April 30 - Dark Glasses?

Some people have different ideas of what it “looks like” to be blind.  Once, when I was at a round table event with people I didn’t know, the man sitting next to me gave me a paper to read. I passed it back to him explaining that I couldn’t see the print. I was, in fact, legally blind. The man was genuinely astounded.

“You can’t be blind” he said. “Where are your dark glasses?” Then, peering under the table, and as if to confirm his suspicion that I was pulling his leg, he announced, “You haven’t got a dog! Where is your dog? You can’t be blind!”

I think that I have mentioned before that only a very small percentage of people who are blind own a guide dog, but we should all be wearing those dark glasses when we are in sunlight. My eyes are sensitive to light and I usually do wear tinted or dark glasses when I am outside. This is a good thing. Current research shows that whether we are blind or whether we can see, it is a good thing to protect our eyes from the harmful rays of the sun and wearing sunglasses is a good way to do this.

As an aside – I won’t be walking every day at the beginning of this month. Lyle will be working and it isn’t always easy for me to find other people to drive me to where I would like to be. However, I will still be posting on the blog, so keep checking. Thank you for the many page views for my birthday last week!