When I experienced multiple retinal detachments and gained my visual impairment before hitting age 30, I discovered reading and writing helped me cope with the loss and grief. While my family and friends supported me, there was still one type of help missing. It was rare to find people, especially my age, who went through what I did, who understood what I was going through with my vision loss.
Being a Millennial and a book nerd, I turned to internet writing. Creating posts for Adventures in Low Vision on a regular basis allows me to connect with others, both inside the visually impaired tribe and outside it. People with disabilities encounter life as richly and as varied as others do. We may do things differently at times, but we can still do–and have a right to do–the things we wish like cooking, working, traveling, etc. Raising awareness reinforces that fact.
It’s incredibly empowering to share things I find interesting or frustrating or funny about my experiences with blindness and to receive thoughtful responses from readers near and far. I read many blogs–including of course, Joy and Jenelle’s fantastic Double Vision blog–and books and stories, too. Some pieces are written by people with disabilities,and some are not. They all offer a glimpse into another person’s life and an opportunity to learn and grow from understanding that person’s perspective. It’s simple. Blindness awareness happens one post at a time, one chapter at a time, one conversation at a time. Come visit me over at Adventures in Low Vision, I’d love to hear from you.