Being visually impaired: Things I surprisingly can or can’t do.
I am 24 years old and as you can read, I am visually impaired. It started when I was 10 and I got diagnosed with Stargardt’s Disease (type of macular degeneration) when I was 14. Since then my vision progressively dropped to about 5%. But as I often say: that 5% is just a number...
Just me behind my laptop. To give you an impression of how I write my steem it blogs.
Thing I can do
I can easily win a stare contest without laughing. I can’t see a face when I am looking right at it because my central vision is gone. It really helps me focus during a stare contest since I won’t be able to see something other than the shape of a head with some hair on it haha. It’s not cheating, right?
I can pick up the most smallest things from the ground, such as little sprinkles or tiny dust thingies. But usually only with a floor that has a contrasting colour. A brown chocolate sprinkle on a black floor will be hard but other than that..
I can ride a bike. I even got one that goes really fast, like for cycle racing. Although, I ride it carefully since I don’t find it very responsible of me to go super mega fast haha. Besides, I will only go on my race bike when I am with my boyfriend because he helps me on the road (by saying when there are other people coming our way and when there are like obstacles on the road).
I can put on mascara and some other make-up that is not too precise. I am a pole dance instructor and I manage to teach very fun and helpful classes. Because I have trouble recognizing people from a distance, I make the classes very personal by spending some 1 on 1 time with each individual. This helps me recognize them better and of course so that I can help them better with their moves.
I can help them better with their moves. I can see even the tiniest birthmarks on my skin. But I often can’t see bruises. Probably because of the different contrast on my skin. I can hammer a nail into a wall… but don’t expect me to do it straight haha.
Yes, I did all this by myself! My boyfriend and I bought these plates but I made it my job to put them on the wall.
Things I can’t do
I can’t count stripes although can see them. For example, if you look at a heater or a wall with stripes, you can probably count them. But if I look at it and try to count them, the stripes start to move. Because my central vision is gone, I have to look at things with the outer sides of my vision. However, when doing so, I have to scan the room (by constantly looking in every direction) to make a ‘clear’ picture in my head. So, try to count the stripes on a zebra by constantly looking to the right and left. Can you do it?
I can’t really draw within the lines, even if I can see the lines haha. I can’t read subtitles. Well, it’s not worth it anyway. I have to look at the screen within 20 centimeters or so and then I have to read in a crazy speed (for my doing) to try to read it all. While doing so, I have to squeeze my eyes and my head also moves from left to right. Try doing that for a full movie of 3 hours! Haha. P.s. I often watch television with others in the room so it’s also not very convenient because I kind of block the whole screen.
I can’t see a person’s eye colour. I can have a conversation with someone and not knowing what colour their eyes are. Even not noticing if they have light or dark eyes. It would take up a lot personal space form someone if I would want to find out what colour their eyes are. My face practically has to be against their face haha. This is why it surprises me when someone can talk to a stranger and afterwards says: his eyes are so beautiful.
Well, obviously I can’t become a pilot but luckily for me… I never wanted to! I was always interested in psychology and that is what I became (well.. almost). I am working on my master’s thesis for a master degree in healthpsychology and technology.
In the end
So when I think about it, there is really not that much that I cannot do. At the same time, there are lots of things I can ‘just’ do. Well let me put it this way. Someone with normal vision watches television, rides a bike, reads a book and can go grocery shopping by themselves (without any problems or things holding them back). I can do those things too, although I might have to do them a bit differently but the result is the same. Of course it is not always super mega convenient that it can take more time and effort (among others) to do ‘normal’ stuff but being visually impaired is not the end of the world. If you read this (and perhaps you are also visually impaired) and feel like it is the end of the world, please contact me, a good conversation might help!
So, what did you think? Is it just me?
If you are curious or interested about other things I possibly can or can’t do, just let me know.
How is your experience on steemit.com? How does it rate in relation to other sites you use? What are we doing right, and what could we do better to accommodate visually impaired users?
For me steemit.com works just fine :) I like that it is not too complex with different colours (in the backgroudn etc). I have a clear overview. Of course, with every new website I have to learn how to work with it. I have to remember where I could find what. But for steemit, it didn't too me long. I still rely on my vision rather than my hearing, and with that, steemit works also fine with me :)
Great article, thanks for sharing your experience with us all!
Yesterday, I heard a story about a blind Haida man two generations ago who had 6 children to feed. As you might know, it ain't the easiest of tasks and he used to be brought out in the woods by his wife who would then return to their home while he found trees to cut down and brought them back home!
I love your positivism and as much as vision might be the main sense our cultures rely on, it is definitely most of the time to the great detriment of all the other senses, especially the sixth one! ;) Thanks again for your presence, namaste :)
Wow, reading your post is just like reading a large chunk of my experiences, except maybe for the pole dancing bits. :P Not sure you remember, but I commented on one of your previous posts that I also have Stargardt's. So much of what you wrote made me laugh, as it is exactly my experience too. Thank you so much for sharing.
Hope your experience here is good!
FYI: eSteem application has support for visually impaired users. If it is enabled on your iOS/Android devices eSteem will detect that and gives you better usability options.
Hi there @boosje123! Six days ago the images on steemit crashed, and there were hours where people were barely posting or voting, and during that time a guy named @tommycordero shared your last post before this one, telling all of steemit that for some people, images aren't necessary. He asked that people would like your post and follow you, even if you weren't on for a long time, so that when you came back you would find new people cared about your story. I thought it was very touching, both your post and his plea, so I did follow. It appears he doesn't know of your return as I don't see him in the comments, but you should definitely say Hi.
This was a wonderful post as well :)
Damn, you're hot!
I enjoyed this, Kind of weird, right? I have Keratoconus. It's a degenerative disease of the cornea. In my case, the cornea is mis-shaped, and gives distorded vision similar to severe astigmatism. I can describe my night vision to you, but it does not explain how disorienting it can be. If I look at a line of streetlights for example, I see each light in an arc of infinite lights trailing of to the up and right of my plain of vision, and every light does that!
And they let me drive... HA HA!
Keep moving and looking for ways to help you clue in on people, I describe to people, "Your face is just a flesh-tone blob, walk with a limp or something!", They laugh, but some take the cue. Some folks, I can see a mile away, will others blend into the crowd. Seek out those cues and use them.
love you ！you are
a nice girl！Your optimistic attitude towards life is worth every one of us to learn！
@boosje123 that sounds like a hard way to read! That's really cool you can do it despite your visual impairment.
Have you ever felt the need to use a screen reader for interacting with computers, or experimented with using one? If so, what were your impressions?
I have actually made an article about that, you can read it here-->https://steemit.com/life/@boosje123/being-visually-impaired-technology-has-made-it-possible-for-me-to-study
I still try to rely on my vision rather than my hearing. I am more of a person that likes to read things, especially when I need to store the information very well. For example, by studying for an exam. But if it's about articles on steemit or just fun books, I will use speech enabled technology to make it read to me. But that depends on what it is, an monitor for my books, my laptop with speech software for websites etc. For my laptop I use software called 'zoomtext'. It had zoom functions and speech software but zoomtext is more optimalfor zoom function (that is what I hear from others) and for people who need to do more with speech, they often use software called 'supernova'.
Nice article and congratulations on your positive attitude.