"You tap into other things when you lose some vision"
When a favorite hobby became more difficult for Dianne due to glaucoma, she learned to tap into something else. It turned out to be the ideal thing.
Hadley
You tap into other things when you lose some vision
Dianne: I think we have to acknowledge that yes, our sight is diminishing, but our other senses come to life to be more available. And maybe we didn't think of them.
Marc: This is Hadley’s Insights and Sound Bites, where people facing vision loss share what has helped them cope and adjust.
Dianne: I'm Dianne Gavin and I currently live in Ashton, Illinois.
I was diagnosed with glaucoma. My mother had that, so she shared that with me. But she was able to take the eyedrops and she never went blind, but I was unable to take the eye drops because of allergies.
So just got the letter from the doctor, it's called severe primary open angle glaucoma in both eyes. And so, I'm legally blind now. I can still see, but not very well.
I think that you tap into other things when you lose vision, other senses come to life.
During Christmas time, I would crochet and knit for 30 years. Now I can't see to follow the pattern and to see to do the work, but my sense of touch is what I use to make some headbands for Christmas and it wasn't a big project, which gives you the satisfaction completing it, which is what you want,
And so that was an ideal thing. But it was done by the sense of touch, not by a pattern or anything.
The satisfaction of completing something that you started to do is really phenomenal. That’s a great thing to.
And I think we have to acknowledge that yes, our sight is diminishing, but our other senses come to life more to be more available. And maybe we didn't think of them. I didn't think of the sense of touch come to life, but until you actually do it, you don't realize it yourself. And so that's why I was wanting to share that with the group.
Marc: Insights & Sound Bites has made possible by Hadley’s donors. Who understand that hearing someone else’s story can truly make a difference.
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 11
Gregory shares how finding a mentor made all the difference in the world to him, and his entire family.
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Episode 10
Listen in as we hear from Sarah. For her, hearing a blind architect's story changed her perspective on what was possible.
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Episode 9
Listen in as Tom shares how leaning on his faith helps him adjust to vision loss.
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Episode 8
Pat shares with us the choices she made when faced with a visual impairment.
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Episode 7
Darryl shares with us how a referral to a low vision specialist was where his life with vision loss began to turn around.
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Episode 6
Annie shares with us the steps she took to work through her depression by seeking help from a mental health professional.
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Episode 5
Sharon shares with us how she worked through the isolation and found people just like her to get the support she needed.
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Episode 4
Hannah shares with us how she had to give herself permission to grieve her vision loss in order to reach acceptance.
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Episode 3
Randy's search for help led him into a whole new way of thinking.
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Episode 2
Ruth shares how her mother's advice, "Knock the T Off Can't," helped her.
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Episode 1
Larry shares how he found strength in his core beliefs to get him through the shock of his initial diagnosis.