"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
Pat: 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.
Marc: This is Hadley’s Insights and Sound Bites, where people facing vision loss share what has helped them cope and adjust.
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
Marc: You never know who might need to hear your story. If you’d like to share with us, just leave us a message on our Insights & Sound Bites voicemail. By calling, 847-512-4867. Or, you can use your smartphone or computer and email us a recording to [email protected].
All Episodes
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Episode 54
When Albert's vision decreased to the point that he could no longer read print anymore, he found it stressful. But he's found a new source of comfort that helps him quite a bit.
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Episode 53
Jayne can feel isolated living with her eye disease, spending much of her days forcing herself to focus on things that have become blurry. The stress can be overwhelming, causing her to shut down. But there's one area of life that now brings her more joy than ever before.
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Episode 52
When Jeffry lost his sight, he felt a loss of control, a loss of dignity. Then, he began his long road to empowerment, one small goal at a time.
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Episode 51
Marilyn went through bouts of anxiety and depression with her vision loss and still grieves the loss several years into her journey. She also decided to do something for herself which has helped tremendously.
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Episode 50
Learning to live with vision loss wasn't always easy for Pam. But with time, her bad days are fewer.
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Episode 49
Jennifer didn't know what to do or who to go to for help as her vision was fading. Then, by chance, she found some help. She found some direction.
The book referenced in this episode is "Macular Degeneration: The Complete Guide to Saving and Maximizing Your Sight"
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Episode 48
When Carmel heard a Hadley podcast, it helped her understand what had been happening to her along with her vision loss—something she had nicknamed her "phantom vision."
Carmel mentions an episode of our sister podcast, Hadley Presents. Here's a link to that episode on Vision Loss and Charles Bonnet Syndrome.
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Episode 47
It was tough for Linda to give up driving and she was heartbroken when reading became difficult. She felt her world was shrinking. But then she asked for help.
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Episode 46
Ashia felt all alone in her vision loss. No one around her knew what she was going through. Then she found something that gave her hope.
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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.