Man…you nailed it. Crystallized my thoughts exactly. You’ve given me words to explain how it feels when there’s a person who ALWAYS brings up my vision loss and how it gets old real quick. The part where you said you start to feel like that’s ALL they see about you. That even clarified it to myself. I’m a pretty thick-skinned person, I have a huge sense of humor and can enjoy a self-deprecating joke as well as anyone so I couldn’t put my finger on why I’d be sensitive at times with certain people. It’s not that they’re necessarily saying really rude things. It’s just that they always bring it up. That’s it, that’s why…it’s like they only see me as a VIP. Thanks for the words I needed!
With VoiceOver on, the iPhone automatically announces the calls unless you turn off speech, that’s using the three finger double tap. You can have it remain to announce calls but mute the ringer by simply flipping the mute button on the side of the phone. That way it will not ring but it will still continue to announce calls but only if you have the screen unlocked.
Great video as usual guys! The myth or preconcieved notion about blindness I encounter most often is that if I am visuially impaired, I am automatically totally blind. Like you said in the video, blindness is a spectrum. It is always the most awkard when, as you said, I use my cane to navigate an area, then pull out my phone. I can just feel the looks and the judgements lol. What they don't realize is I have the screen zoomed in to the max in most instances and may still be struggling to see what I am trying to look at.
I find it funny that there is an Ad promising to bring your vision back to 20/20 on this video.... 🤣 sorry to miss the live stream, but good information tho!
I purchased some sunglasses that clamed to be UV A and B, polarized, k and blue light blocking. These are amazing. Without them or just wearing another pair of polarized sunglasses, I cannot, I can see the tree in my yard but the branches are just a blurr. With these polarized blue light blocking, I can again see even most of the smallest branches. I also use them to watch TV when there are scenes with lots of light background colors (like a snow scene or a doctor office scene where they are reading x rays in a bright lit room). I have a dozen pairs of sunglasses that just did not do the trick, until I found these.
Where did you purchase the UVA/ UVB, polarized blue light blocking sunglasses? I agree the polarized and blue light blocking does make a difference for low vision. I do not go outside without my sunglasses. They cut down on glare and protect my eyes.
Because I'm vision impaired I use a cane and sometimes will use my phone. I also sometimes can see door handles and so I don't spend time looking for them with my cane or my hands. I just grab the thing. And then I'm told I'm faking. I've also had some very weird experiences at work when I tell people that the reason I can't find there order (which is literally someone else's job) is because I'm legally blind. I'm not sure if they don't understand legal blindness and vision impairment or if they are surprised that I can work while legally blind. It can be ridiculous sometimes. Another thing that just happened today is that after the pedestrian traffic signal started making the noise that indicates it's my time to cross, a woman told me it was good to cross. Yeah lady, welcome to modern tech. It's not 1879 anymore. There's also this thing where people will tell me there's a step ahead of me. And I really want to tell them that's why I use the cane. We carry mobility canes mainly so that we can know where steps and other obstacles are. I know some of these people are just trying to help. But frankly I don't want or need their help. Typically, for me anyway, if I'm still moving, or if at a stoplight if I'm not bobbing my head all over the place, I'm probably doing fine on my own.
Hi Sam :) I have been wrestling with food poisoning lately and I went to church on Sunday and had a flare up just before the service. So I went With the ambulance to the local emergency/trauma center. Whenever I go into a hospital I always explain to everybody helping me then I have low vision due to hydrocephalus, so I can't usually look someone in the eye unless they he rookie really bright. I know it's t m job to make them cofortable, but I always fee that if the staff he's , would be grateful and pay it back. Anyway, I had a kind nurse named Mary; when I exceed at my vision, she matter f fact said , "Yeah, I can tell. You act like you don't know where you're looking". The was a weird response, but not mean. Another kind of funny thing: I was waiting for a nurse to help clean me up. The wait was a little long, in the hall, and I had no call button, so... I pulled out my Kindle, cranked the volume to 100%, opened up RU-vid and found the video for " Killed by Death" by Motorhead. After it had aged for about a te, a nurse came RUMMING over and said, "SIR, you can't do that here, you're scaring the other patients!" I turned it off, smiled, apologized, and said "it was the only way I could find to get your attention. At least it wasn't Otep." The nurse laughed, said I was next on the list, and about five minutes later I was wheeled in and cleaned up. Sometimes the squeak heat wheel gets the grease :)
Thanks for another great video, Sam. One of these days, I'm actually not going to miss a live stream, darn it. I actually didn't know some of these myths. For example, I didn't know that 2020 vision isn't considered perfect vision. Or maybe I did it one time and forgot that little nugget of information. I also had no idea that people sneeze with their eyes closed. I guess I miss these things because I've never had any vision and while I think about many many things, this has never been one of them.. Huh, interesting. Thanks for all that you do. You are one of the few people I consistently follow in the assistive technology profession.
Both of my sons are color blind and it’s pretty fascinating to observe. One of them often confuses red for green and vice versa, and the other one often confuses orange and darker green. They are both adults, so this isn’t childhood confusion! Their color blindness was discovered when they were around first grade age. Like anything else, they’ve just learned how to adapt. They count on the position of traffic lights rather than the colors. The older one was lighting director for a night club for several years. Ironic, huh? He would take the gels to a coworker and ask them to confirm the colors he was using. Telling blue and purple apart was impossible for him. My younger son when working at a convenience store, was frequently treated like he was stupid when customers would ask for a package of something behind the counter by color and he would pick up the wrong one. And yes, they are constantly asked by people if they see everything in black-and-white!
Thanks for another great video. I always had very poor vision but it was good enough that I could function and work and then after I turned 40 I totally lost it all and I find that the people around me don’t even acknowledge that anything has changed and I find that to be the hardest part of it all actually
The eye drifting is strabismus. As an O&M for over 20 years, I appreciate the correction of calling the cane a stick. Looking forward to the video on the digital magnifiers.
lets start a myth low vision along with better hearing frees part of brain helping identify patterns 20-20 folks miss in coping with less information we use the little we have and appreciate how wonderfull a gift vision is⭐️
Hey Sam, I know someone was asking about how to get their IPhone to announce calls when it rings. I know you can have your IPhone announce calls audibly whether you are using VoiceOver or not. If you go into settings, then go down and go into phone, then down to announce calls. If you go into that and change it to always it should work for you. Hope this helps😀
Hey Sam I believe that you can train your brain it doesn’t help vision but it helps fill in blanks a lot quicker my vision is like looking thru a tissue everything is white even when my eyes are closed. I was 49 when mine went over night
I know someone who was an EMT and went blind. After grieving hr became a rehab counselor. But it definitely takes time. I can't use polarized sungkasses, they actually add blind spots in my vision. No one can tell me why.
Sam, if you know of any Canadian suppliers of the wonderful, useful products you talk about could you please pass them along. It is so cost prohibitive for me to get from the States. Thank you so very much.
I know CNIB sells a lot of these products up there. I also always recommend reaching out to the manufacturer directly and asking how to get the product in your area.
I tried to get into carpentry for several years before my back gave out and I was always told I was a "liability". And yet there is people who complain that blind people are not in the workforce. Hmmmm..... I wonder why.
I tried the app Seeing AI based on your recommendation and I am finding it very helpful. I was able to play a card game without assistance for the first time in years. Thank you :-) Another app that I have found extremely helpful is B My Eyes, wonder if you have covered this one.
Hey guys I am recently diagnosed with best vitelliform... But my eyes are perfect as of now (20/20 and 20/30) respectively... Can I know if it's worse or better than stargarth..in internet it's saying it usually goes 20/100 and that too after 50+ years
I’ve had Stargardt’s for about 35 years now and my acuity is 20/400 in my good eye, 20/800 in my bed. My sister‘s vision is much worse and she is three years older than me. It’s very rare, but I know a young lady who is almost completely blind with star guards.
Another great discussion, sorry I missed the lived stream. I have a desk lamp that I love, but I'm finding I need more light (lumens) as I get older. Over the years I have seem discussions about the blue light "danger" some of which have been from otherwise credible sources which has caused me to limit my choices for a new lamp to under 3800K on the light spectrum. A replacement lamp (LED instead of my current flourcent) that I have been interested in is a 6500K lamp, but dimmable. After viewing your video the number of possible replacements for my current lamp is much greater. Also, after seeing all the eye related ads when viewing this video (one in particular was just bogus) I'm thinking maybe it's time to looks at subscribing to RU-vid's ads free service.
Thank you for all your content. You mentioned John Hopkins. I remember John Hopkins also, However it has never been JOHN Hopkins on this timeline. It has always been JohnS Hopkins with an S added to JohnS. Everyone is Mandela Effected. Welcome to the M.E. family.
When I'm educating someone, I explain it to them like this: in general, you want to refer to the cane as a white cane. Some people are OK with referring to it as their stick or white stick, but refrain from doing that unless and until you know the person. Same thing goes for words like blindy or blink. I refrain from using those until and unless I know the person very well. As a blind person myself, I don't care which terms people use if I know that they know what they are talking about. For example, I wouldn't care if another blind person refers to the white cane as a stick, but I do take the time to educate someone who is cited and/or new to these things. And were I still working in the assistive technology profession, I would say what Sam says.
@@khanhhm5762 I was in the chemist yesterday dark glasses white cane standing right at the counter when a assistant starts ranting how she is so blind can’t find it I hate these eyes why can’t I see . All I said was that’s funny want to borrow this to look for it and passed my cane over the counter she said sorry that was insensitive and didn’t say another word the whole time I was there about 30 mins a lil bit funny
I lost some vision in my early 40’s. I have diabetic retinopathy, macular adema and glaucoma . I certainly didn’t take it very well. I wanted to die but I’m in my 50’s now and better with my feelings. I think you are right about going blind later in life. I REALLY didn’t take it well. BTW I call my cane a stick. Why should I not be offended? I don’t understand?
i'm not really sure why "stick" is offensive to some. But to many blind and visually impaired people it is, so I just try my best to use terms that are the most accepted.
