March 26 - Nanaimo, BC

When I was a child, I used to think that people could either see or else they couldn’t.  They were either blind or sighted – there was no in between. Of course, that was presuming that I ever thought about vision loss at all!  Actually, I don’t remember ever thinking about vision loss. I didn’t give a thought as to the causes of blindness and I am not sure that vision impairment or partial sight ever crossed my conscious mind. As an adult who is now partially sighted, I am now more informed.  

Today as I walked with some members of NOVI (Nanaimo Organisation for the Visually Impaired) I was struck again by the vagaries of partial sight.  People who have partial sight see in so many different ways. There is blurred vision, tunnel vision, no central vision and so the list goes on. Today I learned about hemianopsia. Basically, it means half sight. This doesn’t mean monocular vision where a person sees with one eye and not the other. Rather, it is half sight in one or both eyes.  It might be that the person who has this condition can see only the left or right half of the field of vision in each eye, or perhaps only the top or bottom half of the field of vision. The other half is blacked out.

There were eight of us who walked along the seawall in Nanaimo today.  Our five canes tapped the way and we paused often to chat. The members of NOVI range in age from late twenties to early nineties, and indeed Elizabeth, age 90, was one of the walkers today. The group is a chapter of AEBC – Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians.  I hope to meet more members of this very active group as I continue my journey.

After the walk we stopped at a small coffee shop on the seawall to continue our visiting.  Thanks to Carolyn and the other members of NOVI for making me feel so much a part of the group as we discussed various eye conditions, accessibility to city facilities, and other accommodations available to people with vision loss.

Only three walks thus far and I have already made many new friends.