Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Independancr and living on your own as a blind or visually impaired person, what's it like.? (self.Blind)
submitted by monkeylollipops
As the title asks what's it like? I ask because as someone who recently lost their vision and has been forced to reevaluate my plans in my early 20s it's been challenging because I was looking forward to living by myself and doing those things people in their 20s do and such. Anyways what are somethings y'all would say are the challenges to living by yourself, how have you overcome them, and some general tips.
Thanks
Thanks
papillae 3 points 3y ago
I similarly lost most of my vision at 22/23 (lived on my own since 19 and I'm 29 now); it still has its challenges. I like being able to keep my home to myself, have my hobbies, cook and work out and those things.
But not having someone to help on a regular basis means not being able to get around out of my neighborhood -- except when a friend wants to hang out and comes over or picks me up. This also makes it hard to find jobs when you're not secure in a career field...as well as makes dating hard (I don't try that much really)
Basically, in your own home, you'll do just fine when you're used to it.
Hopefully you can figure out your job and financial situation, and find some ways to get around.
But not having someone to help on a regular basis means not being able to get around out of my neighborhood -- except when a friend wants to hang out and comes over or picks me up. This also makes it hard to find jobs when you're not secure in a career field...as well as makes dating hard (I don't try that much really)
Basically, in your own home, you'll do just fine when you're used to it.
Hopefully you can figure out your job and financial situation, and find some ways to get around.
monkeylollipops [OP] 2 points 3y ago
Thanks for the info, I'm working on the getting a job thing since that seems to be my biggest hurdle at the moment,.
AllHarlowsEve 2 points 3y ago
Honestly, the biggest issue I've faced is moving and looking for apartments. I went blind at 18, so I had looked a little, but not very much.
Many apartment listing sites are kind of awful for blind people, and I generally have my boyfriend look at the pictures while I check out the pricing and area. But, without sighted help, I'd never know if a new area looks cracky, if the building looks like shit, if there's a ton of little steps outside like the one place I really liked, etc. It also is a pain to get to places to check out if you don't drive or have someone to drive you, since it's generally a new area.
As far as cleaning, cooking, laundry, maintaining the place, etc, I don't have a lot of issues. I use auto-cleaners for the toilet, pods for the dishwasher, and I /can/ vacuum and mop, but my boyfriend's faster at it so he does them.
Really, finding a place without a flattop was the biggest issue, since they're the hot style for stoves now.
Many apartment listing sites are kind of awful for blind people, and I generally have my boyfriend look at the pictures while I check out the pricing and area. But, without sighted help, I'd never know if a new area looks cracky, if the building looks like shit, if there's a ton of little steps outside like the one place I really liked, etc. It also is a pain to get to places to check out if you don't drive or have someone to drive you, since it's generally a new area.
As far as cleaning, cooking, laundry, maintaining the place, etc, I don't have a lot of issues. I use auto-cleaners for the toilet, pods for the dishwasher, and I /can/ vacuum and mop, but my boyfriend's faster at it so he does them.
Really, finding a place without a flattop was the biggest issue, since they're the hot style for stoves now.
how_small_a_thought 2 points 3y ago
It sounds like you have a really good boyfriend, I'm glad that you have someone like that in your life.
AllHarlowsEve 1 points 3y ago
Yeah, he's great. We met on a dating site and he was one of maybe 5 guys that didn't start off with "So you're blind? How's that work" or "Nice boobies lolol"
Instead, he talked to me like I'm just a normal cute girl he was into, which was refreshing since there's a huuuuuuge gap between how people treated me on the same site as a 16 year old sighted person vs as a 19 year old blind person.
Instead, he talked to me like I'm just a normal cute girl he was into, which was refreshing since there's a huuuuuuge gap between how people treated me on the same site as a 16 year old sighted person vs as a 19 year old blind person.
monkeylollipops [OP] 1 points 3y ago
That's pretty cool. Lol always wondered how dating worked for the visually impaired especially with online dating.
monkeylollipops [OP] 2 points 3y ago
Thanks for the heads up, lol at the website thing, I've become pickier about website set up lately XD
DijkInJeBakkes 1 points 3y ago
I'm visually impaired and my girlfriend is blind. I think what helps her the most is her guide dog, who helps her get to all the places she needs to go (work, the gym, the park, shops etc.). We've put plastic bumpers on all devices with touch controls, like the washing machine, induction cooker. We are both very lucky to have decent paying jobs, which allows us to outsource the stuff that we cannot do ourselves or cost too much energy. For instance we do groceries online and have them delivered weekly, we have cleaner who comes by bi-weekly and cleans all the stuff that we cannot see.
monkeylollipops [OP] 1 points 3y ago
That's awesome. If you don't mind me asking what sort of job do y'all do?
DijkInJeBakkes 1 points 3y ago
No problem. My girlfriend is a policy consultant on accessibility at city hall, and I'm a business intelligence analyst at a university.
monkeylollipops [OP] 1 points 3y ago
That's pretty cool, lol I guess y'all use a lot of public transport to get to and from work.
DijkInJeBakkes 1 points 3y ago
Yeah public transport is great where we love so we use it to go everywhere.
nyxeka 1 points 3y ago
Would probably go full-time researching and coding up blueprints for a vision solution like a haptic-grid on a patch of skin or something like that
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