Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Anyone else feel like they're stuck in the gray zone? (self.Blind)
submitted by Legend010331
This is pretty much just gonna be me ranting and wondering if anyone else feels the same. Does anyone else have good enough vision to be able to get around, but vision that isn't good enough to drive a car? Vision that is good enough to be able to tell who your friends are by looking at their face, but it's not good enough to tell what their facial expression is, or what their face actually looks like? Vision that is good enough to not be considered "visually impaired enough" to receive disability insurance from the government, but their vision isn't good enough to complete tasks at a regular job like reading numbers off a barcode, or numbers off a computer screen. Does anyone else feel like they don't want to try something new because they look like they have normal vision, but they don't want to be made fun of for having "bad eyes", when they get close to something so that they can actually see what it is. I feel like my vision is nowhere near bad enough to call myself "visually impaired" or "blind", but it's also much worse than anyone I know with "regular vision". I just feel like I'm in this in-between place where I get all the negatives of both sides.
B-dub31 13 points 1y ago
I fall into that range and I understand completely. I have a small region of okayish vision in one eye. That allows me to navigate by sight mostly and still do a few visual tasks with magnification and accessibility features. However, by the end of a busy day I feel exhausted and my eyes hurt very badly. I'm so thankful for the vision I have remaining and I never want to complain about it because my ophthalmologist says that given the severity of optic nerve damage, I should be near having light perception only.
EffectiveYak0 1 points 1y ago
\+1 for this as I have a very similar situation from optic nerve damage due to a giant aneurysm crushing my optic nerve.
I've got that small area in the middle of my right eye, but left eye is pretty much all gone. Most of my visual field is blurry or gone, but peripheral is sorta okay.
I've got that small area in the middle of my right eye, but left eye is pretty much all gone. Most of my visual field is blurry or gone, but peripheral is sorta okay.
Only1lunatica 10 points 1y ago
oh yeah been on the steppingstone in between "visually impaired" and "low vision" since birth. sight not good enough for normal sighted (can't drive,) but almost too good to "fit in" with the VI community (wow you can read that sign? why are you even here?")
I left my country's VI community because I didn't feel welcome, now I just do me, I'm trying to get qualified for something called a "flex job", it's kinda like working halftime but with full pay because you have some sort disability keeping you from a full time job, it's a long process. maybe your country have something similar?
we are valid, sight isn't an on/off switch there is so much in-between even issues that affects the eyes but not necessarily sight. you loose your patience at some point with all judgementalisme from both sides and this is going to sound so cliche but honestly the more you own it the better it gets.
and please don't stop trying new things, it's so worth it
I left my country's VI community because I didn't feel welcome, now I just do me, I'm trying to get qualified for something called a "flex job", it's kinda like working halftime but with full pay because you have some sort disability keeping you from a full time job, it's a long process. maybe your country have something similar?
we are valid, sight isn't an on/off switch there is so much in-between even issues that affects the eyes but not necessarily sight. you loose your patience at some point with all judgementalisme from both sides and this is going to sound so cliche but honestly the more you own it the better it gets.
and please don't stop trying new things, it's so worth it
[deleted] 8 points 1y ago
I’m right with you! I can’t see to drive a vehicle but I can ride a bike! I can ride a bike to the store but can’t see the menu or find things lol. I can tell where folks are but couldn’t tell you if they are folks I know. I pretty much see the big obvious objects but not the details if that makes sense. All my friends are sighted but they just treat me like anyone else so I really appreciate that. With that said I have no worries asking for help and I’m not there to explain my vision to stranger. I’m like can you help me out or nah?
LibraryGeek 3 points 1y ago
Holy crap you just described my vision! (Or at least in one eye, the other is legally blind) I used to have better vision, good enough when corrected. But now there's no solid lines. Like stuff used to have outlines to them. I keep trying to use art things to describe it like watercolor or blended chalk pastels, but it doesn't work and I'm stumped how to describe it to family & friends. My mom had some blurred vision but she described it like gasoline across her eye, but that is more looking thru something blurry and blocking light. For me it's as if the stuff in view itself is blurred. I can go to a buffet and see it's whitish food or reddish food but I can't identify the food.
I lost the ability to drive in my 40s when I lost vision in both eyes. I panicked when I couldn't recognize cousins until they were on top of me. My wife tries to make sure she wears something easy to see when we go out and about.
And colors become too blended to see variations, like in fall trees with gold, orange and red leaves. It's all sorta a muddy-ish orange blur. Or a brown blur with a vague splash of something orange. Sorry if this is all over the place but yeah, large print alone don't work. Oh and my vision tires and gets worse the more I look.
I lost the ability to drive in my 40s when I lost vision in both eyes. I panicked when I couldn't recognize cousins until they were on top of me. My wife tries to make sure she wears something easy to see when we go out and about.
And colors become too blended to see variations, like in fall trees with gold, orange and red leaves. It's all sorta a muddy-ish orange blur. Or a brown blur with a vague splash of something orange. Sorry if this is all over the place but yeah, large print alone don't work. Oh and my vision tires and gets worse the more I look.
[deleted] 1 points 1y ago
Oh yes the colored shirts!!! It’s funny because coworkers are like how did you know it was me if you can’t see far? I’m like because today you are wearing purple so I see purple it’s you! Lol. Do you know the cause of your vision loss?
LibraryGeek 2 points 1y ago
The right eye retina tore and detached everything that could go wrong went wrong. I have a collagen disorder. My eye pressure kept going sky high (50 in right eye, 35 in left eye)I kept seesawing between high pressure and high inflammation for a year. I had 3 surgeries on the right eye in a year. Basically my right optic nerve went thru too much trauma and blew out the optic nerve. I did lesser damage on the left nerve. I am missing most of my right visual field, the part I have is mostly light/dark. I have a tiny piece where I can count fingers 3 ft away. The left eye kept getting ignored.
There's a question mark over the left eye. It has some field vision damage but not like the right eye. It's frustrating as hell. It tires easily and the vision gets worse the more I use it. I also have a poss dx of fibromyalgia. (I need to see a rheumatologist for confirmation.) Other patients are complaining of weak and blurry vision. Doctors keep saying that's not part of fibro. But the latest research has fibro as a CNS disorder. Many docs still think it's a "in your head" dx. But most fibro people's vision is going back to normal in the am. Mine at best is 60 20 (I never remember if it's 60 20 or 20 60 ) and worsens in the afternoon ton20 80. The research theory is that fibro can impact the muscles that control the eye itself. I think it's Neuro / muscular. Every Neuro I've met with for my wife's issues has been a complete arrogant jerk.
There's a question mark over the left eye. It has some field vision damage but not like the right eye. It's frustrating as hell. It tires easily and the vision gets worse the more I use it. I also have a poss dx of fibromyalgia. (I need to see a rheumatologist for confirmation.) Other patients are complaining of weak and blurry vision. Doctors keep saying that's not part of fibro. But the latest research has fibro as a CNS disorder. Many docs still think it's a "in your head" dx. But most fibro people's vision is going back to normal in the am. Mine at best is 60 20 (I never remember if it's 60 20 or 20 60 ) and worsens in the afternoon ton20 80. The research theory is that fibro can impact the muscles that control the eye itself. I think it's Neuro / muscular. Every Neuro I've met with for my wife's issues has been a complete arrogant jerk.
ParticleOutbreak 7 points 1y ago
I would say the exact opposite. I do have good enough vision to see colors, I can tell what things are, but shouldn’t drive. I’ve had a hard time with opthos convinced that because I’m a younger female (21) it’s all anxiety. Even though I have tons of issues and abnormalities. It’s a lost cause at this point until someone believes me.
ChellVaquita 5 points 1y ago
Completely feel the same way
Thameus 3 points 1y ago
Technically I'm 20:250 in my one working eye. Without a portable CCTV I couldn't do shit. Typing this using Windows Magnifier. ZoomText is too much of a PITA unless I need to read something really long.
Illustrious_Ant44 3 points 1y ago
Yes. I relate to this so much.
Zaxzia 2 points 1y ago
I feel this way even though I can still technically see well enough to drive a car, barely. And am restricted to daylight driving. But things like grocery shopping can be difficult. If I can't find something I have to ask, because it might be right in front of my face and I just can't see well enough to know it. Then I have to pause and decide if I want the wierd responses that go with me asking someone who thinks I should be able to see it just fine.
My contrast vision is horrible. And I have central vision deterioration and blind spots, so reading actual print books or standard size fonts is ridiculously difficult. So I use magnifiers and contrast glasses.
Frequently run into door frames, wall corners, chair legs etc. The clutz comments are great. Nope, not drunk, thanks!
I can actually get around my house better in the middle of the night with all the lights off than I can with light. Humourous if you think about it.
The other day I asked my pharmacy about tactile bumps on bottles or other aids for my meds, because I take a lot of them. I can usually tell what med I'm picking up by the sound when I shake it, but confirmation on some similar meds would be nice without whipping out a magnifying glass or turning on a eye searing light. Anyway I asked the pharmacy and the skeptical attitude was uncomfortable. Particularly since I drove there and he knew it. It's something that would help, but the fact I can still do certain things makes me feel like a fraud.
I hate that feeling. I hate hearing it from others more.
And the headache that comes with doing anything intensely visual that I do for any length of time, like driving, is absolutely disheartening.
On one hand there is the feeling that I should be grateful I can still do so much, and that I still have the vision I do for however long I do. And on the other hand is the frustration that these things that used to be easy are now frustratingly hard. And the thought that sometimes it would be easier if I just let someone else do those things and stuck to the stuff that doesn't take so much effort.
So much of what I do had been adapted over time to make things easier, but people don't see that. They see me looking at things and assume I can see everything. Having to explain to someone that no, I don't recognize them because they're face is a muddy smear without direct light is uncomfortable. People take it personally. I'm not blind enough for it to be "okay" that I need a name if someone starts talking to me. And not sighted enough to know who the hell I'm talking to.
Oh God. I hadn't said any of this out loud. I guess technically I still haven't lol. I'm still adjusting to my new normal. And I didn't expect every little loss in vision to be so emotionally devastating! No one told me about that, and none of my family seems to get it. They love me ofc, but I can still see, still do things. So the new blind spots, or greying out, or blurriness, doesn't seem so big to them I think. But I feel every single one.
Okay sorry, rant over.
My contrast vision is horrible. And I have central vision deterioration and blind spots, so reading actual print books or standard size fonts is ridiculously difficult. So I use magnifiers and contrast glasses.
Frequently run into door frames, wall corners, chair legs etc. The clutz comments are great. Nope, not drunk, thanks!
I can actually get around my house better in the middle of the night with all the lights off than I can with light. Humourous if you think about it.
The other day I asked my pharmacy about tactile bumps on bottles or other aids for my meds, because I take a lot of them. I can usually tell what med I'm picking up by the sound when I shake it, but confirmation on some similar meds would be nice without whipping out a magnifying glass or turning on a eye searing light. Anyway I asked the pharmacy and the skeptical attitude was uncomfortable. Particularly since I drove there and he knew it. It's something that would help, but the fact I can still do certain things makes me feel like a fraud.
I hate that feeling. I hate hearing it from others more.
And the headache that comes with doing anything intensely visual that I do for any length of time, like driving, is absolutely disheartening.
On one hand there is the feeling that I should be grateful I can still do so much, and that I still have the vision I do for however long I do. And on the other hand is the frustration that these things that used to be easy are now frustratingly hard. And the thought that sometimes it would be easier if I just let someone else do those things and stuck to the stuff that doesn't take so much effort.
So much of what I do had been adapted over time to make things easier, but people don't see that. They see me looking at things and assume I can see everything. Having to explain to someone that no, I don't recognize them because they're face is a muddy smear without direct light is uncomfortable. People take it personally. I'm not blind enough for it to be "okay" that I need a name if someone starts talking to me. And not sighted enough to know who the hell I'm talking to.
Oh God. I hadn't said any of this out loud. I guess technically I still haven't lol. I'm still adjusting to my new normal. And I didn't expect every little loss in vision to be so emotionally devastating! No one told me about that, and none of my family seems to get it. They love me ofc, but I can still see, still do things. So the new blind spots, or greying out, or blurriness, doesn't seem so big to them I think. But I feel every single one.
Okay sorry, rant over.
[deleted] 2 points 1y ago
[deleted]
mrmaaagicSHUSHU 2 points 1y ago
Me3 One eye works in the day.
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