4 Life Lessons Learned from 4 Decades of Living with Sight Loss

8Y2A2007

In honor of our 40th birthdays, we’ve come up with 4 lessons we’ve learned over our 40 years of growing and living with sight loss.

Cheers to 40!

  1. Community is essential. We live in a society in which independence is highly valued and misunderstood. Going it alone is often idealized while interdependence is minimized. We value connection and we love our tribe
  2. Knowing when to lead and when to follow is part of finding your ease. Mobility for people with vision loss can bring up tricky questions like: Should i use a cane even though I can see decently well at times? Would a guide dog help me move about more quickly and easily? Should I take someone’s arm as I walk into the restaurant tonight? How should I respond when someone tries to grab my arm and steer me around or offers unsolicited help? Learning when to lead and when to follow is part of the journey.
  3. Insight is one of the strongest forms of seeing. Our society places a lot of importance on physical sight, yet when we use our “third eye” to look inward, we can see ourselves and the world around us in new and beautiful ways. It takes a little bit of silence, a little bit of stillness and a whole lot of practice to find vision in the non-physical.
  4. Dishwashers should never be left open. Our shins have 40 years worth of stories to tell.