Not trying to suggest people not be independent but if you go to the service desk or talk to any cashier/employee at most stores and tell them you are visually disabled they will either get the items on your list for you or have someone walk around the store to help you find what you are looking for.

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That is what customer service is for and is required by law and they also don't want a lawsuit for an accident because you get hurt on their property.

Youtuber Joy Ross has videos about this! This is what she does. If are going alone to the grocery store, call ahead and tell them you are visually impaired and will need assistance shopping. Go to the customer service and let them know you're there and ask the store clerk who's helping you to go around with you and you can tell them the items you need. Joy has a guide dog so she just tells the clerk to walk ahead and she tells her guide dog to follow them. I guess if you don't have a dog you could maybe have them push the cart and you could hold on to the side of it? Hope this helps!

I was diagnosed with AZOOR by an ophthalmologist nearly two decades ago, I think largely because my symptoms didn’t fit anything else.

Basically, I have a large blind spot in the lower right quadrant of my right eye (approximately 25-to-30 percent of my field of vision is totally blank), which was confirmed by exhaustive optical tests done by other vision specialists from Johns Hopkins. In addition, I see double-vision in that eye that is crystal clear, not fuzzy or out-of-focus. Other exhaustive tests confirmed that the double-vision was optical and not neurological in nature.

I was told that so little is known about AZOOR that they couldn’t offer up what to expect in the future... It may get worse, or it may not (only that the conditions would not improve over time). I may eventually go completely blind in that eye, or I may not. The AZOOR may eventually spread to my left eye, or it may not. Lots of vague “may-or-may-nots”.

At this point, after nearly 20-years with the condition, I can say that it appears to be spreading — albeit very slowly. My near-vision in that eye is totally gone now and the blank area is slowly widening in coverage. So far, my left eye remains untouched by the symptoms, so I still have good depth-of-field vision and can continue to drive a car without issues.

I don’t know if any of that helps you at all, but I’ve just learned to accept it and live with what I have.

My being independent and mobile in familiar environments is based heavily on memory, while utilizing other senses is just as important. I remember the floorplans to a great degree of accuracy of most buildings I visit regularly, such as university campus buildings, grocery stores, malls, gym, trains/train stations etc. This allows me to use the little vision I have left (5-10% visual field) as effectively as possible: I look for a landmark, and then "inhabit" my visual field from memory.

Other senses come into play when I need to know if there are people nearby, and if yes, where they are and where they are going so as not to bump into them. Hearing helps a lot, but so does sense of touch: I can feel how the air moves and it helps determining where people are. Also, people radiate quite much heat, which I can feel from up to two meters away.

If your vision is such that it would help, carry a small mono scope for reading signs.

If you're bumping into people and/or knocking things over, it sounds like you need a cane and orientation and mobility training so you can move around safely—and so sighted people know to get out of your way.

My partner had to do all of the above. When he goes to the store, he asks for help. They usually give him an employee to take him around and help him get things. He likes to hold on to the back of a shopping cart like he's pushing it *without* pushing it and someone else pulls the cart to guide him.

As for doing daily tasks, look into getting independent living skills training from your local blind/visually impaired organization. The program is entirely focused on teaching you how to do everyday things. My partner learned how to cook, do laundry, make coffee, etc.

Late to the party here, I was searching for AZOOR to see if we were any further forward with a cause than we were when I was diagnosed almost 20 years ago.

I'm a UK based female, who was around 23 when struck for the first time. Treated by Lt Col Jacks at the then Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham (all moved to City Hospital towards the end of my second AZOOR spell, roughly two years later).

It was a frightening time, lucky it resolved itself, apart from a slightly enlarged blind spot in my affected eye. Of course, we can't really be sure that hadn't always been there. I suspect it had, I just hadn't noticed until I was forced to.

If you'd like to chat, hit me up!

BE MY EYES APP!! I hope to get a call from you someday. It's a visually impaired app that volunteers can answer when you need help. If you have bad volunteers you can give a bad review. Please it's my favourite app.

I just order online using an iPhone app now. (and if you didn't know, there are ways to use an iPhone pretty effectively with limited or no vision). But your other option, as people have said, is to ask for help. If you don't necessarily need a cane for navigation but just want to identify yourself as legally blind, there are I.D. canes for this purpose. They're usually a lot shorter and flimsy since they're only meant to be carried. They also fold into several sections and can be easily stored away when you don't need them.

Coming at the whole situation from a totally blind perspective, it's worth finding nonvisual ways to do things as soon as possible if your vision is fading, particularly if you find it hard to avoid bumping into things and people. I can imagine it's a tough adjustment if you're used to looking at everything. Some of the NFB centers actually give their students blindfolds to wear during training; this is a very extreme but also very effective way to deal with vision that is fading and potentially not stable. Most of the instructors are also blind, and depending on what kind of person you are, this is either very empowering and inspiring or very terrifying (it was definitely the former for me). If the intense training is not for you, you can usually get orientation and mobility services near you. It's up to you to decide whether you can stop yourself from relying on vision enough to learn the alternate techniques.