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Ordered an ID cane, JWST images and more. (self.Blind)
submitted by telefromhelle
So after joking that my eyes were so bad I was basically blind for years, I was nearly hit by a car yesterday which scared the ever living daylights out of me. I've always known my peripheral vision was bad, but I never realized how bad it was, and how right eye dominate I really am.
I'm from the US, so cars can turn right on a red light, and often will pass through pedestrians, ideally slowly, as foot traffic crosses the street. I never really realized this about myself until yesterday, but it's kind of a disaster waiting to happen for me, because I'm really easy to blind side on my left. Don't get me wrong, I always look both ways and try to be safe, but if cars don't notice that I don't notice them... Well that's where I can get almost hit. I've had this view that cars are these 50 mile an hour death machines out to get me just a little too long, you know?
I was never diagnosed with tunnel vision or anything like that, but I did have a B and an F restriction on my license when I drove, meaning I need to wear glasses and have side view mirrors in my car. However, it's taken nearly 24 years of being kind of petrified of crosswalks to realize that it's not normal to get blind sided so often, and maybe it wasn't me just being reckless. My central vision is fine with glasses, my depth perception might not be the best, but other than that, everything is A OK. I think because I've been able to fake it this long, I've always just felt like I'm not low vision or anything like that, when in actuality, I probably am.
So I ordered myself an ID cane. I feel like it will just give me that added extra bit of safety when I'm walking alone, and might catch the odd stumbling block I'd otherwise miss.
On the flip side, not only is my central vision fine, but I almost have a science degree, and am working on a photography bachelor's, which a love of astrophotography. While I feel current JWST images have been described quite well, if you all have any other space pictures you want described not only visually, but also explain how those visual elements are important to our understanding of the image, I would HAPPILY share my love of astronomy with you.
I'm from the US, so cars can turn right on a red light, and often will pass through pedestrians, ideally slowly, as foot traffic crosses the street. I never really realized this about myself until yesterday, but it's kind of a disaster waiting to happen for me, because I'm really easy to blind side on my left. Don't get me wrong, I always look both ways and try to be safe, but if cars don't notice that I don't notice them... Well that's where I can get almost hit. I've had this view that cars are these 50 mile an hour death machines out to get me just a little too long, you know?
I was never diagnosed with tunnel vision or anything like that, but I did have a B and an F restriction on my license when I drove, meaning I need to wear glasses and have side view mirrors in my car. However, it's taken nearly 24 years of being kind of petrified of crosswalks to realize that it's not normal to get blind sided so often, and maybe it wasn't me just being reckless. My central vision is fine with glasses, my depth perception might not be the best, but other than that, everything is A OK. I think because I've been able to fake it this long, I've always just felt like I'm not low vision or anything like that, when in actuality, I probably am.
So I ordered myself an ID cane. I feel like it will just give me that added extra bit of safety when I'm walking alone, and might catch the odd stumbling block I'd otherwise miss.
On the flip side, not only is my central vision fine, but I almost have a science degree, and am working on a photography bachelor's, which a love of astrophotography. While I feel current JWST images have been described quite well, if you all have any other space pictures you want described not only visually, but also explain how those visual elements are important to our understanding of the image, I would HAPPILY share my love of astronomy with you.
deafblindbeanie 4 points 11m ago
Congratulations on taking the step to get a cane!!
telefromhelle [OP] 1 points 11m ago
Appreciate it!
throwaway47286482 3 points 11m ago
Hey, almost the exact same boat here :) I had been driving for several years by just turning my head a whole bunch and didn’t think my periphery/depth perception were all that bad until almost being hit by a car (that I couldn’t hear) on a crosswalk when I was 18 :’) Congrats on taking the step to get a guiding cane! I know it’s maybe a little bit scary, but it’s sooo much easier than being terrified of tripping over curbs and having to stare at your feet all the time.
Also, super glad you ended up safe <3 And congrats on the almost-degree!
Also, super glad you ended up safe <3 And congrats on the almost-degree!
telefromhelle [OP] 2 points 11m ago
Very validating to hear, because that's exactly my experience. My head is flailing back and forth to try to see everything. It's why I flatly don't drive any more. Thought it was just because I was a bad driver...
throwaway47286482 3 points 11m ago
Sad part? Turning our heads as much as we did probably made us better drivers than a lot of the people on the road :’) I’m definitely not condoning blind/low vision driving, but at least we were attentive ?
telefromhelle [OP] 1 points 11m ago
I mean, some people can make it work, and probably are great drivers. One bad crash and I stopped driving. One bike accident and I basically gave up biking. It's been frustrating. Thought it was just me being reckless. Didn't realize there may be more to it.
throwaway47286482 3 points 11m ago
I understand 100%. It’s incredibly frustrating to not be able to do activities that you enjoy because it feels like you’re just bad at them, but I found it to be at least a little relieving to know that it was my vision and not just me sucking at stuff haha. At least gave some closure
BaBaBroke 3 points 11m ago
I would look for some mobility training to use the cane properly, the different ways to use it and to use the sound of traffic to help you cross safer, using no vision.
telefromhelle [OP] 3 points 11m ago
I'll have to look into that.
codeplaysleep 3 points 11m ago
Oof, glad the car missed you! Good job getting the cane. A lot of folks put it off a lot longer than they should (myself included) and congrats on the almost degree. :) Sounds like things are coming together.
razzretina 3 points 11m ago
Glad you got that ID cane! Things like that can be really helpful to remind yourself of what to be wary of when street crossing, too
mackeyt 2 points 11m ago
I'm not sure from your post, so forgive me if you have, but you should really go see a good ophthalmologist. You could gain valuable insights into your condition and what you might be able to do about it.
telefromhelle [OP] 2 points 11m ago
Good is the operative word. I went to one once. They missed my glasses having a prism. Will have to find another one.
vwlsmssng 1 points 11m ago
Are there any JWST image sites that have pictures paired with descriptions that would explain and inform about the features of the image for a person with a severe visual impairment.
I.e describe the image in a way that allows someone to relate to the smudges and blurs they can see, understand what is new and important, why it is important and revealing, and help them navigate the image when it is magnified.
I.e describe the image in a way that allows someone to relate to the smudges and blurs they can see, understand what is new and important, why it is important and revealing, and help them navigate the image when it is magnified.
telefromhelle [OP] 3 points 11m ago
Not that I'm aware of. Science, for all it's progress, has never been super accessible, if you know what I mean.
Hey, that's a project for me to work on, I guess.
Hey, that's a project for me to work on, I guess.
vwlsmssng 2 points 11m ago
> Hey, that's a project for me to work on, I guess.
You have kind of set yourself up for it.
It is one thing to give a verbal / text description of an image (multiple bright dots on a cloudy background), another to give an interpretation (the bright dots are young stars that have coalesced under gravity from the cloud of matter called a nebula.)
Then the next step is to describe the significance of the image (These stars could not be seen by earlier telescopes because they were so far away and their colours shifted into the infra-red by the expansion of the universe and the Doppler effect. Scientists have never seen before stars being formed from the simpler types of matter that the early universe was composed of.)
You have kind of set yourself up for it.
It is one thing to give a verbal / text description of an image (multiple bright dots on a cloudy background), another to give an interpretation (the bright dots are young stars that have coalesced under gravity from the cloud of matter called a nebula.)
Then the next step is to describe the significance of the image (These stars could not be seen by earlier telescopes because they were so far away and their colours shifted into the infra-red by the expansion of the universe and the Doppler effect. Scientists have never seen before stars being formed from the simpler types of matter that the early universe was composed of.)
NovemberGoat 1 points 11m ago
Do all of Jupiter's moons have similar orbits? Further more, do they all orbit at a similar enough inclination such that they look like a set of beads running around Jupiter? It's likely far more chaotic than that, but the idea looked nice in my mind.
telefromhelle [OP] 1 points 11m ago
They do not, that's in part what's crazy about Jupiter. We aren't sure exactly how many Jupiter has, but the current estimate is a whopping 79. The orbits are all over the place, think flies around a peice of fruit.
It's not that the moon's orbiting Jupiter are chaotic, they are the MOST chaotic in the solar system. This is because of Jupiter massive size, it steals a lot of near by objects, which either crash into the planet, get slingshoted out of the solar system, or, vary rarely, get caught up orbiting the planet. There are tons of moons that have come from very different places, so you have moons orbiting are Jupiter from every angle, some close, some far away, some orbiting top to bottom, some left to right, some diagonally, and everything in-between. It's kind of nuts.
Saturn on the other hand has it's moons orbiting pretty nicely, many of them are caught up in it's rings.
It's not that the moon's orbiting Jupiter are chaotic, they are the MOST chaotic in the solar system. This is because of Jupiter massive size, it steals a lot of near by objects, which either crash into the planet, get slingshoted out of the solar system, or, vary rarely, get caught up orbiting the planet. There are tons of moons that have come from very different places, so you have moons orbiting are Jupiter from every angle, some close, some far away, some orbiting top to bottom, some left to right, some diagonally, and everything in-between. It's kind of nuts.
Saturn on the other hand has it's moons orbiting pretty nicely, many of them are caught up in it's rings.
NovemberGoat 1 points 11m ago
Thank you for this. I expected there to be some variation, but not for the amount of chaos that is actually going on around Jupiter.
It's a sad reality that we hopefully won't have to live through for too many more years, but have you seen a Starlink deployment before? I read or watched somewhere that after Falcon9's second stage has spun them away, they eventually form lines in the sky as they move to their operational positions. Is this true?
It's a sad reality that we hopefully won't have to live through for too many more years, but have you seen a Starlink deployment before? I read or watched somewhere that after Falcon9's second stage has spun them away, they eventually form lines in the sky as they move to their operational positions. Is this true?
RunsOnBoltCoffee 1 points 11m ago
I’d recommend getting a white cane. I don’t think most Americans would know what an ID cane is, from another American.
telefromhelle [OP] 3 points 11m ago
I got a decent sized, 38 inch ID cane. I thought the same you thought, too small and people wouldn't be able to notice what it was, even if I didn't really need larger.
SiriuslyGranger 1 points 11m ago
Nice
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