There are plenty of blind people who still like fashion (Fashioeyesta on Youtube) and blind artists and musicians. You don’t have to give up the things you enjoy, just make adjustments.

Art transforms into layers of ways yo get your point across. Try using all your other senses to examine a tree. Then think of ways to replicate what you discover. Visual artists miss volumes and there's a who E world of people who will devour your adaptive media work.

Music? Braille music notation exists. Blind music teachers exist. You could come up with some tech blend that makes your classes accessible to students around the world. As for musicians, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Crystal Gayle and thousands of others known or not, have or are plying their talent onstage. Why not you?

Blindness doesn't change what we do. It changes how we do it.

First of all, I'm very sorry.

I have childhood onset macular degeneration, (I'm 23 with childhood macular degeneration).

When i was 14 and 16 I went skiing and surfing respectively. I'm really glad i did this as my vision was better than and i was able to experience it with almost no difficulty.

If i were you, I would also get a college degree. Employment is profoundly easier with education for someone with a disability.

Best of luck.

Get a ticket to see your family and friends, if you can. If you can't, get them to send lots of photos for you to see them. That's the first thing I would do if I could see.

I have two pieces of advice. First, tap into the resources Vision Australia has to offer. If you can, start using the resources you expect to have to use later down the track as your adjustment period will be much easier.

Second, people will tell you to stay positive, that plenty of blind/VI people live fulfilling lives, yadda yadda. On the whole it's good advice, and it's true. But you're also losing something integral to you. It's okay to grieve for that. It's okay not to be okay for a while.

I have visually impaired friends & family members.

Bucket lists are very personal when it comes to what sights and spectacles (no pun intended) you want to see.

Mountains, waterfalls and festivals are all the obvious ones but what you can also think about are things you might want to do independently before you need a guide to support you and describe what they are seeing. Festivals where you get lost in the crowd, learning partner dancing such as salsa.

You could prune your list of those things you could do without sight, meals, music that kind of thing, or those things you could still do with a guide or partner such as running a marathon or tandem cycling.


A bit of dull practical advice instead. Learn to use accessible software on your phone (e.g. Apple VoiceOver or Android Talkback, try both if you can) and accessible software on a computer. NVDA software for desktops is free and using it would teach you some of principles of screen readers that would transfer to a commercial software if you were to end up using one.

Good luck.

Hey you can still play piano. If you really love it you can also teach. I think you should research Blindness. Also get BE MY EYES APP. It helps if you need help a call away. Volunteers answer and if it's bad you can give a bad review. I’m sorry.

Please check out Molly Burke. She had poor vision early and then lost her vision entirely when she was 13/14 (I forget). (she can only see light/dark/shadow) She has Retina Pingmentosa. She is into fashion in a big way and continued to be into fashion and makeup even after she lost her sight. She talks about it on her YouTube Channel as well as just talking about fashion, life, bullying, and being blind. In one vid, she demonstrated how to do mirror-less makeup. She has demonstrated how she shops for clothes in store and online as well as modeling the clothes she gets. She is now a motivational speaker in addition to being a Youtuber and a few times a model.


(I can relate to the vision loss due to retina detachment gone wrong and glaucoma triggered by the trauma)
$1

This has been such a welcoming and reassuring thread. Thank you to everyone for making me feel a little safer in my own skin ❤