Monthly Archives: January 2016

The VIP Tag

Posted in disability, Uncategorized by

Hi everyone,

I knowI haven’t posted in a wile and I don’t even know if anyone even reads my posts anymore but today I thought I’d do ‘The VIP Tag’ which is also known as the ‘Visually Impaired Tag’. I was tagged to do this post by the lovely and amazing myblurredworld

For those of you that don’t know or have probably guessed by now…yes I’m visually impaired, I thought I’d do this post for you to get an insight into my visual impairment.

 

here goes:

  1.  What medical condition caused you to be blind or visually impaired?

I have Retinopothy Of Prematurity (ROP), I was born at 24 weeks so this was the cause of my condition.

 

  1.  In three words describe your vision.

Rubbish, interesting, limited.

 

  1.  What is the hardest thing to do being blind or visually impaired?

I’m severely sight impaired so can only see light and dark. I cannot interpret body language or facial expressions, for example if I meet someone knew I don’t know what gestures they are making. Also, walking into a room and not knowing if there is a seat free, simply because I can’t see it or someone point to one.

 

  1.  What is the best part about being blind or visually impaired?

Being visually impaired is not all doom and gloom, even though yes it is very hard to be positive sometimes. I love helping others that are blind or visually impaired  and educating sighted people. I do this actively, not only to my friends but I also do volunteering helping other blind people. I also like the unique skills that we have such as braille; for example, I can read braille in English, French, german and music braille – I think this is a unique skill. I also like being part of the blind community, I am not as involved within it as others but I would like to become more involved, make more blind or visually impaired friends and share helpful stories/experiences. One thing that I like about being blind is just judging people on their personality. Personally I think society judges people on their looks too much nowadays and that is obviously impossible or hard for blind/visually impaired people to do.

 

  1.  What question do you get asked most about or because of your vision?

There’s not a specific question that I get asked on a daily basis but I get asked what can I see and how do I do certain tasks.

 

  1.  Do you have a cane, a guide dog or neither?

I am a cane user but I am going through the process of applying for a guide dog. I used to hate using my cane due to bad past experiences but I am becoming more comfortable with it all now.

 

  1.  What piece of advice would you give to someone who is losing, going to lose or has lost their sight?

Personally, being blind is all I’ve ever known but one piece of advice I would give to someone that is losing their sight is not to bottle up your feelings. If it’s all getting too much, tell someone, let it all out. We all have moments where we need support but know that there are so many other people feeling exactly the same and going through the same thing; you are not alone. Also, accept help and support and if you’re struggling, ask for it. It’s okay to admit that you need help.

 

  1.  What piece of advice would you give to a sighted person about interacting with someone who is blind or visually impaired?

Don’t assume things, if you want to ask something that you are unsure on, ask.

 

  1.  Why did you join youtube/blogging?

I wanted to help others going through sight loss and pass on any useful tips/experiences that I can. Like I said, I’m not sure if anyone even reads my blog anymore but if it’s of any use to anyone then that’s my aim. I wanted to show people that having a disability doesn’t define you and you can still get to where to you want to be.

 

  1.  Name three people to do this tag next.

I tag three incredible, lovely girls thinkingoutloud-sassystyle  yesterdayswishes and blindnessispower so make sure you check out their blogs! If you’re visually impaired then feel free to do this tag!

 

Thank you to the incredible myblurredworld for tagging me and asking me to do this post, you’re amazing, so inspirational and keep smiling x

 

I hope you find this post interesting/useful. If you have any blog post suggestions I’d love to here them! x