 I, Dave, have decided to write a sensible Insight for National Eye Health Week. There are no jokes in this one as this is a serious subject and one that you should take note of.
I have been registered blind now for 21 years. I have 2 conditions that have caused the deterioration to my eye sight; these are Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) and Retinal Telangiectasia. Both of these are inherited eye conditions that I had when I was born but, due to the nature of them, they weren’t detected and diagnosed until I was 16. As a child growing up, I thought that my sight was ‘normal’. I went through main stream schools, rode a bike, played video games (on an old Atari console for those that remember these), enjoyed playing sports and games with friends and all the other ‘normal’ things that kids did back then. I was never a strong reader but could read newspapers and magazines and I remember having extra bright lights on my bike to do my morning paper-round as I used to find riding my bike in the dark pretty difficult. Once I was diagnosed, I realised that reading and riding my bike in the dark (not together as this would have been stupid) were probably more difficult for me due to my sight conditions. During the past 21 years, I have had many discussions with my eye consultants at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London about prevention and what I can do to slow the deterioration of my sight down. Ultimately there wasn’t anything that I could do to stop it but I was advised that the following would help:
I attend Moorfields approximately twice a year depending on whether there are any changes to my sight that have to be checked more frequently. During these examinations they check the eye pressures and my general eye health to ensure that nothing else is about to kick off. My sight loss is due to the for mentioned conditions, however, there are some sight conditions that can occur at any time such as Glaucoma, Macular Degeneration and Cataracts. These conditions can be treated quickly if detected early and this is why everyone should have a sight test at least every 2 years. A sight test doesn’t just check to see whether you need glasses for reading, they look for any signs of change. Usually they will take a photo of your retina and then use these photos to compare at your next visit. In addition, other conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure can be detected from a simple eye test. I really can’t stress enough how important your sight is. My sight loss isn’t avoidable but yours could be. Please do your best to keep your eyes healthy and REMEMBER to have your eyes tested every 2 years. If you notice any changes in-between these tests go back and get them checked out; the earlier something is detected the more likely it can be treated or prevented from getting much worse. Don’t delay, book today! Vicky: Not much to add to this blog, just that both of my parents had their sight conditions diagnosed only through their routine optician check ups – my Mum found out she has AMD (Age Related Macular Degeneration) and my Dad has Glaucoma. Neither had recognised any deterioration in their sight prior to these visits but both have since had further checks, advice and treatment as well as regular monitoring. So, please do make that appointment to the opticians even if you have no need for glasses and then keep going regularly! We’re always interested to know about other people’s experiences and thoughts. Please share these by commenting… Interested to learn more about VIDA Training? Read about our Training and Consultancy packages, specialising in Vision Impairment and Disability Awareness, Communication and Team Building or contact us for further information.
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 In honour of World Alzheimer's Day – 21st September, I (Vicky) wanted to share some of a recent blog by Wendy Mitchell called a Huge Hug for the Arrival of September. Thank you to Wendy for agreeing to us using this.
In her blog, Wendy talks about how August is her least favourite month of the year, “when routine changes, my calendar goes quiet and I’m filled with dread of what dementia might do to me.” There’s a lot mentioned, quite rightly, to raise awareness about hidden disabilities (i.e. those disabilities and impairments that aren’t obvious to others – for example Crohn’s Disease) but in our training we also talk about the hidden impacts of any disability or impairment and Wendy’s blog highlighted this again to me. Whereas for many of us August brings something different in a positive way – it’s holiday season, the kids are off school, we can relax a little – this is not the same for everyone. It also reminded me of the many conversations I’ve had with Dave and other people with vision impairments about finding going on holiday hard – the change of environment meaning, usually, a loss of independence due to being in an unfamiliar place and therefore having to be more reliant on those around you. Back to Wendy to explain why August is not her favourite month: “It’s the disappearance of routine that is the hardest element. The lack of children walking to and from school to signal the time of day; the DJs on the radio going on holiday; my calendar lacking in its usual business. For me it’s a strange month as I come to love just sitting. I live upstairs during the day when I’m at home. Snuggly sat in my bed with my iPad and everything I need around me and the large window which looks out onto the tree tops offering a birds eye view of the world. But, as nice as that is, I can hear dementia laughing at me, rubbing its hands with glee at being given the opportunity to filter through the peace and settle down beside me………” To read Wendy’s blog in full, go to https://whichmeamitoday.wordpress.com/2018/09/03/a-huge-hug-at-the-arrival-of-september/. All of Wendy’s blogs can be accessed via her website ‘Which Me Am I Today’ - https://whichmeamitoday.wordpress.com/ We’re always interested to know about other people’s experiences and thoughts. Please share these by commenting… Interested to learn more about VIDA Training? Read about our Training and Consultancy packages, specialising in Vision Impairment and Disability Awareness, Communication and Team Building or contact us for further information.  That’s right folks, we’re venturing out and now entertaining thousands of people with our new blind trapeze act, demonstrating how good our balance is whilst under blindfold!
Only joking… but in celebration of National Balance Week (16 – 22 September), I thought that I would talk about balance and how this affects me (Dave) because of my sight loss. It is quite common for blind people to suffer with poor balance and this is because good balance generally requires 3 things… 1. Your vision 2. Your ability to feel your feet and sense the position of your body in the environment or surroundings 3. Your capacity to tell if you are really moving through space. On the whole my balance is good. I sometimes go a little off kilter as a result of being caught out on uneven surfaces (or as a result of a few too many beers) but even then I’m able to correct myself usually before I end up on the floor! I don’t do any exercises to aid this but I’m aware that there are some exercises that blind people can do to strengthen their other senses to compensate for a lack of vision. For anyone interested in what exercises you can do, the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) have some very clear ones: http://www.afb.org/section.aspx?SectionID=67&TopicID=313&DocumentID=3470 I guess, now that I think about it, I have to concentrate more on moving around when it’s very noisy or in crowded places. Whether I’m concentrating to ensure that I don’t get disorientated or to keep my balance, I’m not sure but I expect a bit of both. I remember talking to a physiotherapist on one of our training courses a while ago and her asking how I managed to stand all day and her commending me on my posture and ability to stand still. She had worked with several blind people who really struggled to stay upright or who sway and wanted to know how I did it… I couldn’t answer her, I just can! I’m no doctor (nor am I a scientist, therapist or brainbox) but from reading some of Dr Google’s results, it would seem that there is a link with people who have poor balance due to vision loss and people who have inner ear disorders such as Meniere’s disease and Labyrinthitis. It would seem that the same part of the brain uses these senses to perform perfect balance and if one of them doesn’t communicate with the brain as expected it causes balance problems. Whilst writing this Insight I discovered, via searching online, that, earlier this year, during the filming of America’s Got Talent, there was in fact a trapeze act involving a blind guy. However, vision impaired Tyce dropped his wife Mary on their first attempt!! You can watch it all happen, just Google AGT blind trapeze! Maybe it is a sensible decision for us to stick with the Vision Impairment & Disability Awareness training after all!! 😊 (smiley face) We’re always interested to know about other people’s experiences and thoughts. Please share these by commenting… Interested to learn more about VIDA Training? Read about our Training and Consultancy packages, specialising in Vision Impairment and Disability Awareness, Communication and Team Building or contact us for further information.  Vicky: In honour of Read a Book day tomorrow (6th September) I started out to write another short post about the various books we’ve read that have a link to vision impairment.
However, when I started to think about our favourites, one thing became obvious to me. The ones we’ve both really enjoyed have been written by a person who is themselves vision impaired or co-written by one person with a vision impairment and one person who is sighted. They may be factual accounts (Touching the Rock by John M Hull; The Blind Man of Hoy by Red Szell; A dog called DEZ by John Tovey), novels (Blind Trust by Red Szell) or tales about adventures undertaken (Touching the World by Cathy Birchall and Bernard Smith; The Windhorse by Elaine Brook and Julie Donnelly) but somehow the stories, be they fact or fiction, just ring truer and don’t have so many jarring elements (why in novels about blind people do they always mention people counting their steps when they’re out and about? No wonder members of the public have so many misconceptions!). What comes across in all of them is that being blind is a part of life, giving rise to different challenges but not being the only thing going on! The interactions between people (and DEZ the dog) makes the books even more fascinating. I think it would be fair to say that top of our pile so far of all of these is Touching the World, about Cathy and Bernard, who undertake the challenge of a motorbike adventure across 25,000 miles of the world. It’s a great book for so many reasons (the adventure itself, the relationship between the two of them and the humour all make it well worth a read). As well as writing blogs about them (read our previous blogs to find out more) we also discuss and recommend these books on our training sessions. Thinking about the books we’ve enjoyed also highlights why we both undertake these training sessions – we know that having Dave talk about his personal experiences and the impact sight loss has on him as a person is invaluable. We also know people witnessing us working together in an equal partnership provides another dimension, underlining what we talk about on our training sessions. Both are things people comment on the most in our feedback. That and our constant references to food, our great sense of humour and our wonderful personalities of course! 😊 (smiley face). Dave: I have only really got in to books as my sight has deteriorated. I tend to use RNIB’s talking book service for my audio books but occasionally purchase books from Audible if they are unavailable through the RNIB. Fortunately I have been able to read the books that Vicky has mentioned and have really enjoyed them for the same reasons. Elements of each of the books have made me smile as I relate to the situation or the responses given by the blind person from questions or observations made by sighted people. If you’ve read a book written by a vision impaired person that we’ve not mentioned then please let us know. Vicky and I are always trying to source new books to read but think that we’ve exhausted our options! 😊 (smiley face) We’re always interested to know about other people’s experiences and thoughts. Please share these by commenting… Interested to learn more about VIDA Training? Read about our Training and Consultancy packages, specialising in Vision Impairment and Disability Awareness, Communication and Team Building or contact us for further information. |
Our VIDA Insights...Following our experiences from delivering our Vision Impairment Awareness training days over the past couple of years, we know that there’s loads more that we could talk about and examples we could have shared. Whilst these won’t be a substitute for our training, they will give you an insight (hence the name!) into our thoughts, observations and experiences from each of our perspectives - Dave’s living with sight loss and Vicky’s from being a sighted person and working alongside and supporting people who have sight loss. Archives
February 2020
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