Crossing the street

So for my second day of Orientation and Mobility Training I had to learn how to cross a busy intersection. In my case, I had to cross M-89 and Farmer.... with my eyes closed. BIG DEAL you say... Ok let me tell you this. M-89 is a five lane highway that is crazy busy. It is the major road through Otsego so it is almost always busy. So yeah it is a big deal!

So the rest of you are wondering how do you cross M-89 with your eyes closed and not get killed? Well, have a cane helps! But, imagine yourself standing at the crosswalk getting ready to cross with your eyes closed. You listen to cars zooming by in front of you and then beside you. For obvious reasons you don't want to cross when the cars in front of you are going so you wait until you hear quiet. Then when you hear the cars next to you accelerate you walk. The cars that are accelerating beside you protect you! You would really have to see it in action to fully understand it though.

One of my next lessons will be sighted guiding. Where my mom and Timmy will learn how to guide me! I can't wait.

Orientation and Mobility Training

Today was my first cane lesson. I learned the proper way to hold and use the cane which takes some getting used to. I also learned that when I come to a corner that I must point the cane towards the middle of the intersection so that all of the cars going through knows that I cannot see.
I also saw some very nice drivers and a couple of rude drivers. My instructor Jim also told me of my final test. I have to call Allegan County Transportation to schedule a ride for myself and one of my girls to go to Wal-Mart. Once we get there I have to use my cane and walk my daughter to Subway to buy a pop. Doesn't that sound like fun? Yipee! (that was to sound sarcastically.)

Well, there will be more tomorrow but I must go because as I write this B is throwing a bucket of mismatched socks all over the floor!

Good Day

Today was a good day for me with the exception of stubbing my toe and breaking off half of my toenail, but other than that it was a good day. I cleaned the living room 24 times and will do so again for the 25th time before I go to bed, but it was a good day. I walked B to the store and we didn't run into anything.... YAY! Although I thought I lost my hot dog buns but it just turns out B threw them in the garbage can(Luckily the bag doesn't fit the garbage can and the buns ended outside of the garbage bag.).

We made hot dogs on the grill and they were yummy. Afterwards, we went to Gramma's so the girls could take a bath (Upstairs bathroom window is still broken!)Now it is almost bedtime for the girls and I will have peace and quiet. What will I do? Clean the living room..... again, fold a load of laundry, and watch LOST.

Tomorrow will be another good day for me. I start new student orientation for UofP and will have my first cane instruction lesson. Things are finally starting to look up for me and I am thankful Spring is here to stay (knock on wood...).

Driving

Okay, here's the low down. I am legally blind and with that I shouldn't be driving. I don't like to drive because I am scared that I might hurt someone. Not being able to drive sucks. It takes away some of my independence and that means I have to count on somebody else to take me places. For example, tonight I might be ordering pizza delivery because I haven't gotten groceries yet. Timmy had an appointment for which he had to get up early to go to so when he got back he had to get some more sleep. Gabriella had girl scouts tonight after school so I couldn't have my mom take me and be back in time to pick her up. Hence, no groceries.

My license does not expire till September and I have been driving less and less but there are times when I have no choice to drive. I can't keep waking Timmy up to take me and Bri to the doctors or take something up to the school because one of the girls forgot something. I can't keep having my mom take sick/vacation time because one of the girls have an appointment in Allegan or Kalamazoo and from everything I have heard ACT is good and reliable at times, but I need to know that they are going to work for me all of the time and that I am not going to be somewhere waiting! I am even still working on how the girls are getting home after school next year when the weather is horrible because it sounds like with the school budget cuts there will be no city bus routes!

So think about your freedom and independence to go anywhere and cherish it, because I don't have that luxury anymore and wish I did.

Home

So I am sitting here at home which is actually clean for once! I get up to go do a load of laundry and dishes this morning... I work on unloading the dishwasher and in the middle of unloading, I think to myself "I should start that load of laundry while I am thinking abou it." I walk into the bathroom and put a basket of clothes in, pour in the detergent, and start the load. Not thinking I head for the living room and about kill myself tripping over the dishwasher door, which I left open. Yelling in pain and berating myself in my mind, how could I forget that I left that open!?! One of the joys of going blind is having your legs and arms covered in bruises.

The worse part of this going blind is when I run over my girls. Its not their faults that I can't see them and I know I can't blame them for being in my way because I should be able to see them. Gabi and Kai are used to my running into them, but the poor baby, I run into her and knock her over on her butt! She cries which makes me cry and makes me feel like a horrible mother, but I can't help it! I am not the only one that is learning to live with blindness, it affects my whole family so they have to learn to live with it too and it just may be more difficult for them than it is for me!

Trip to Sam's Club

So my mom took me to Sam's Club this afternoon. I forgot my cane, but I haven't learned the right way to use it yet so I am kinda glad I didn't take it. What I have realized is that Americans are rude and disrespectful. I realize that they have no idea that I am legally blind but seriously rudeness does not become anyone. While we were at Sam's I was holding onto my mom's cart walking beside her when an older lady comes barreling at me, expecting me to move. Of course, I didn't see her and she bumps me and gives me the dirty look like it was my fault that she was walking in the middle of the aisle. I ignored her and kept walking with my mom.

I am tired of the looks and the rude comments. I don't have the time to explain to every person that I run into that I didn't see them or that I am legally blind. I know that once I use the cane that they will be more understanding but I also know that they will walk around and avoid being near me. I have seen it done to other blind people. Heck, I have done the very same, but I realized... wait a minute.... why should I move out of their way? They have a cane, they will find out that I am right there or I can say "hi, I'm to the right of you." So, if someone bumps into you... please don't be rude.... say something funny, it sure beats rudeness!

Introduction to Usher Syndrome

Usher Syndrome is characterized by hearing loss and Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). RP causes night blindness and loss of peripheal vision through degeneration of the retina of the eye.

There are three types of Usher Syndrome.

Type I: person is born profoundly deaf, has a balance problem and loses their vision early on in life.
Type II: person is born with moderate to severe hearing loss, has no balance problems, RP usually becomes apparent during the teenage years.
Type III: person is born with normal hearing and vision but as time goes on both worsen.

I have type II Usher Syndrome. I was born with a moderate to severe hearing loss. In 1996, the summer after I graduated from high school, I found out that I had RP. The doctor gave me no information, he just said that I had little peripheal vision but that I had good tracking. Two years ago I noticed that I couldn't see the stuff that I normally saw anymore so I checked into disability and got it.

In the last few months I decided that I needed to prepare myself for eventual blindness and contacted the Michigan Commission for the Blind. I will now be learning Orientation and Mobility (using a cane) and braille through the Hadley School for the Blind. So this is my blog on what I have learned and what it is like to live with Usher. I hope that many will gain an understanding of this syndrome and know that I am not just a clumsy person!