February 20 - White Cane as ID

Last week I wrote about the importance of taking my white cane with me so that other people would see it and recognize that I am someone with a vision impairment. I wrote that a white cane is a useful tool for identification. This week I was reminded that this doesn’t always work.

Again, I was in a large medical facility and for the umpteenth time was sitting with a young staff person to give my personal health history. When she was done, she looked up and commented, “I see you have a walking stick. Why is that?”

My cane was folded on my lap at the time but I told her that it was a white cane and that I carried it because I was legally blind.

“Oh!” said the young woman. “A white cane? I’ve never heard of that before.”

I am sure that my mouth fell open in surprise. This person was in her mid-twenties and worked in a medical facility and yet had never heard of a white cane. It is an instance like this that reminds me that education about white canes and their significance and purpose still has a way to go.

As I reflected, I remembered coming across the following quote:

In order to educate the blind, one must first educate the sighted.

February 13 - White Canes

A couple of weeks ago, I had a medical appointment in the city. Lyle parked our car in the underground lot quite close to the elevators. I knew that there were no steps in the building and so I left my cane in the car. This part of my doctor’s appointment was straightforward, but then I needed an x-ray.

When I followed the receptionist from the waiting room, I had anticipated that I would simply be going around the corner to the x-ray lab. This was not the case. The building had two wings, and not only that, it was in the process of being renovated. I followed through a labyrinth of empty hallways festooned with construction tapes and shrouded doorways. When I was finally deposited in a small change room, I had no clue as to where I was. When the technician appeared, I explained my problem and that I was legally blind. However, when the x-ray procedure was over, the young man apparently didn’t understand the extent of my vision loss and he instantly disappeared from sight. It was four o’clock in the afternoon – work was done for the day and there wasn’t another soul around. I had no idea of how to retrace my steps and felt a mild sense of panic.

Now, I was eventually rescued from my plight by a good Samaritan who was also wandering the isolated hallways. The difference between the two of us was that he could see to read the signs that pointed the way back to the reception area whereas I could not. I was relieved when we finally found our way back to where Lyle was waiting for me.

While this is an odd little story, the experience has also served to remind me of one of the important reasons for using my white cane. The white cane really does serve to identify me as someone who has little sight. It also means that on occasion I might need assistance in finding my way. Sometimes it is difficult for other people to understand the full meaning of terms such as legally blind and visually impaired. Often a white cane is a more effective visual tool in demonstrating what is meant by such terms. It isn’t the first time that I have been caught without my cane and have landed myself in a tricky situation. I wonder how long it will take me to learn the valuable lesson of always having my white cane with me!

February 6 - Listening to the Experts

As it is with many people who go through the challenges of vision loss, I belong to a support group  whose members encounter similar challenges. While I have my own informal support group of family and friends, there are additional benefits of membership in a more formal setting. For starters there is the bond of sharing with other people who have a personal knowledge and experience of what it is like to not be able to see well or perhaps not at all.  This is a special bond.

However, a formal support group offers more than this and that is the sharing of information about eye conditions and research in the quickly developing field of optic research. If you are fortunate, your group might invite a guest speaker with more specific knowledge of this than the lay members of the group are likely to have. This past week our group was fortunate to once again have one of our local optometrists, Dr. Marc Kallal, as our guest speaker.  Marc brought with him the benefit of his educational training as an optometrist and of course what more he has learned as he has practiced his profession at the Eye Care Clinic. Last year at this time Marc spoke to us about Macular Degeneration. This year he spoke to us about cataracts.

Cataracts, he told us, are much like wrinkles in that they are fairly inevitable and usually appear as part of the aging process. This doesn’t mean that we will all need cataract surgery. Cataracts can be located in different parts of the eye and can be more or less pronounced in different people. In severe cases or when the cataract has ripened, vision may become very blurred and cloudy. This is when cataract surgery is recommended. Because of our greying generation there is usually a waiting time for this. (N.B. Because Marc was addressing a more mature group, he touched only briefly on congenital cataracts.)

Marc explained the rapid advances of cataract surgery over the past few decades. While in the past, surgery usually meant a hospital stay of around a week, nowadays, the patient is in and out in 24 hours with a follow-up the following day. The drops which are prescribed during the next month are anti-inflammatory and antibiotic and to assist in healing. New glasses aren’t prescribed until the healing is complete. Complications with cataract surgery are rare.

I think that one of the more important things to remember is that cataracts can develop concurrently with other eye conditions. Having macular degeneration or glaucoma or any other eye condition does not preclude the possibility of developing cataracts. It is for this reason that annual check-ups with the optometrist are recommended. Marc also reminded us of other ways that we can continue to take care of our eyes. Good nutrition is helpful for every part of our physical health and that includes vision health. Smoking and the ultra violet rays of the sun are harmful.

It was good to have these reminders and I was especially grateful to Marc for volunteering his time to share his expertise with us. There are two pictures with this post. The first shows Marc holding a model of the eye as he explained the function of the parts. The second is similar but with several of the audience in the foreground of the picture. 

Marc with model of an eye

Marc with audience