Oy...

[conuly]

I made the mistake of explaining to Deniz about the Braille on signs and the bumps in front of subway platforms (and we so need those gate thingies inside the station!) and how they're for people who can't see.

And now she seems to see me as the expert on all things blind. "Connie? How do people who can't see get on the boat? How do they know where to sit?" Well, that's easy - I explain as much as I can about the logistics of using a cane, a dog, advice from others, or your memory to find a seat and leave it at that. "Connie? How do people who don't use their eyes get food? How do they cook?"

What? I don't know how blind people cook! I don't especially care how blind people cook, frankly, seeing as how I'm not blind.

We spend a lot of time with Deniz. I anticipate more questions of this nature in the future - and, heaven forbid, questions about deafness can't be far behind. Does anybody have any good resources so I can make an attempt at answering her questions? I promised her I'd ask around. She's probably forgotten by now, but I did promise.

I'd also like some simple books for five year olds on this sort of subject - she can read, and she's right into asking questions about everything, so it'd be very good for me to be able to toss her a book and say "Here, find out for yourself". Good for her parents, too.

In similar thoughts, it's occured to me lately that if we lived in a world without glasses, I'd be actually pretty disabled for that. My eyesight is perfect with my glasses on (well, pretty much - my glasses are now royally fucked up, with scratches and superglue all on the lenses, so it's perfect if I ignore that!), but without them on, it's pretty bad. I mean, really bad.

Which isn't so bad, I mean - I always wear my glasses, and it's hardly comprable to having eyesight that *isn't* correctable via the use of carefully chosen lenses hooked onto my nose. But... *shrugs* I hadn't thought of that before, even back when I lost my glasses all the time.

I need to get new glasses.

Comments

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

Seconded! I live in envy of people who can actually forget their glasses. There's a scene in Minority Report where the guy actually manages to get all the way out of the house to his car and partway down the street before returning to get them ... and then has the nerve to say "I forgot my glasses, I'm as blind as a bat without them." No, you're not. If you're capable of walking more than three feet without realizing you've forgotten them, you are not as blind as a bat.

I mean, I can have a moment of panic because they're one foot to the right of where I normally put them and have to call in my husband to look, but I can't be far enough away from them to lose them!

My last job offered "vision coverage" of $35 every two years for an eye exam and $35 every two years for a set of glasses or contacts. I worked out that this came out to about 8% of my total biannual expenditure of a $75 exam every six months, $400 contacts once a year, and $300-400 lenses for my glasses every six months (I can't see as well with the glasses as the contacts, but I also can't not have glasses, since my field of vision is also about 3" and I can only wear my contacts so many hours per day).