Tag: Blindness

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Day Tripper

Posted on by One Vision

I had the pleasure recently of spending some time with the lovely people at my local sight loss group I’m involved in, which also included some of my friends lovely guide dogs!

We went on a trip to Bridlington. We’ve been before and we all really enjoyed it. Laughs, walking, drinks, dinner, sunshine, making new friends and spending time with old ones. If you are umming and arring about joining a group like this, please go. I was the same, but it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

We are a mixed aged group. I’m around in the middle somewhere. They are a very funny, welcoming and caring bunch.

Anyway, back to the doggos.

Exceptionally clever. These dogs cost approximately £35,000 per dog to train as a guide dog for people with sight impairment or total blindness. Which is rare as, between 2 to 8% of people who are visually impaired cannot see anything at all. Total blindness.

Most people with a Guide dog or a white cane of any sort can see something. Even if it’s just colours, shapes and shadows.

There are currently 2 million people living with sightloss in Britain today. 340,000 of these people registered as Blind or partially sighted.

You have to be matched with a dog once you’ve been accepted for one. Then there is extensive training with you both to make sure you are compatible and suit each other.

Here are a few photographs from the day below.

PICTURE DESCRIPTION Cartoon depiction of myself cuddling Joey, my friend Emma’s Golden Labrador guide dog laying down
PICTURE DESCRIPTION Picture of cartoon of myself with my friend Dean’s Black Labrador Guide dog Lola
PICTURE DESCRIPTION Picture of sky and bright sun with seagull perching on tall lamppost
PICTURE DESCRIPTION Picture of Joey the Golden Labrador look up at me with big brown eyes
PICTURE DESCRIPTION Picture of inside one of the minibuses on way to Bridlington
PICTURE DESCRIPTION Picture of a sign with the words seagulls are aggressive Do not feed them written on it.
PICTURE DESCRIPTION Picture of the sea with dark clouds above it. Bridlington seawall.
Posted in Useful Information

UK Braille Bank Notes

Posted on by One Vision

Something I learnt on my vision loss course is that the UK now has dots on the polymer bank notes to distinguish them.

The Bank of England has worked closely with RNIB to ensure that these notes are accessible to blind and partially sighted people. To make life a little easier.

I can still see them at the moment. Not so much coins though. Unless I have alot of patience to look at them.

Hence why I usually just hand a note over or pay by card instead.

The polymer bank notes started being introduced in 2016 in the UK.

The £10 note has two clusters of raised dots in the top left hand corner. Although they are often called and to referred to as braille notes, there is no braille on it, but raised dots. They don’t mean anything. They are just meant to make the note easily identifiable.

PICTURE DESCRIPTION
Close up picture of £10 note with 2 sets of raised bump dots.

The £20 note has three clusters of raised dots in the top left hand corner.

The £50 (released in June 2021) note has four clusters of raised dots in the top left hand corner. 

The £5 note is distinguishable by the absence of the tactile feature.

So go get your cash out and have a feel!

Posted in The Medical Stuff

Will I go Blind Blind?

Posted on by One Vision
woman facing front cross legged in a colourful water bubble wearing a hope t-shirt

I’ve had a few questions from people with Stargardts and the general diagnosis of Macular Dystrophy.

Will I go Blind Blind?
It’s very very rare with someone within the spectrum of the macular dystrophies group to go totally blind. There is the legally blind status at it’s worst, but not blind blind… No.
Unless there is some added complication. Another condition, causing problems beside it.
This is from the horses mouth. My consultant.
Best thing to do is speak to your consultant about this.
As the central vision is affected. The peripheral vision is still usable. It will be a learning process to use that more and get the very best use out of it. I will write about low vision help in another post later.
I’m already partially using my peripheral vision. Not consciously. I can tell when I look above stuff (especially in the dark) to see it.
These are the quotes that people are concerned about and now so am I … ‘losing my sight’, ‘I’m going blind’, ‘when I lose my vision’.
Unless I’m subsequently miss-diagnosed, and my tests results show something different or an added eye condition. I won’t use the word blind.
Not because I’m ashamed. Because that isn’t the truth.
I am losing my central vision.
Not, MY vision.
I also avoid using these terms…
I won’t call it a disease = Condition
I won’t say deteriorate = Progression
Most of all, I don’t want a newly diagnosed person, coming across a website, vlog or an Fb page thinking they will go completely blind.
We’ve all done it. Endlessly searched Google for information about our eye conditions. As I’ve stated before. It’s a rare condition. There isn’t much information out there.
So, put the right information out there. I don’t beat about the bush with this blog. It will always be an honest, true account of dealing with this condition and what it brings. If there is something happy or sad, I will post it up.
It’s about the hopeful, funny days, and the downright frustrating, ranty days.
Don’t get me wrong. This will, and has, caused me and others the most devastating loss and sadness. It won’t be easy. The central vision, that helps you look at fine detail, to read, drive, see pictures, faces, colours and shapes, will be gone.
As long as I have any hope of using my peripheral vision, I will live in that hope bubble all day long.