Day One~From Superheroes to Specters

Please use tab button above for "List of 31 Days Posts" to find more of the series

Welcome October!
In my part of the country we usually have a cold spell just before Halloween summoning the beginning of what will be a short lived Autumn... I say that, but it really isn't short, we have sporadic cold, then a torrid Spring right into Summer in February... Kind of only two seasons here.
I would like to introduce myself, My name is Marie, I live in Texas, I'm a widowed Mom of two beautiful kids, kind of far apart in age. I am an artist of sorts, I work with metal and  clay, beads and paint... I love to make sculptures and jewelry and paint murals. I take photos, mostly of architecture, and tons of my kids.  I have a rescue wolfhound that rules the house. She's a mess. 

This is the first installment of the 31 Days writing challenge. I had an outline of what I wanted to write for this blog... I threw it out, I nearly changed topics... and then decided to stick to my guns. I am writing this month on my Vision.

Vision can have different meanings in the midst of our language. This beautiful and rich language that we have can sometimes be confusing, having the same word, the same spelling with several uses. Noun, verb, adjective, they mean something quite different.

If you are a Marvel Comics fan, you will recall the name 'Vision' as a Superhero, the android that is part of the team Avengers. Matter of fact, that character will be in the upcoming Avengers movie, slated to be released in 2015. I'm a Marvel Fan!

Also, the term 'vision' is used to denote beauty, a lovely or charming sight

           She is a vision in white... or pink, or yellow...

 As a supernatural occurrence or as a manifestation to the senses of something immaterial. If you have visions, you are having maybe a hallucination? Maybe a spirit is calling? A direct mystical awareness of the supernatural usually in a visible  form.

" Look, not at visions, but at realities" — Edith Wharton

It is defined by Miriam Webster as  the literal:

        "The ability to see" or:    the special sense by which the qualities of an object (as color, luminosity, shape, and size) constituting its appearance are perceived through a process in which light rays entering the eye are transformed by the retina into electrical signals that are transmitted to the brain via the optic nerve

The term is from Middle English from Anglo French and the Latin Visio or videre~ to see.
That is what I'm talking about. 
Vision is such a fragile thing that we take for granted. It is one of the most vital senses that we have. Of the five senses, sight is the one that when  lost, it takes all the other senses to fill the void.The term Visually Impaired encompasses those vision problems that are not treatable with glasses or contacts.

So, what does that have to do with anything?

There are around 60,400 school children in this country that are visually impaired{1}
There are around 660,000 aged 4-20 year old who have a visual disability {2}
There are around 6,670,000 people in the US that have a prevalence of a visual disability ...{3}
In 2012 there were 20.6 million (that's 20,600,000) American Adults age 18 and older reported experiencing vision loss.{4}
 285 million people are estimated to be visually impaired worldwide: 39 million are blind and 246 have low vision.{5}

These statistics  don't include institutionalized persons.

The demographics are crazy, it isn't just people that are old with cataracts that are losing their sight. It is babies,young kids, teenagers, young adults... middle aged... and yes, the old. 

Over the month of October, I'll explore the causes and effects of visual impairment and how it changes the day to day lives of so many people, including me. I hope you will come back to join me on this adventure. I say adventure, because it is one. I will be exploring travel, child rearing, working, art, and other activities that are important parts of life and culture, and are oh so hard when you are blind. 

Thanks for visiting with me. Hope to 'see' you again soon.

1.   American Printing House for the Blind, "Annual Report 2014: Distribution of Eligible Students Based on the Federal Quota Census of January 7, 2013 (Fiscal Year 2014)
2.   Erickson, W., Lee, C., von Schrader, S. (2014). Disability Statistics from the 2012 American Community Survey (ACS). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Employment and Disability Institute (EDI). Retrieved Jul 28, 2014
3.   Cornell University's Employment and Disability Institute (EDI)
4.   "Blackwell, D.L., Lucas, J.W., & Clarke, T.C. (2014). Summary health statistics for U.S. adults: National Health Interview Survey, 2012. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Health Stat 10(260)."
5.    World Health Organization-Visual impairment and blindnessFact Sheet N°282

Updated August 2014