable; that his family thinks he is less capable; and that he can get away with not doing things even when he's capable. Essentially, it spells the difference between forming his identity as either a blind person or just a person who happens to be blind.

I know this might all sound like a lot—I kind of wrote a wall, but I hope some of this made sense and didn't come across as me trying to tell you how to parent. It is ok to grieve about it, but please don't let the fear control the way you parent. Reddit is probably the smallest community of blind people; there are Facebook groups, local and national blindness organizations, and countless other resources. You'll need to discriminate against the ones that don't encourage independence or offer support of some sort, but there is a lot for you. And if you decide you want none of it, he's still going to be fine.

I wish you the best of luck, and even though I'm surely not the first to offer this, please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns or just thoughts.

Hi there,

I understand your anxiety and uncertainty. We felt similarly when we adopted our first child, who was born without eyes. She is now 24, loves life, and brings joy and happiness to everyone she meets. After adopting Hannah, we adopted 5 more children, all completely blind and some with other disabilities as well. I can't answer all of your questions, but you can visit our YouTube channel to see how the kids get along in life. Our 19 year old son David is in his first year at college and living on campus.


Here is the link to our channel: $1

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Hello! Please keep an extra eye on your child’s communication development. I would also read on Perkins for ways to help with communication for a baby or infant who is blind. Talk your baby’s ears off!!

Hello,
I'm chatting with a lot of groups associated with blindness. I recently met with the "haggeye family", an amazing organisation connected with rnib, offering support to families like yourself with children from 0yrs.
They support and encourage parents and siblings to not be scared, and to let their kids grow as kids, bumping, falling, all the usual trial and error stuff.
They'll offer plenty of positivity too and techniques to interact and teach. I'm sure it's hard news initially, but your wee one will still have plenty of happiness.
I think they'd be really supportive and answer any difficult questions or concerns.
They are on twitter and Facebook too.
Best wishes
Laura

no offense taken. very sorry to hear news like that. it may be a touchy subject to some but I think that every blind person would like to not be blind. there may be some advantages and disadvantages from being blind so young instead of being sighted then losing your sight later in life. I had normal eye sight until the age of 7, then the genetic form of macular degeneration started taking effect and it has been slowly digressing ever since. things of course will be a little different when raising a blind child, but if you don't mind me saying a couple things about it. please don't shelter this child! I was lucky and am greatful that my mom didn't do that to me. so I was able to develop talents and skills because i was able to do what i wanted and try new things and had the support of my mom in doing so. I play drums and guitar and snowboard and rollerblade and love kayaking... I speak russian fluently and i Have traveled overseas 16 times and in 3 weeks will be 17 times. this is not me trying to brag or anything. but growing up and getting to see how some of the other blind kids were raised.... they had many fears in life that to me didn't make sense. and I suspect that those fears came from their parents being scared to let them do anything. so even though it may be difficult at times, don't worry! especially when this is all your child knows. but he will have interests and hobbies and talents and develop skills of his own. just be encouraging and not fearful.

I have had a friend since 3rd grade who has been blind since birth and he is awesome at music. You can give him any tone and he will tell you what note it is. He can even tell you what note your car engine is running in. once we were in the music store and one of the workers was playing guitar and was talking about the notes he was playing… my friend corrected him and said the real note it was… the guy tried to argue and say it was this note… my friend said “no it isn’t”.. lol… the guy got out a tuner and sure enough my friend was right and the worker was wrong and he was playing a guitar that was out of tune. Man I wish I could do that.

Anyway just love your child and give him all the support he needs and I am sure he will surprise you in many ways!:)

Now I am working on growing my youtube channel called EyesToInspire to hopefully inspire others to overcome any limitation they think they may have by sharing my talents and adventures by vlogging... shameless plug for my channel:) www.youtube.com/eyestoinspire

I think that as a student myself, and child of a blind parent, parents need to understand a few things.

1. The future independence of a child is up to them. I have friends who rely entirely on other people and can’t do anything alone, then again there people like myself or my father who can lead mostly normal lives using technology.

2. A child under 12 probably won’t have enough enough O&M skills to go and play by themselves. Again, this is a situational thing, and maybe an O&M teacher can enlighten you on it.

3. Inclusion and SPED. Depending on your state and school district (do you research now while the child is still small) there are going to be a few things to think about. If there is a Visually Impaired program within the district that offers VI or Orientation and Mobility training, I would recommend enrolling your child in that as part of their SPED program. Wether or not the child can be “mainstreamed” in a public school depends on them and their abilities and social skills. I know for example in my district, these training programs have helped my independence, and allowed me to interact with both the disabled and able bodied communities. Based on whatever services are available through your state and school district is what should determine where you send them. If a child goes to a school for the blind and turns out very independent, transferring to public may not be a bad idea

There are a lot of technology resources emerging every day, and services too. By doing your research and providing support, I think you’ll realize this isn’t as daunting as it seems now.

Hi there,

Something no one is probably going to tell you. It's okay for you to grieve. You didn't know this was going to happen and everyone is probably going to tell you to be strong and that it's not very good for your children to know that you haven't excepted them the way they are. The thing is, you most likely have but you are dealing with an unexpected situation. My mum read a piece talking about how it was supposed to be a trip to Italy but you landed in Holland. I don't know where to find this piece but she talks about it when talking to other people about the first days of having learned that I was blind. I think it is called welcome to Holland but I'm not sure.

One of the first things I would suggest is to get yourself some counselling from someone who understands. Get some grief counselling or also some help from someone in the field of vision impairment and blindness.

Teach your child all the little things. If he wants to learn to cook with you, teach him. If he wants to do the dishes, stand him up on a stool and show him how. He might take longer but it will be something he can do later in life. Make sure that things are in places where he knows where they are if he needs to find things later in life. Even a little bit further away from where it was a person won't find it as easily.

Something I see is very important. Educate your child about his body and his physical responses. Tell him the proper names for all of his body parts and explain about consent and people are only allowed to touch you if you have given them permission. Of course, hospital stays will be a different problem altogether. Make sure that when the time comes, your child has access to blind friendly sexual education. It is really scary when you have no idea what to expect because everyone else has seen everything and you have no clue what is coming up.

Okay, I think this has been a very long post but I hope it is helpful to you. Please let us know how things go with your little one. Best regards.

Hu! I don’t have much advice because I wasn’t born blind but may I suggest a couple YouTube channels that might help you with your journey :
LifeAfterSightLossTV : has great resources for sighted partners !
HowCaseySeesIt : born visually impaired and talks about her life experiences

it took my parents almost a year to get that diagnosis for me.

As to playing in parks your son will be fine because he will have other kids his own age there and other parents likely nearby.

As to schools, unless your son specifically brings up wanting the blind school put him in regular elementary schools. My parents chose that for me and I did very well despite being bullied later on but what kid isn't.

Your kid will grow up to be smart and capable of anything they want to achieve, he will just have to ask for your help and support more.

I am now 27 and study literature at the local university, and do volunteering at the local nursing home, and work out frequently at my local gym, not to mention being active in my church. I would love to talk to you both on Skype, see what advice I can give. Treat your kid as "normally" as possible and expose them to anything and everything you like.

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