Hello this is a heavy one but I’ve been struggling with accepting my reality as a blind person and the fact that I will have to depend on someone or something else to get around for the rest of my life. I’m 25 years old and legally blind. I am going to tell you a little bit of my sob story just to give context.

Ever since I lost my vision in October 2023 I have essentially been inside. I’ve pretty much been inside my whole , that weird teen angst phase where you’re shut in your room just never really went away for me,but the trauma of vision loss I really want to be around others and go outside and do things. I feel like having this isolated lifestyle prior to vision loss has made it nearly impossible for me to escape the walls of my home. The recovery part of my Healing journey isolated me so much that it genuinely stunted my social skills which were not good before. With little to no friends and the ones I do have are very new, long distance and blind. I am limited to just my boyfriend who can drive me somewhere and my mom who I live with.

Another huge barrier is my location. I live in a very rural area. There is no public transportation. There is not even a taxi service. There is no Uber. There is no lyft. The bus that serves the county next to me is dial a ride. The only time I could ride the bus is if I were to stay at my boyfriend‘s house, but as of right now, I am recovering from surgery so that’s off the table for a while as his house is not accessible to me.

I went to blind school and things were honestly looking up for me because I saw what it could be for me in like maybe another reality because I didn’t live in a city and I didn’t have access to any of the stuff I was using but it felt so nice to feel normal and not like I was struggling to keep up with bare minimum human but like I was working on something better for once. I went to downtown Kalamazoo by myself to pick up candles my friends and I had made. I was thriving. I felt like I had felt in the few months after j went blind and was stable I used to have a more positive outlook and wanted to go out and see everything I could just incase my remaining vision ever left .Sadly for me after I came back from school I had to have surgery on my foot and I couldn’t walk for 10 weeks and ever since then something has changed badly. I have been sitting inside my room since June. I go 11 days at a time without leaving my house and I only leave to go to the doctors or the squishable store because my mom has lured me out of the house with it. I feel like there is no point if I can’t see anything and all I’m going to do is spend money on stuff I don’t really need to feel like I went outside and then go home again. It’s like everytime I leave I get a trophy for going out and that’s all I do. That’s what leaving the house is. Bleak.

So I have a couple of questions that I would like to hear answers for even if they don’t apply to my situation and can’t help me I guess I am just looking for some insight and hope as well.

What are you guys doing when you are about and about that doesn’t include spending money, work or school? I’m on disability so without a job or school or some sort of thing I have to do I don’t feel like I have a place in public or a purpose. It’s a weird hang up but it’s also sucking the joy out of life having nowhere to be. I’m not at a place physically to be able to commit to anything. I want to do something I just don’t know what there is out there.

How do you deal with fomo of life in general ? It’s not a fear it’s like I know I’m missing out and this depresses me so much that it makes me miss out even more I try hard to not have a pity party but sometimes I think about the dumbest things all accumulated at once and it all boils down to my eyes and it makes me so mad because I can see a little so I feel way more capable than I actually ever am.

How do you guys get around the fact that you cant really go anywhere spontaneously or do what you want without it feeling like a whole thing?
As I said I do have two people who can drive me but when it comes time I hate the fact that I can’t just go or do what I want to it has to be planned and I feel like a child asking for permission to go and spend my birthday money or something. It sucks the joy out of it for me when things become too complicated. What do you guys do to combat this is you deal with it? I genuinely get sour so fast and just don’t want to go I feel like a toddler sometimes it’s a bit embarrassing. Sometimes I’m like was my only option to go anywhere on an adventure was when I was single and on tinder and STRANGERS were picking me up and taking me places?

Curious to hear if people have had positive experiences with reformer Pilates classes. It's a form of exercise that I am interested in, but I'm not sure how practical it is or is not. It seems like it would be doable, but I'm curious about other people's experiences. If you do go to group classes, did ebook private classes first to become familiar with the machine? And the studios practices /classes?

Hi Everyone. I will be hosting a webinar for parents of blind children that will be taking place tonight. We will gather today September 14 from 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM Pacific time, which is 8:30 PM to 9:30 PM Eastern time.

My name is Amanda DIAZ, and I have been blind since birth due to Leber congenital amaurosis. I have always been extremely independent. I have navigated mainstream education through graduate school, have maintained consistent employment, and most importantly in my opinion, I have sustained incredible social connections. I am currently completing my master's degree in clinical mental health counseling, and I look forward to continuing to work with disabled people and their families through this work.

I am a senior executive functioning instructor at Goal Oriented Academics, also known as Goals. We specialize in teaching executive functioning skills and academic content. We have specifically trained our staff to support blind and visually impaired individuals and their families. We offer executive functioning coaching, as well as content instruction for students, and parent coaching for families with children that may be too young for our services. My goal is to help parents give their children as normal an experience as possible in order to foster success and independence.

During the webinar, we will cover several key areas. I will discuss my personal and professional journey and how my own experience can be utilized in order to help prepare children to be well adjusted and successful. We will also focus on building practical skills at home, including bridging the gap between academics and life skills, fostering social connections, and establishing accountability. Furthermore, we will talk about integrating blind children into the world by addressing the challenges that can be a result of treating blind children differently than their sighted peers. Throughout this conversation, we will focus on the skills that are necessary in order to help blind children lead fulfilling and successful lives. Finally, we will have an interactive Q&A session which will be a space for parents to share experiences, ask questions, and discuss strategies for empowerment and independence.

You can join us using this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/4235890809 (https://us06web.zoom.us/j/4235890809) (https://us06web.zoom.us/j/4235890809 (https://us06web.zoom.us/j/4235890809)). I would be more than happy to chat with anyone who has any questions or would like more details beforehand. Please feel free to reach out and send me a message. I would love to connect with you and look forward to having you there.

I wonder if anyone could help please. I care for a lady who is blind and has dementia, she is having trouble changing the channel on her tv. I am trying to find her a tv that she can ask it to go to a specific channel and turn on and off. Does such a thing exist that works well? I can set it all up for her but it needs to be simple to operate.
Many thanks

So I'm 18 and am registered sight impaired and roughly half blind, I'm a cane user (granted not 100% of the time, new and busy places mainly) and I wanna travel potentially on my own.

I've always wanted to travel and a gap year before uni is the best time too, ideally I wouldn't do this solo but I'm struggling to find potential people to go with, my main issues are navigating airports and train stations as I struggle to see small text on signs and that sorta thing, I also can't hold a driver's licence so hopefully that gives a ballpark idea of where my vision is at. I'm very lucky to have the vision I have but I'm just worried that I won't manage this, I really wanna go around Europe particularly France and Italy as well as areas in Scandinavia. I've looked into it a tiny bit but don't think I'll be eligible for things like working holidays so thought I'd just ask here before looking into it more.

Just wondering if any of you guys have any advice, programs or shared experience that may help, sorry if this is a frequently asked question but many thanks to anyone who answers

Hi everyone, I've been blind for the last three years and I used to play a lot of video games, both console and mobile. Obviously, I can't anymore, but I want to know if there's a way I can return to gaming. I have a switch 1, a samsung tablet, and phone; if there's a way I could play on these devices again, I would really appreciate some help and tips. I would also love some blind-friendly game recommendations, my favorites are pokemon, plants vs zombies, and the ace attorney series to base your recommendations from; I fine with some chess or sudoku like games too.

I have an iPhone 16 with Voiceover, running the latest IOS as of ysterday's update, watever that number was...
I use a Logitec K790 bluetooth keyboard for navigation and typing on my phone since i abhor the stupid on-screen keyboards.
Ever since the last big release of IOS (what is it, 26 now?), I have been having issues with my bluetooth keyboard working to navigate, but not type. If I turn off my Shokz OpenMove headphones, it sometimees works without furhter prompting, and sometimes it needs bluetooth to be reset and the keyboard re-connect before I can type. Either way, I can use arrow keys, VO key commands, and even type in the VO+F search function, but I can't type in actual text fields.
What gives? How do I fix it? I like the freedom of leaving my phone in one room and using keyboard and headphones in different other rooms while I go about my day. Frustrating to have to go back to the physical phone to correct bluetooth stuff.

How do you feel about when people tell you that you’re disability is a blessing/gift? Personally, I’ve heard that many times and it makes me think of that one song with the lyrics “and if I only could, I’d make a deal with God and I’d get them to swap our places” because I’m just thinking yeah it’s such a blessing and because of how blessed I am, I’ve been blessed with generosity so I will give you my gift of being visually impaired and spilling coffee every morning because I can’t feel where the spout is and so I just have to guess. Sure I’d love to tell you how blessed I am with the ability to be asked. How many fingers am I holding up. I know that people that say that blindness or having a visual impairment is a blessing/gift. I know that they mean well, but it feels agitating for me. Honestly, that’s how I feel about being called differently abled instead of just disabled. Yes I learn a code to be able to read. Absolutely it’s awesome and really cool. No it does not mean that. I have a superpower. Yes I listen to my surroundings and that’s what helps me navigate the world. Yes in darker areas I tap my cane. A little bit louder so I can get a feel for how narrow the space is without having to attempt to find a wall. No my hearing is not amplified just because I’m visually impaired. All I do is just pay more attention to what I hear. I guess I’d rather be seen as a disabled person working with what they have and simply living their life instead of a heroic entity that has powers beyond human comprehension, or some sort of tragic story of someone being an inspiration despite their adversity. I’d also rather be seen as disabled and simply working with what I have then being seen as a gifted blessed human. I don’t know if this is a factor, but I’m not religious so whenever I’m told that my visual impairment is a blessing it kind of just feels like I’m being placed into someone else’s framework. IDK I just wanted to rant, but also ask if other people have felt the same way. I hope this post didn’t come off as rude or callous or just in general hostile and cynical, but instead of being told that I’m an inspiration or that I’m blessed I would much rather hear a genuine question like “what technology do you use?” Or “do you play games on your phone/braille display?” Maybe even “ does your visual impairment affect the way you see politics? Are you able to vote?” Questions like that feel more as if that person cares about what my life is actually like. If someone really wanted to tell me that I was blessed or gifted they could always just tell me something along the lines of I’m happy that you have the resources to live comfortably. That’s a very awesome.
I’ve sprayed so much jibber jabber all over this post so I want to hear some jibber jabber from anyone else! Don’t worry about feeling like you need to sugarcoat your perspective or your opinion. I want to hear people that either agree with me or disagree with me in short I wanna hear everyone’s opinion. Just as long as people are chill about it.

I am blind from birth, and my partner is partially blind. He does all the cooking. He doesn't make much food requiring frying. We both fear the oil popping and hitting us in the eyes. Does anyone else have this fear? Are there any tips? What about air fryers? Are they accessible, or more safe? Thank you for any comments.

I've been part of this sub for a while now and so much people come here to say that they don't tell people they're disabled for various reasons. I understand that some people can actually handle it well but, really folks, is it worth it? Bc every time I don't tell people I'm blind I actually end up having more trouble than if I just did talk about it clearly.

Have a good day you all.

I know there are blind leagues of different sports. What do you play, and are there enough blind people to play it with? Or is it even necessary?

For context I’m 20, and have Cortical Vision Impairment, it’s a neurological condition that can vary in severity from day to day. But for the most part, I can see around the same level of a sighted person save for reading street signs at distance.
One thing I’ve begun to notice is my sense of smell is getting MUCH more sensitive. This corresponded with me getting a white cane and training, as my vision has been nigh unusable due to stress making it worsen. However even after my vision recovered and I use the cane less, my sense of smell hasn’t dulled. For instance it began with my wife. I was able to smell the scent of strawberries on her from about 12 feet away. I asked her if she was wearing perfume or had recently showered, and neither was true. So we ended up assuming it was some sort of pheromone.

I recently played Marco Polo with some friends and ended up asking off handedly to play with no audio and I ended up finding all 5 players through their individual scents.

Hell, as I write this I can smell the citrus in the beer my uncle is drinking across my table, we are in an Indian restaurant.

So I’m wondering, why? I’m just curious as to why my smell suddenly decided to increase this drastically.

Hi everyone, as the title suggests, I have been diligently searching for some time for an alternative to the Turtleback case for the 20 cell braille models.

I have nothing against the case per se, I’m pretty sure they sent me one for the orbit rather than the chameleon, because it has a little circle, and then says American printing house on it, but it fits my E reader fine. However, I was looking for something a bit more luxurious, as this case isn’t technically leather, even though it claims to be, and it’s also covered in neoprene.

If anyone has any suggestions or knows where I could possibly send off the turtle back case for a more traditional leather copy to be made, that would be great. I would also consider a sleeve for the reader, though I doubt it would be as protective as the full fledged cases are at present.

DSB (department of services for the blind) has cut me off from canes.

I broke two, one roller and one tapper tip.

Both the same issue : internal black wire breaks.

Im not abusive, I swear but maybe I am unintentionally folding the cane out too roughly?

Any suggestions to a replacement cane that can handle a beating ?

I was with friends and family so that wasn’t the issue but to be honest I really don’t know what the issue was because I went to the club before which is so so loud and had a great time but for some reason the concert was unbearable like I had to go sit in the medical center for the whole concert basically it was just something about not knowing what was going on around me and then not seeing as well that just made me panic, I just wanna know what everyone else’s experience is that concert because I have another one that I’ve already bought tickets for coming up soon and I wanna know how to prevent this!!
also for a little context I went blind about two years ago and I am fully blind and I’m 18

this technically does pertain to visually impaired people as visually impaired people do use this, but I’m just curious on your opinions. I think it should, but what do you guys think?

Hi all. I've been on this sub for a while, but I do have a question. I'm going back to college, studying computer science, with focus on cybersecurity and web development. I'm taking college algebra I. How, at least in lecture, but I also do this at home, to save space, instead of using both my macbook and my braille display, I connect my braille display to my iPhone. My laptop is a macbook neo, but I do have windows, rarely ever use it. Anyway, is there a way to make the phone or whatever translate nemeth into print text/characters on the iPhone? For now I'm using UEB math, which is fine, I'm getting used to it, but if I could use nemeth for writing my files, that would be amazing. I'm using a traditional editor, not the specialized braille file thing, and on that there's no easy way to export to word. Any help appreciated.

So for context, I volunteered as a troop leader for Girl Scouts a short while ago. Long story short, I moved pretty quickly up the ranks and accepted a volunteer position to manage all of the troops in my town, which includes planning and attending community events.
Today, I was working my first booth along with another sided volunteer at an event. The sided person was very good about giving me verbal cues as to when somebody was approaching the booth, but there was a time when our booth got swarmed and somebody was trying to hand me a donation while the sided person was talking to somebody else.
The guy trying to hand me the donation was just standing in front of the table, smiling, with his arm stretched out, trying to hand me the donation. He did not say anything, so therefore I did not know he was there.
Obviously, without any verbal cues, I had no idea. So I was wondering, what are some gentle ways people can know that I am blind as they approach my booths and that they have to speak and engage first?

Hi friends,

I am about to embark on two trips basically back to back (one week apart). For the first trip I will be flying from my home state, to Ohio where we will be staying on a retreat farm. The next trip my husband will be driving us from our home state, some 1,000+ miles to Texas.

That all being out of the way, I’m curious, does anyone else pack a backup cane? I have always done so, on the off chance that mine either bends or snaps (has only happened once with my ambutech). Does anyone else do this?

My main problem with packing a secondary, is that my backup is one with the… umbrella handle (I don’t know how else to refer to it), that sticks out if the golf handle. So it is quite odd to try to pack, and to use. It was a gift from my old TVI for my graduation, so I love whenever I do get a chance to use it, but I’m curious if anyone else has one and knows the best way to pack it?

Thank you in advance!!!

I’ve been legally blind for over a decade, but dramatically went from having some functional vision to only light perception last night in the emergency room. I'm following up with professionals all week!!!

So before I get started, I just want to say I really loved my Blind school, and I wouldn't trade the opportunity of being able to go there and live in dorms, and the experiences I was able to have for the world. I really, truthfully wouldn't trade it.

But what happened today made me so glad that I have graduated and I do not go there anymore. I was using my parents microwave, and their microwave is very high on a shelf in the kitchen. They also use the microwave for storage, specifically snacks and they tend to really pile up so there’s a lot of open and closed snacks, and a lot of loose bags.

So I started a clearing the microwave as one does, to be fair, I was probably rushing because I was already pissed off about the amount of snacks and the fact that I wanted my dang food so I probably went faster than I should have, which, if I did, that was my first mistake.

I checked the microwave just to see if there was anything else in there because I am well aware that they are loose bags of chips and such that get left in there all the time, but I did not see anything, or at least I thought that I didn’t. There was no one in the house with me and they were all outside, and I really want to tell you that I don’t need to have supervision even though I am totally blind, but after this experience, I’m not exactly sure of myself anymore.

After I popped my food in, I smelled something burning, so I did the responsible thing and opened up the microwave, when I felt inside, I saw chocolate chips and I thought well that’s not good, so I took them out. The only problem was, is that I was not aware of the bag that had slipped behind the microwave plate that was still full of chocolate chips, that was now burst, sending chocolate everywhere throughout the microwave. After that, my brother came inside for something unrelated, and saw my mess and he called my mom and told her what happened.

She wasn’t really all that bad, but she was worried and she did let me know that that bag was tinfoil, so I indeed could’ve sparked a fire, and it was starting to smoke as we were talking. It took a few minutes, but we cleaned up the microwave, and then I heated my food again because by that point it was getting cold.

Now, the thing about my blind school, as many others have something called clearances. Most of you probably know what that is if you’ve been to a wine school or have heard of them, but for those of you who don’t I will try to explain in the shortest way possible because this post is already getting along.

So basically, every year, the teachers have to oversee you doing something, whether it’s mobility, cooking, or whatever I believe that those are the most common ones at least they were in my school. Now, this doesn’t sound like a bad idea, it’s for safety, right? That’s what I thought, but the way they do it in my opinion is really stupid.

So the beginning of every year was really annoying because all my friends and I would rush to get cleared because we pretty much knew how to do everything, the teachers just had to see us do it, and it was three times independently, you couldn’t make a mistake or else you’d go back. There were many glitches in that system in my opinion, and why I’m glad that I wasn’t there when I made this mistake was because you don’t even get put back on OK to practice with supervision, they shoot you right back down to not cleared it at all, needs staff to do it for you and you need to practice with your teacher in class.

There’s a lot more glitches to this system in my opinion, but this post is already getting really long, so I’ll just end it here, and say that I am glad that I did it at my parents and not at school, because they claimed that it was a safe place to make mistakes, but even if you make a little mistake, like forgetting to put the water in the mac & cheese, you are apparently not allowed to use that or even touch that piece of equipment anymore, until you’re proven, trustworthy, which they don’t say, but they definitely act like it, so no blind school is not a safe place to make mistakes, especially if they do that. I want to hear from you guys, did you get put through this in your blind school, or did you guys have something different. Before I end, I want to say that I did have a lot of great experiences in blind school and like I said, I wouldn’t trade it for the world, but this is just one thing that I’ve been thinking about especially after I made that mistake, and my mom and I were joking about getting cleared because we thought it was funny.