hindsight 20/200

So I never thought I would start a blog but here I am. What caused me to start this blog? I needed a way to express my thoughts and feelings about being visually impaired. Some of my blogs are going to be hilarious (like the time I accidently asked a guy to dance) and some are going to be thought provoking (like the time I was fired from my job due to my sight). Thank you for those who take the time and read my jumbled thoughts that will undoubtedly be full of spelling and grammatical errors.  Please let me know if you have any questions or would like a topic for me to write about.

Today’s topic: “you can see just fine”

My first entry will be concerning what causes my poor vision and what I can and can’t actually see.  The specific cause of my poor vision is Ocular Albinism, a disease that messes with several features of the eyes. To make life easier for all involved I have created a FAQ below on some of the common questions I am asked:

- No, I don’t want to take the time and go into more specifics about the disease. If you are curious google is an amazing thing. The medical stuff is boring to me.

-Yes, I have had this disease since birth

-No, my vision is not getting progressively worse

-No, they can’t do any surgery to improve my vision

-No, glasses do not fully correct my vision

-No, acupuncture and yoga do not help

-Yes, I can see my wife naked (thank heavens)

-Yes, It is genetic

As to the question of what I can and can’t see well that is a little more difficult to answer. I can see large objects without any issue. However, it is the smaller details that I trouble seeing. I can see that there is street sign on the side of the road but I have no freaking clue what the street sign says until I get out of the car and stand directly under the sign. “But then how can you tell that there is a McDonald’s way down the road”? Well, how many large skinny/yellow golden signs are high in the air? “how can you play football”? Again, there is a large brown object flying in the air, it is pretty hard to miss. However, I have never been able to play baseball given the size and color of the ball. “How can you shoot a gun”?  My philosophy is simple, aim for the middle of the big white target down range. In general, sometimes you guess on what something is. Over time empiricism works wonders.

Seeing people is also difficult depending on how they look and what they are wearing. If you are tall and wearing a pink shirt I will be able to distinguish you from someone else pretty easily. If everyone in the room is tall and wearing a pink shirt I going to have a heck of a time finding you.

“you can see just fine”

If you ever have questions on what I can see and what I can’t JUST ASK. Do not say comments like “oh, he can see just find” or “he can see more than he lets on”. These assumptions can hurt because they are implicitly implying that I make too big of a deal about my vision, that I have been untruthful about the extent of my vision, or that I should just suck it up and stop looking for sympathy. I never have a problem discussing my vision and am willing to answer ANY (yes any) questions that you might have. The worst thing that you can is assume what I can and can’t see. If you've ever wondered if people exaggerate their low vision ask yourself these questions.

-would you give up your driver’s license right now just for the benefit of people feeling sorry for you?

-would you put your career in jeopardy to pretend to have bad vision?

-would you put your families well-being and financial security to pursue the charade of having poor vision?

-would you go through life being laughed and pointed at because you read a book up close?’

Okay, I will come down from my soap box and end today’s blog.

Next Blog Topic: Being VI (visually impaired) and dating…. Buckle your seatbelts this one is going to be fun.