Your vision is impaired, so now. If it's affecting you and some minor adjustments like the one you mentioned would help and be provided by ticking that box, tick the box.

That’s not using the blind card, or rather, using blindness as an excuse to get out of something. That’s owning your disability and advocating for what you need.

I had a discussion with an O&M student named u/lavendergaia a few days ago. I haven't asked her permission to repost this but I don't think she'll mind - she's awesome like that. I'm tagging her so she knows what I'm doing and can ask me to delete this if I'm wrong and she doesn't want it shared. She was interviewing me in Reddit chat for a school assignment. She asked "Would you say that advocating for yourself and your needs is probably one of the most important skills you can have while learning to get around without sight?"

This was my answer, copied and pasted from our chat - "I'm a white male. We generally benefit from privilege we don't even realize we have. Advocating for myself has never been an issue. There are people of color and women who don't find it as easy as I do to advocate for my own needs, but because I've only known life from my own perspective it's easy to think of advocating for one's self as an easy and natural thing for everybody.

"Not everybody's voice carries as much weight as mine. It shouldn't be that way but we can't change history. I haven't ever considered holding back on telling people what I need because there has never been any negative consequences in my life for doing so. But for others who have been told to sit down and shut up, I imagine it's not nearly as easy or as natural for them to say something."

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You're not playing the blind card, you're advocating for yourself and your needs. You absolutely have the right to ask for what you need. You should expect to receive it. The school has an obligation to provide you with an education. I used to teach math at a community college and we had no problem thinking outside the box to accommodate our students with special needs. We wanted our students to succeed and we'd do just about anything to make it happen. If a large print copy of the quiz is what you need, then asking for one isn't asking for a favor, it's asking the school faculty to do their jobs.

Of course! An impairment is an impairment, regardless of how severe it is.

Don't feel guilty (and I know it is very easy for me to say this). These boxes are there to make sure your needs are properly accommodated and met.

Your safety and well-being are very important.

I would say use it. You literally have a disability and should use the resources you have available to you that will benefit you. It isn't like you are taking advantage of the situation(using a spouses Handicap parking so you don't have to walk further).

I don’t think any other human, even if they have similar eye condition as mine, can accurately judge what I can see and what not, let alone the sighted bureaucrats or doctors. So, as long as a genuine blind guy is saying that he needs so and so accommodations, I feel those accommodations should be provided to him provided the resources and capabilities of institutions. Lot of times, it’s some fake jerk who abuses the system by misusing the accommodations, and hence, often even genuine blind guys don’t get the accommodations they need. So, as long as a person is not faking, not abusing the system, not using accommodations to cheat, he/she is welcomed and encouraged to ask for whatever accommodations they feel that can help them to finish the task.

Edit: by Jenuin blind guy I ment blind/VI or whatever official term is.

You are visually impaired, it's not playing a card. I have RP also, and it sounds like I was you about 15 years ago. Still driving during the day and starting to really face the limitations I knew were coming.

I'm not sure if you are seeing a doctor but it might be good to get evaluated to see more quantitatively how far you have progressed. And double check on how safe it is to keep driving. My older brother and I both have it; he held onto driving until he bumped a pedestrian in a crosswalk. I learned the lesson and quite while I was ahead.

BTW, I'm pleasantly surprised how many people with RP seem to be on this sub. Feels good.

IF you actually have a disability or blind why be ashamed of it? If you need services to not fail in school or even life use it.

This is called making your life better. It sounds like you’re really legally blind so use it, take it, and be proud of it.


Also, using the blind card is more like.

I am blind, I ain’t got to work. Because look I am blind.

I am blind so I can actually cut in line to the very beginning. Or something stupid like that.

It isn't ' using ' the visually impaired card, you are visually impaired, so right now. Every single time you have informed people and sought assistance for your vision loss, it has been legitimate.

It's 100% okay

Like everyone else has said, if it's affecting you, well, it's affecting you.

Personally if I'm going to talk about this stuff to anyone, I'm always going to do it with tongue stuck firmly in cheek and end the conversation with "and now let's all go and get a beer" or whatever so we're all clear we're all still human beings. The risk is that if you unload very serious personal stuff to people they will remember that about you above anything else. That's not wrong and it doesn't make them bad people, but it's frankly better not to do it to perfect strangers without, as I say, making sure you end it on a high note and then going for a drink or something. You can do it, but you have to mitigate it.

Too long didn't read version, you're fine but be careful about wearing the label as too much of a badge of honour.