[access-uk] Re: Blind or Severely sight impaired?
- From: "Andy Logue" <andy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 18 May 2007 21:44:27 +0100
Hi there.
I am 53 years old and have Retinitis Pigmentosa. I was first diagnosed
around 1970 while working in London. Since then I have been a Registered
Blind person. However, I do have a little peripheral vision and have always
not considered myself to be blind.
I am a guide dog owner and cannot read or write, or see my face in a mirror
and frequently walk into things and hurt myself. I cannot recognise faces
like that of my wife, even when she is very close to me. I frequently get
disorientated and lost in places I know well. I cannot see the TV and my
lower vision is completely gone..
I can however get around, undertake all of the housework and cooking and
furthermore, undertake work in my garden, like lay slabs, build fencing and
just about everything that needs done.
Yes, I'm a Registered Blind Person all right, according to the National
Assistance Act 1949 and the World Health Organisations current definition of
Blindness.
However, I've for many years been unhappy with this term and feel that the
term Blind should be reserved for those who have light perception or less,
and that people like me should be restricted to the Partially Sighted
Register.
One of the reasons why I feel this is the response I get from fully sighted
people when I tell them that I'm Registered as lined. They simply distrust
me, because a moment or so ago, I lifted a pint of beer without assistance
or walked to the toilet and back withought a stick.
I no longer tell people that I'm blind. I simply say that I have a visual
impairment. To be honest, I feel much better about this and the response I
get is fine.
I say, keep the Blind Register for Blind People who have no light perception
and for the rest of us, place us on the PS Register.
Why not?? Are we so frightened of loosing services or something? I'll
finish by simply referring to a statement I
heard from a totally blind woman many years ago. "Even when doing ironing,
light perception makes all the difference Andy."
Best wishes.
Andy
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