I got to go to Walmart today. Not a big thing but not happening as much as it used to. My husband cannot see to drive in the dark and since it is dark by 4:30 now, he cannot take me after I get home from work. Usually it is a lot easier just to give him a list and he can go during the day. Acceptance and adaptation do tend to be watchwords for the visually impaired life. Having my proverbial wings clipped also cuts down on the frivolous purchases!
Speaking of transportation – one of the eternal thorns in my side – I wanted to once again push self-advocacy. With my ride home from school facing a lot of possible medical nonsense, I asked once more about the transportation people actually getting me home from school. Their previous hours were such I would have had to miss an hour of work daily to ride home with them. It now appears things have been amended and they can actually take me home two hours past the old time. Yahoo! Remember nobody ever tells you when these things change.
You have to ask and keep asking. You also have to make sure they know there is a need. Demand can affect supply. Basic fundamentals of economic thanks to Smith and Marshall.
And economics gets me back to Walmart where they are playing the devil out of Christmas music and hawking everything you never really needed. It is the holidays!
We got together with some extended family for Thanksgiving. I usually arrange things so I can talk to my nephews on these occasions. However, this time I got ambushed. Okay, I actually think the ‘kids’ were the real target but I got caught in the crossfire.
This person inquired about my ‘condition’ and then launched right into the “you don’t look/act blind” routine. I know other people get this because there are a couple of dozen posts about it online. Annoying people with their annoying questions.
Not sure exactly how to handle this situation. I don’t have prosthetic eyeballs and even if I did, throwing my eye on the table in a chain restaurant would probably get me thrown out (although in some incidences that ploy has worked for people). Also, as much as this person and I have a ‘history’ and I could have blasted her, my husband would not have approved. That leaves out the caustic zinger. He has to deal with his family more than I do.
Another thing that aggravated me was she was asking the most basic of questions. Everyone else at the table knew the answers. If she had been interested before, she would have known the answers. Although she thinks it has been a year since I started to lose my sight, it has been nearly two and a half years since my first eye ‘went’. I think that is plenty of time.
But barring the bad relationship, how much do I want to subject my nephews to the AMD 101 lecture? They have heard it. They ask sparse but pertinent questions and the conversation moves on. I have tried to integrate AMD into my life. Not the other way around. I have lots of dimensions. I have other things to talk about.
Just asking. Anyone?
written November 27th, 2017