Being visually impaired: Follow-up 3: Answering your questions - What would you ask a visually impaired person?

A short intro for new readers: I am a 24 year old woman and I became visually impaired between the age of 10 and 14. Due to my eye-condition (Stargardt’s Disease) I have lost my central vision to the point the doctors told me I had a vision of 5% left. Life is full of challenges but I try to keep a positive attitude. I like to share my thoughts, ideas and experiences with you so I asked Steemers what would be interesting to tell about from my perspective.   

Reading guide
In answering all of your questions, I came to realize that it became a pretty long post. So I’ve decided to split it up in 4 or 5 posts just to keep it fun (instead of having to read a dreadfully long post all at once). Some questions were hard to answer shortly, I’ve tried it but I’ve also decided to do an extended version on some themes because there is just so much to tell. I marked the questions with an * at the end to indicate that I will be doing a separate/extended post on those themes. Lastly, I hope you enjoy reading my answers. I did not wrote this post as a whole story so you can also skip to the questions that you think are interesting without having to miss something like a core storyline.

Can I see enough to get around unassisted? How is my independence?*
Actually yes, but not without ‘trouble’. I mean, I can walk and ride my bicycle but not everywhere I want to. There are places that are not safe for me to be alone, so what do I do then? Well, I will just take a different route. At least, if that is possible and if not, I need someone to go with me or I will get a lift from a family member or a friend or I will use public transportation. Some examples of situations that I don’t like: 1) Crossing a busy street. If I go home during busy hours in traffic, I always have plan A, B, C and D. If I can’t cross the streets because I can’t find a safe opening, I will cycle or walk a bit further where it is perhaps less busy. When I’m close to home and crossing the streets seems impossible, I call my roommates to come pick me up haha. 2) I hate situations on an intersection without traffic lights. That means that I have to see the flashing lights of the car in order to know where they are planning to go. Unfortunately, I can’t see those lights. So my solution is to avoid those situations and always turn right on an intersection, then wait on the sidewalk to cross over (because a bit further in most streets I only have to look at my left and right instead of also behind and in front of me). 

Most routes in my town I know by heart. With that I mean that I know every obstacle such as high curbs, small pole things, at what light of the traffic lights I have to look at and stuff like that. And if I have to learn new routes that I don’t know, I will just practice them with my mom or boyfriend haha, there is always a way to get where I want to be!   

What do I think a guide dog can learn to help me?
Well, that is very difficult because I am not actually blind, or visually impaired enough to need assistance with a cane. I own a cane but it’s the type of cane to show other people that I’m visually impaired (I only use it when I am in unfamiliar places where I need help, for example on a unfamiliar train station where I need to get on another train). But, what do I suggest a guide dog can learn? Hmmm, it’s probably not very nice to the dog but I would let him walk/run next to me when I am on my bicycle and then my dog can possibly help me to cross over streets or get me safely to the other side of an intersection. But I guess that means the dog has to see the flashing lights and maybe that is a bit to unrealistic? And very conflicting since I will still ride my bicycle haha.

Do I injure myself frequently due to my impaired vision?  
Yes, I do. I walk into the occasional door now and then, especially when I leave them half open and it’s a bit dark in the house. I also tend to get stuck behind doorknobs a lot and for some reason they are always the same ones… it’s like I don’t learn! It has already ruined 1 coat (2 big holes in it) and 1 handbag. Got stuck so hard I ripped off a handle, oops! I must say that my visual impairment has shaped me over the years so I cannot always say if something happened because of my clumsiness or directly due to my impairment.  One time however, I rode my bicycle between two big lampposts on a square even though my boyfriend told me not to so (so stubborn of me). It was dark and I thought I saw everything there was to see... except for the big trashcan between the two lampposts. And BAM, there I went. Instead of my bike hitting the trashcan it was my knee. I was shocked of course but I did not want to make a scene, I believe there were only a few people on that square but still. I hopped on my bicycle again although my knee hurt so badly! I kept on biking with tears in my eyes haha. I just really didn’t see the trashcan. The next day, I literally could not walk. After 2 days it got better a lot but I felt it in my knee for weeks. So that trashcan is another obstacle I know by heart now haha.      

This is an old photo from google maps. They've replaced the trees with the two lampposts I was talking about.

What do I consider as most challenging in life due to my sight loss?
I find that there is not 1 things that I consider as most challenging since different situations, life events and life phases can bring out different challenges. How you handle those situations is very important so if I have to report 1 thing it would be letting go of parts of my independence (or feelings of independence) and therefore asking for help. The things I blog about most is how I handle certain things and if you’ve read my posts you will find that I like to do things myself, if I can.

Can I read?  
I can read, although hardly without using any form of magnifier. Most often I use my electronic magnifier since it is small and easy to carry with me but when studying at home I usually use my bigger magnifier that has a screen that displays my book through a camera. In one of my earlier posts (click here) you can read about what types of technologies I use to be able to study. I chose to do a master’s degree in healthpsychology and technology so that means that I have to read like… a lot! But when studying psychology you kind of know what you are getting into haha, that didn’t stop me though!  

 I hope I could interest you a bit. If you are interested in things you did not read here today, feel free to ask me anything!   

@boosje123