"It's the best thing I ever did"

Hadley

It’s the best thing I ever did

Kendra: I saw that my parents went blind and they didn't do anything to help themselves and to get ahead of it. And I'm not that kind of person.

Marc: This is Hadley’s Insights and Sound Bites, where people facing vision loss share what has helped them cope and adjust.

Kendra: My name is Kendra Marcus, and I live in Lafayette, California, which is in the Bay Area of California. And I am working in the publishing industry, and I am still working. And it's very exciting to be able to figure out ways to work around and still continue to work.

First of all, I saw that my parents went blind and they didn't do anything to help themselves and to get ahead of it. They just accepted it. And I'm not that kind of person. And so, I was looking around and I went to a low vision center because somebody said, you can try a low vision center. And there they said they had a support group if I was interested. So, I went to the support group, even though I sort of don't like things like that. I'm not a joiner. I tend to just figure it out by myself. But I thought, I can't do this by myself. So, I went and it was a group of people from 40 to 92 who just came in.

And each time we sort of introduced ourselves, we talked a minute about our eye condition, and then we said, what was bothering us or how did we spend the holidays? How was that for us? What were the problems? And for the holiday one, somebody said, I feel so useless. I can't see anybody who's talking to me. I have to sit in a corner and wait for people to talk to me.

And everybody chimed in, well, have you tried this or have you tried that? And then somebody else would say, I can't read anymore. I don't know what to do. And then somebody would say, have you heard about BARD at the National Library for the Blind? And we just exchanged information at the same time as sort of dealing with some of the harder issues of losing sight. And I would say that that's been the best thing I ever did. And so, in a word, the best thing is to meet another blind person or another person with low vision and find out what they did, because everybody's willing to help. We all are flailing in the beginning because we don't know where to go.

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].