Posted in Useful Information

World Sight Day 2024

Posted on by One Vision

Today is World Sight Day and to celebrate this I have to be boring and ask you all to look after and don’t take your eyesight, for granted.

Make sure you have your eyes tested regularly and if you have any worries at all don’t just dismiss them as it could be serious and/or correctable.

There are eye centres or clinics in most hospitals (Especially in the UK) If you mention any worries to an optometrist at an opticians or to a doctor, they can both refer you to a specialist eye clinic. This happened to me by going for an eye exam at an opticians. They referred me then found put I have Macular Dystrophy.

Use sunglasses with built in protection even when the sun isn’t shining if that makes your eyes more comfortable.  This will protect you from the harmful UV sun and UVB radiation exposure that can increase the risk of cataracts, other eye diseases and damages to the eye itself.

Wear protective eyewear that you need for your job or doing tasks around the house. You don’t need an unnecessary injury when this could be prevented.

Quit smoking. Smoking can increase your risk of age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, and optic nerve damage. Cigarettes and vapes. I stopped a few years ago now.

Make sure you exercise and eat healthily. A good walk, fruit and veg is good for me although I’m not spot on I try my best. If you have any of the  Macular Dystrophies. Stargardt’s Disease included, please watch your Vitamin A intake. We can have our suggested intake for our overall health, please don’t cut it out altogether. But DON’T start getting excessively giddy with the foods full of Vit A or extra  supplements full of it. This is the stuff our eyes can’t process properly and causes our vision loss. Just enough for your daily recommendation. Please don’t cut it out altogether.

If you haven’t got my condition above. Eat plenty of leafy greens, carrots, tomatoes, peppers. Anything rich in Vitamin A to help your eyesight be 20/20

Make sure your prescription is upto date. Don’t use glasses that aren’t helping you as they should anymore.

Please don’t use glasses from the poundshop.

They haven’t got the right corrections for your eyes and just have the same lenses for each eye. Everybody’s eyes are different.  We need extra magnification on one, maybe less on the other. There are cheap glasses available that will do the job with correct lenses for you from a high street Opticians (I managed to get some for £20) If you receive some benefits (In the UK) you can even get money towards some or free ones. It’s really not worth messing about with your sight with these.

I used to take my vision for granted and didn’t even think about being blind or have vision loss. I took my peepers for granted.

So do yourself a favour and book yourself an appointment with the opticians today. They can also see other conditions and diseases that may need looking at, so it’s not just your eyesight you maybe saving. It’s just better for your general overall health.

Woman with long blonde hair holding a green and white megaphone shouting into it World Sight Day. The words appear in front of a picture of Earth.
PICTURE DESCRIPTION Woman with long blonde hair holding a green and white megaphone shouting into it World Sight Day.  The words appear in front of a picture of Earth.


 

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Good day Sunshine

Posted on by One Vision

As much as I don’t really like the style of these sunglasses and so wish I could wear my funky blue, tortoishell mirrored ones that I’ve kept but are pretty redundant as eye protection for me now.

On a sunny autumn day on the bus with the glare shining through the window, my eyes are at least comfortable and protected in these.

I don’t have to worry if the sun is shining in. The glare shining off cars, metal things, signs or suddenly the brightness around a corner suddenly hitting you in the eye and temporarily blinding you for a few minutes while you panic and try to adjust. No more of that for me.

They have handy blocked out sides to them so the edges of your eyes are protected too.

Everyone, not just myself, should protect their own eyes from the harmful rays. You don’t really want to be joining the groups I attend ☺ 

I was on the bus attending another Sightloss group social evening that my friends have set up in another part of the city where I live.

It took an hour to get there, on a bus that I only knew the destination. I didn’t know where I was half the time.

At this point I’m very confident on buses after stopping driving years ago.

It just shows you that if you suddenly cannot drive for any reason, you CAN adapt and get about. I really enjoy it now. It wasn’t easy. I was used to driving for 29 years, but it’s like a little adventure everytime.

Hopefully the group will become as popular as the one in my home town.

People with sightloss, meeting up to meet a new social group, make new friends and have a support system available to them. A natter, with a cuppa or a cocktail to drink while your at it.

Woman with long blonde curly hair and red lipstick sits by a bus window with the sun glare shining through. I am wearing dark sunglasses and have headphones on my head.
PICTURE DESCRIPTION Woman with long blonde curly hair and red lipstick sits by a bus window with the sun glare shining through.  I am wearing dark sunglasses and have headphones on my head.
Posted in No category yet

Mr Rogers

Posted on by One Vision

I’ve just read about a fantastic man from America called Fred Rogers aka Mr Rogers.

He was a children’s TV presenter and much more than that, with his show ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighbourhood’

This ran from 1968 to 2001.

This show was  critically acclaimed, including a Lifetime Achievement Emmy in 1997, among 40 other honours and awards, for focusing on children’s emotional and physical concerns, such as death, sibling rivalry, school enrollment, and divorce.

As well as this, he also brought a sense of inclusivity into the show through diversity and disability.

A brilliant move for those times which were very wrong and didn’t include on television, a true depiction of everyone that lives on our little planet.

So the reason for me writing about this brilliant man is that he received a letter from a little five year-old girl named Katie who wrote to him to inquire about the fish he kept in a tank on the set of his show. Katie’s dad explained that the girl is blind, so she would cry whenever Mister Rogers didn’t mention feeding the fish.

He wrote about this in his book, “Dear Mister Rogers, Does It Ever Rain In Your neighborhood?,”

The letter is as follows.

Dear Mister Rogers,

Please say when you are feeding your fish, because I worry about them. I can’t see if you are feeding them, so please say you are feeding them out loud.

Katie, age 5 (Father’s note: Katie is blind, and she does cry if you don’t say that you have fed the fish.)

After that he made sure he spoke whilst feeding the fish. Mentioning he was doing so, so Katie knew, and other visually impaired people knew, that the fish were indeed fed.

In 1999 he was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame.

In 2003, at the age of 74. Mr Rogers died and left a brilliant legacy on how to treat people with kindness and speak to children in a way they felt heard and included.

There is also a memorial statue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for him. This was opened to the public on November 5, 2009.

VIDEO DESCRIPTION Mr Rogers a middle aged man with light brown hair wearing a green cardigan and white shirt and black tie, feeds a tank of fish in front of a wall in a home set up.

VIDEO DESCRIPTION Mr Rogers a middle aged man with light brown hair wearing a green cardigan and white shirt and black tie, feeds a tank of fish in front of a wall in a home set up.