"I chose to educate myself"
Pat shares with us the choices she made when faced with a visual impairment.
Hadley
I Chose to Educate Myself
Presented by Douglas Walker
Douglas: Hello, and welcome to the Insights and Sound Bites podcast, where people facing vision loss share insights about what has helped them cope and adjust.
Voice 1: You cannot do this alone. You need people who are experiencing the same thing.
Voice 2: Probably the hardest part was just navigating through the emotions of it.
Douglas: My name is Douglas Walker. A routine trip to the eye doctor can suddenly change your life. Today, we’ll hear from Pat. Pat will share with us the choices she made, when faced with a visual impairment
Pat: I was diagnosed with macular degeneration in 2014. What was thinking, I was going in to get a new kind of contact lens, so would help with my computer work and came out being told not only is your vision poor, but it's not going to get any better. My father had macular degeneration before there was any treatment and of course, eventually went completely blind. I had lots of opportunities in my hands, thank heaven. As anxiety ridden as being told you're going to lose your vision, you have a couple of choices, you can either sink into it and be miserable, feel sorry for yourself, and wallow in self-pity, and I'm an educator by education and by trade, and so my idea is find out how you can do better.
My thought was even though my vision wasn't that bad at the beginning, my weapon of choice was to educate myself, find out while I had relatively good vision, how to do things, how to adapt, how to make my home adaptable to my needs. So that was my theory for survival and optimism is education
Douglas: Was there something that someone said to you or something that happened along the way that made all the difference in the world in helping you adjust to living with vision loss?
We’d love to hear from you. If you’d like to share us, just leave us a message on our Insights and Soundbites podcast voicemail by calling 847-512-4867. Or you can use your smartphone or computer and email us a recording to [email protected]. Again, my name is Douglas Walker, take care and see you next time.
All Episodes
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Episode 45
Dennis found that many aspects of life with vision loss can be a struggle. Then he found something that turned that around.
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Episode 44
Judy has lived with progressive vision loss for many years. She's found a way that helps her cope and adjust.
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Episode 43
For years Bill hid his vision loss from others. He was self-conscious about it. Then, he decided to open up.
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Episode 42
For Cynthia, every story shared helps her on her own journey with vision loss.
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Episode 41
Living with low vision meant Karen was constantly explaining to others what she can and can't see. Then she found a tool that has made a big difference.
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Episode 40
Having to give up the car keys was traumatic for Eugenia. She worried about becoming isolated until she found a new way.
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Episode 39
This week, hear how rediscovering a favorite activity helped Celia find balance as she adjusts to vision loss.
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Episode 38
Denise can struggle with the slow but continuous loss of vision she's facing. But she's found a way to pick herself up on a bad day.
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Episode 37
Listen in as Vanessa shares what has helped keep her from feeling hopeless and defeated due to vision loss.
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Episode 36
Stacy shares with us how being honest about her vision loss with her friends and coworkers has made all the difference in the world.
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Episode 35
For many, having to give up the car keys due to vision loss is traumatic. Deb felt it too. Then, during a call to arrange transportation for herself, a new door opened.
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Episode 34
Listen in as Anne describes how a question posed to her shifted her perspective for living with vision loss.