Day 4~ Softball: Not a Sport For Sissys

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   Welcome back, this is Day 4 of the series of blogs 31 Days of Vision.  I'm glad you could visit with me today, since it is Saturday, I'll not get too deep in the numbers, I'll leave that for another day, but... I will tell you that it is hard not to list the facts and figures when I am talking about vision.
      I've been visually handicapped for most of my life. In one form or another, I have had really bad vision for my whole life, though there are short periods of time that my vision was relatively good, like 20/40, 20/60 corrected. I am lucky, really lucky,  so many people have less vision than I do know that it seems kind of petty of me to complain about it.  For years I hid the problem of my low vision, thinking in my mind it would be better for people to think I was a klutz than to have them know I couldn't see.  I know, right? That is pretty dumb.
     I wore glasses from a pretty young age. I don't know if I was visually impaired before that time, I don't know if it was something that was a sudden, drastic change or if it was something they happened to catch with a school eye exam... I have no point of reference for what I saw and how long I saw it. I do remember seeing stars for the first time. Only the big ones. I could never pick out constellations, I knew what they were, and their names, but for the life of me... I could never pick them out in the sky.
     As a kid, you notice if you are different from other people, not usually because you know that you can't do the same things, but that other people pick it up and point it out to you. When you are a kid, you don't want to be different. You want to fit in with all the other kids... to be popular, or at least not be picked on... ME? I wanted to hide. I didn't want to be noticed. I didn't want to be picked on, to be different, to be me. 
     The ability to see has a lot to do with your self esteem.
Growing up with a visual disability can be very difficult, even if the visual acuity isn't that much of a loss, it is hard to fit into the day to day activities of a normal child.  Glasses get in the way, and if you wear them, kids will say something, no matter how nice they are...they do notice Even a simple statement like, ..."I like your glasses",    can trigger panic and anxiety in the kid that is wearing the pair.

pretty sure mine weren't this cool

     If you are cool, and have cool glasses, you might fit in better, but when I was a kid, I was the only one in class that got glasses. UGH, My mother kind of pushed me towards the ugly black framed ones... I chose pink, but they were horrible. I look back at pictures and they were hideous.  I got picked on from the first day that I wore them. I could see so I didn't mind it so much ...Who am I kidding? I hated it!  I went through glasses in quick succession, my poor parents. I don't know how they kept me in new glasses. I either broke them or had to get new prescriptions a couple of times a year. Sometimes more often. I lost them, I broke them, I hid them. I hated them. I went into contacts when I was 11. Supposedly, they would help slow the changes in my vision. I don't know about that, they had to be changed a couple of times a year, and I just never got that it slowed down the changes. It did help me out socially though. I finally didn't have to wear the glasses. but the contacts had their own problems. We moved to the desert and I had to get used to sand, wind, more sand, and well... more wind. Dry eyes are a norm, scratched cornea are the norm, even if you don't wear contacts. I was miserable for years.

   When I was a kid, I loved to play sports. I was sick a lot, but when I went to school,  I wanted to join in, especially softball. I was the kid that got put in way out left field, where it seemed an eternity before a ball would actually come my way... when it did, I missed it. Totally missed it. Not even close to catching it, missed it. If I wasn't careful, I might get hit with the ball. That was usually when it was up really high and coming straight down, I had a really hard time discerning a ball from a cloud.  I got laughed at, A lot.

     I loved to swim when I was a kid. Of course you can't go in the water with your glasses on. I couldn't find the quarters on the bottom of the pool. I couldn't find my friends. I think my sister used to ditch me a lot, I couldn't see her... had no idea if she was around.  I kind of went into my own little world when I was in the pool.

Not Westmorland, but about the same size!

When I was very young, the city pool was a huge, huge pool that covered an acre, it was called Westmorland. Mom would drop off my sister and me at the pool and let us stay the day... Probably not a good idea. I got sunburned really bad, I don't know how many times. We never wore sunglasses. We never wore sunscreen...I think my sister used Coppertone maybe, but that was the same as using baby oil... which she did use a lot.
     When I was a bit older we went to a Summer camp that had an Olympic sized pool which was cool. I loved swimming back and forth, trying to hold my breath, or swimming to the bottom under the diving boards. Swimming is something that you can lose yourself in, even if you are blind. As long as you have your bearings, you can swim for hours and hours.

This is the Westmorland!

 

     Other sports, not so much. To play soccer, you need to see. Track, you need to see. Basketball, you need to see. Volleyball, Dodgeball, tetherball, yep, they all take vision. I sucked at all those. I found out I was good at canoeing, and gymnastics. I loved the balance beam, and I don't know how I was able to stay on it, I guess just by feel. That is a lot of it, you know? I still feel my way around.
I count steps, I have really good sense of direction. I memorize.

     Kids tend to adapt to what they can do, the physical part is not the hard part, kids figure out ways to get things done. It is the social part that makes people so depressed. There are studies on the socialization of adolescents with visual impairment. Kind of bleak studies, really. Psychosocial problems {1} are at the top of the list when there is a discussion on disabilities. Different types of support are necessary to the development of all adolescents but especially to impaired adolescents it is vital to their psychiatric balance. They are: emotional , instrumental, informational, and appraisal support. Each in it's own way is important.
     Emotional support encompasses the love, trust, empathy that is given to the kid, instrumental is the time, effort and monetary support. Informational is the advice and sharing of ideas and the appraisal support is the feedback that is given to the child. Now, I know this seems normal today... Giving kids the physical and emotional support that is needed to be nurtured... but, well, when I as a kid... I don't know that it was a factor. My mother wavered on feeling sorry for me for being sick all the time,  to wanting me to go outside and play and stay out from underfoot. We were kind of booted out and told to 'suck it up'.
     I don't know that anyone ever gave me council on how to do much of anything. My parents just expected me to be good, go to school, and... well. that was about it. No lectures, no advice, no real emotional support... I was expected to do what all the other kids in school were doing. I was expected to be there, if I wasn't in bed sick, I was expected to go to school, to participate, to come home... and stay out of trouble.
      Maybe I needed counseling, but I think I did OK. I graduated. I wasn't the brightest student, but I wasn't the worst. I didn't excel in anything, but I didn't fail. I went on to college, got married, had a family, did the norm... while a lot of my friends went on to have careers, My mother did push me towards a degree in Nursing... I did the only thing that I could do. I refused to get my license.  I didn't get a good degree, I was happy to not have to stress out all the time, trying to keep up. I I just flat out didn't want to be a nurse.  I wanted a family. I wanted to be lost in the crowd, to not stand out... to be something of a loner really, keeping my family close at hand. I did that. pretty much up until about 6 years ago. Maybe I need counseling now?

     By the way, now they have what is called Beep Ball, A form of baseball for the blind, heck they have teams that actually are better and more exciting that regular baseball, one team is called the Chicago Comets. {2} They are a bunch of grown men that are tough and competitive. They play with a ball that beeps (hence the name) and with two bases that are large kind of punching bags, The pitcher and batter are on the same team. By the way, the pitcher is sighted... he throws the ball hollering Ready, Pitch, and the batter swings at the ball when he hears it near to him.  He runs to whichever base is beeping, if he gets there before the ball is fielded, its a score, if not, he's out.
The game is pretty physical and rough. Not at all what it was like for a girl playing softball back in the day. lolling around in outfield... hiding. Hoping the ball wouldn't come, praying the ball wouldn't come.


1.  Taina Huurre- Psychosocial Development and Social Support Among Adolescents with Visual Impairment-Academic Dissertation,Faculty of Medicine of the university of Tampere. June, 2000. p. 20

2.  http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/September-2011/For-the-Chicago-Comets-Blindness-No-Impediment-to-Tough-Competition/

Day Three~ Get Back to Work

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Welcome back for Day Three of the 31 Days of Vision series. It is my pleasure to share a cup of coffee and a peek into my world.
Today, I'm going back to work, or part of my work. I've been off for a few days now, more like a week. I'm trying to recover from last week's Homecoming football game (we lost) and the weekend of being busy and feeling poorly. OK so I mostly took time creating the 'button' to use with this series of blogs... Let's be honest.

My warm and fuzzy workroom, not here today

Today I wanted to show you one of my jobs. I have several at the moment. I am working in my "studio" today. I put that in quotation marks because it is just an ordinary workroom really. I can call it my studio if I want to, so there you have it. I actually have two workrooms which are totally different and kept totally separate now. I used to have one large room but once I started working on metal I split them up. Who knew I could get so messy!
So this is a picture of the sewing workroom. I sew and quilt and generally go to hide out in this one... It isn't where I'll be today... I have work to do in the other workroom.  It is a bit more fun really, I can't hide out in it, but I do enjoy making things... and this is the place to do it.
It is a mess, and this is an  older picture!! I can't show the whole room today, it is even messier than this! I love this space. It is nice and cozy and yet I have enough room for all the extra stuff I need... and well, it used to be my husband's office, then the kid's nursery, so it seems to hold memories...
So, lets get to work.
One of my jobs is to make  jewelry... and sculptures, beads, beadwork, and odds and ends. This is where I make the ideas come alive. There is never a dull moment here. I can tell you honestly that I never get bored. I do get tired. Very quickly. So what does this all have to do with vision?

beadwork I'm trying to finish

LOT and lots. Stop and think about how to cut a piece of metal. You need to be a bit accurate. You need to be a bit careful. and you need to be able to see what you are cutting. Straining your eyes makes you tired...
Ahah!
This is where I want to introduce you to my best friend in the world.  I should say friends... because I have several in each workroom.

 I use a lot of magnification. Every thing that I do has to be put under the glass or worked on with a set of additional glasses. I have quite the variety. This large one with the light under so it doesn't glare in my eyes.
The third hand with magnifier is wonderful, it can hold a piece that you are working on and magnify at the same time, and you can use it in conjunction with other glasses.

 here's a variety of glasses. they are all used at some time or another, the ones that have the most magnification are kept in their wrappers, I don't want any scratches or dust on the lenses.
Here are some that can clip onto your tools. Really handy if you are working with tiny little parts.

 I am a huge proponent of safety glasses. I have quite a few pair of them as well. I keep the slip on kind for doing easy stuff, usually like things that won't involve flying metal. Sometimes I use them for sawing, but only with care. It is easy to forget that you don't have really good protection and start another part of the project that might be dangerous. The ones with the wrap around are a bit more protective, but they aren't going to keep out fumes. I do have a pair of those, but I'll save them for later.

These are also very necessary to be able to work efficiently.  Lights. Good lighting is essential for those with low vision, like me. Direct light might help some, but for me, lighting that is behind me or above me is best, and not too glaring.  I like the light tree that you can adjust. I can have all or half of the lights on. I usually have them all pointing towards what I am working on, but at times, up in the air is good as well.
I've found that having  a lot of light can tire my eyes out, and sometimes even the heat off the magnifying glass light can make my eyes dry and feel tired. so I keep eye drops handy. Since I live in the desert, dry eyes are the leading eye problem.

4/0 and 6/0 jewelers saw blades

I do a lot of sawing on metal, all of it with a jewelers saw that takes blades that are pretty tiny. The 4/0 size that i use have 66 teeth per inch. I can't see them, I just know they are there by touch. Most people are that way. You run your fingers down the sides of the blade to find the teeth, or put it under the magnifying glass... The teeth face down when in the saw, so you have to make sure the blade is in with the teeth not only in the right direction, but actually facing outwards. I have actually put them in backwards and it does work... just kind of backwards. In my lazy, awkward way, I tried it out!

I hope you will join me again, Over the next few weeks, I'll go over a few of my other jobs, bring you along on some travel, football games, tennis matches, and maybe even bake some for you

A connector, ready to be cut.

Day Two~Boring? Facts are Facts-Let's Get Them Out of the Way!

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Looking at the statistics for Blindness can cause blindness.
I am pretty sure that is one of the statistics... I can't prove it, but after reading so much on blindness, I can't see.
 The numbers are staggering even in 2014, when you would think things like cancer and blindness would have been cured, up pops something like ALS challenges and Ebola scares and you realize that even with our vast scientific community, with vast resources, we can't even actually cure the common cold. 

I do know this topic isn't the most glamorous or the most catchy of the blogs you can choose from, and maybe it won't even  be one of those subjects that ever affects you... but... you more than likely will know someone who has vision problems.

Reading the stats, I was amazed at the demographics. There has to be some correlation to the numbers and the locals. California leads the nation in blindness with over 700,000 reported cases of visual impairment. A close second is Texas and 600,000 reported cases, Florida is last with over400,000 cases{1}
The number of cases of blindness has jumped since 2000-2010 . Cases at the turn of the millennium were936,000 to 1,288,000 people who were blind. That is huge. This jump is likely because of the aging population and the statistics on that are alarming, but what is even more alarming are the  projections of the overall projected estimate of blindness in 2030 being 2,169,625 and the total projected estimates in 2050 being 4,113,472.{2}
 When you break down the numbers by age and race, Whites make up the largest blind population, Blacks follow at a much lower rate and Hispanics at an even lower rate, other non-white ethnicity are miniscule.

When the numbers are broken down even further into male/female and into the category of race, then older White Females are the highest at risk group, Of course, economics plays a huge role in blindness as do  health issues.

The next few days I will go a bit deeper into the statistics, but really, what does it all mean to the average person? How do these facts fit into our day to day life? Is there any need to look into these statistics or are they just that... statistics that won't ever effect us?
I can answer that with a long and boring discussion on more statistics, but the fact is: You have eyes, you need them, they need to be healthy, there is a great possibility that you or someone you know needs visual correction. Eye health is important.

It is all too often that we skip over the information like this and figure that it won't happen to us, or to family, but blindness can strike when you least expect it. I have a nephew that had an eye injury, he was pretty young, maybe 11 or 12. A tiny piece of metal shaving, not even a shaving but a speck flew into his eye, lodging in the lens. They couldn't remove the object, it eventually, after a couple of years, formed a cataract and his vision was diminished so much that they took out the lens...The doctor didn't replace the lens since the eye was still growing, so my nephew was blind in that eye. Try holding a thick piece of clear plastic over one eye and you might get the effect of having no vision. It is hard to walk around, to balance. It is difficult to do tasks that require vision, it's hard just to watch TV.

I suppose what I want to convey is that there is so much at stake when we are living our daily lives. Eye protection is of the utmost importance, yet very few of us actually take the time to use protection, even me... I am lazy. I try to think, ..."oh, it's ok, I'm just going to knock this nail in... "  but that is exactly how my nephew got the little, tiny, speck sized piece of metal in his eye...

Tomorrow, the subject will be a little lighter, yet a bit more frightening. I'm going to work. I'll take you into my world of  making a living. I hope you will bear with me. I won't give you quite so many numbers and will give you more pictures. Come back and join me, and have a cup of coffee with me on my coffee break.




1.   National Eye Institute-National Eye Institute (NEI) http://www.nei.nih.gov
2.   American Foundation for the Blind- statistics-235# demographics
3.   Advance Data From Vital and Health Statistics; No. 125 (9/19 ...www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad125.pdf  

Day One~From Superheroes to Specters

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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