February 27 - Wheelchair Tennis

Lyle and I enjoy watching tennis matches. In February, the Australian Open tennis tournament was broadcast on the sports channel. Mostly we watch the men’s and women’s singles matches, but there are other categories – men’s doubles, women’s doubles, mixed doubles and what was a surprise for me this year – wheelchair tennis. I have seen other sports where the athletes were wheelchair bound, but I had never seen the game of tennis played from this perspective. I was totally impressed and to my chagrin, a bit behind the times. Tennis has been played by wheelchair participants for quite a few years already.

Have you ever had occasion to need a wheelchair?  My own answer to this is affirmative but fortunately for me, each time the need has been temporary. The very first time was a doozie. I had fallen – I wasn’t using my cane, missed a step – well, actually a large hole, and went tumbling down into a culvert. The pain was excruciating! A trip to the hospital emergency showed only a severe sprain, but I was not to put any weight on the foot for the next several weeks.  When crutches seemed to invite the probability of another fall, we opted to borrow a wheelchair.

Over the next six weeks Lyle and I began a steep learning curve of navigation and wheelchair mobility. We looked for alternate ways of entering buildings instead of using revolving doors. We looked for ramps instead of steps and searched – sometimes in vain, for accessible washrooms. We were very cognizant of which street intersections had sloped ramps to the roadway and which ended in high curbs. It took lots of energy from both of us and we were often played out by the end of the day.

The wheelchair I used was an older one borrowed from our local health unit. It was heavy and clumsy. It was hard enough for Lyle to push and I found trying to move the wheels forward myself almost impossible. It was a far cry from the lighter weight trim looking chairs propelled around the court by the tennis competitors. Nevertheless, I’m sure that the arm muscle development of these super athletes was way beyond the norm. How did they ever manage to maneuvere their chairs with one hand and ready their tennis racquet with the other? If we ever get to see a live match, I would definitely book a seat to watch these champion tennis stars. Such skill, strength and agility would be a sight to see!

 

February 16 - Sight Ambiguity

Recently while listening to the audio version of Travelling Blind, Adventures in Vision With a Guide Dog by My Side by Susan Krieger, I came across the term partial blindness. I was surprised because the politically correct term of the day seems to be partial sight. This latter wording is supposed to give a positive spin on what a person can see rather than on the lack of vision. Neither term is precise, and it seems to me that neither are especially helpful in defining what it is that someone can or can’t see.  There is a wide range of vision between total blindness and full sight. The in-between of partial sight or partial blindness can be vague, fluctuating and by definition, ambiguous.

Krieger had an eye condition known as birdshot. Birdshot is the common name for an uncommon condition. The technical term is Birdshot Chorioretinapathy. Years ago, I met another woman with this same eye disease. Both women told of the frustration and ambiguity of being able both to see and not to see.

Birdshot is so labelled because the pinpricks of lack of sight are scattered over the retina like birdshot from a shotgun. The beginning symptoms are large floaters and blurred vision. Taken by themselves, these two symptoms could be the beginning of several other eye conditions. However, as the condition progresses other symptoms emerge and a diagnosis can be made. When I looked up Birdshot, I read that it occurs mostly in white individuals, but interestingly, the first person I met with the condition was a person of colour.

Often, there isn’t a particular explanation for what happens in our bodies. My own eye condition is described as genetic but nobody else in my family is afflicted. There are a number of eye conditions that have vague and undulating symptoms or ill-defined causes. Sometimes these symptoms prevent central sight and at other times, peripheral vision is obscured. Sight may be patchy or cloudy. It is rare for vision to go from full sight to complete lack of sight. Thus the ambiguous nature of partial sight.

In another book, What to Look For in Winter, by Candia McWilliam, the author had perfect sight but was unable to see. McWilliam had a condition known as  blepharospasm. Her eyes could see perfectly but when the eyelids drooped shut it made sight an impossibility. McWilliam was only able to see when she used her fingertips to pry her eyelids open. She struggled with the ambiguity of being both able to see and being basically blind.

It is this uncertainty of sight that makes life so difficult for the person who has this limited vision. Are we partially blind or partially sighted? I am grateful for what I can see and over the years have become accustomed to dealing with what I can’t see. I am not sure that I will ever be able to fully explain this ambiguity in sight to others, but I hope that this post has been helpful.

 

 

 

February 5 – Sustainability and Fashion

Like many other people, Lyle and I are concerned with the life of our planet. In our own small way we do our best to recycle, preserve and conserve. So when we were watching TV and heard the commentator talk about sustainability and the fashion industry, our ears perked up. We listened attentively and then burst out laughing.

What was the joke? Well, as we listened, the earnest woman on our TV screen encouraged us all to wear each article of clothing at least thirty times before we refreshed our wardrobe. Only thirty times! Lyle and I looked down at what we were wearing. Possibly I had been wearing the same outfit every second day since the fall...and it wasn’t even new when I started out.

I’m not sure about you, but in these pandemic days when many of us are spending most of our time at home with little opportunity to go out and about in the company of other people, Lyle and I tend to wear our comfortable casual clothes over and over again. Thirty times! That was the joke. I haven’t been inside a clothing store for nearly a year and with the requirements of daily living in this corona virus era, I doubt that I will be rushing out shopping in the near future. Yes, I think that I will be able to follow this fashion advice towards sustainability.