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February is Low Vision Month
February is Low Vision Month, and AccessWorld, a publication of the American Foundation of the Blind (AFB), has an article featuring resources for people who are adjusting to vision loss.
https://www.afb.org/aw/22/2/17391
This is a great, basic emergency kit-type article. If you're working in health care, but visual impairment isn't your speciality, keep this link as a resource, along with your state's equivalent of the next one.
In Massachusetts, any person, adult or child, who wishes to request services, needs to register with the
Massachusetts Commission for the Blind (MCB)
https://www.mass.gov/orgs/massachusetts-commission-for-the-blind#main-content
Since the pandemic, MCB has set up
The Virtual Blindness Registry
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/mcb-virtual-blindness-registry
which is available via Zoom or phone Monday thru Friday from 10 am to 1 pm ET.
Important: Your ophthalmologist or optician is supposed to inform you when your visual acuity has reached low vision or legally blind, and when you have become eligible for low vision services
**but many do not know or do not care**
so individuals need to be proactive about being knowledgeable and seeking services if they feel they are needed and would make life easier. Please do not underestimate how much easier learning to adapt to low vision can make your life, or how connecting with other people who share the same experiences can make what seemed a depressing weight something you can deal with and even joke about.
You're never too old to learn new things and find new friends.
from
Check eligibility requirements
https://www.mass.gov/how-to/check-eligibility-requirements-for-mcb-services
block quote start
Definition of “Legally Blind”
Vision with correction of 20/200 or less in the better eye; or
Peripheral field of ten degrees (10º) or less, regardless of visual acuity.
*Legal Blindness does not mean total blind.
The Massachusetts Commission for the Blind (MCB) oversees the registration process for the reporting of legal blindness. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 6, Section 136 requires that all eye care providers report within 30 days all cases of legal blindness to the MCB.
block quote end
Kes: Right. The ophthalmologist I had from the time I was 3 until I was 20 never told me I was legally blind, even though I had been blind in one eye the entire time, and read with the book touching my nose, and neither did my family. I fell down a lot of stairs, got a couple of concussions, flunked a lot of math classes, and I just want to say, no one needs to go through that kind of shit.
Go discover the secret language of braille. Find your inner geek with smartphone apps or a computer. Go listen to interviews with blind photographers or podcasters.
.
In my opinion, being low vision is way harder than being blind but, in part, that's because most people can't understand what low vision is and it's hard to explain. But if you are just beginning to need to deal with this, or you know someone who is dealing with it, I encourage you to connect with these services and technologies: these things do make life easier.
https://www.afb.org/aw/22/2/17391
This is a great, basic emergency kit-type article. If you're working in health care, but visual impairment isn't your speciality, keep this link as a resource, along with your state's equivalent of the next one.
In Massachusetts, any person, adult or child, who wishes to request services, needs to register with the
Massachusetts Commission for the Blind (MCB)
https://www.mass.gov/orgs/massachusetts-commission-for-the-blind#main-content
Since the pandemic, MCB has set up
The Virtual Blindness Registry
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/mcb-virtual-blindness-registry
which is available via Zoom or phone Monday thru Friday from 10 am to 1 pm ET.
Important: Your ophthalmologist or optician is supposed to inform you when your visual acuity has reached low vision or legally blind, and when you have become eligible for low vision services
**but many do not know or do not care**
so individuals need to be proactive about being knowledgeable and seeking services if they feel they are needed and would make life easier. Please do not underestimate how much easier learning to adapt to low vision can make your life, or how connecting with other people who share the same experiences can make what seemed a depressing weight something you can deal with and even joke about.
You're never too old to learn new things and find new friends.
from
Check eligibility requirements
https://www.mass.gov/how-to/check-eligibility-requirements-for-mcb-services
block quote start
Definition of “Legally Blind”
Vision with correction of 20/200 or less in the better eye; or
Peripheral field of ten degrees (10º) or less, regardless of visual acuity.
*Legal Blindness does not mean total blind.
The Massachusetts Commission for the Blind (MCB) oversees the registration process for the reporting of legal blindness. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 6, Section 136 requires that all eye care providers report within 30 days all cases of legal blindness to the MCB.
block quote end
Kes: Right. The ophthalmologist I had from the time I was 3 until I was 20 never told me I was legally blind, even though I had been blind in one eye the entire time, and read with the book touching my nose, and neither did my family. I fell down a lot of stairs, got a couple of concussions, flunked a lot of math classes, and I just want to say, no one needs to go through that kind of shit.
Go discover the secret language of braille. Find your inner geek with smartphone apps or a computer. Go listen to interviews with blind photographers or podcasters.
.
In my opinion, being low vision is way harder than being blind but, in part, that's because most people can't understand what low vision is and it's hard to explain. But if you are just beginning to need to deal with this, or you know someone who is dealing with it, I encourage you to connect with these services and technologies: these things do make life easier.