Category: Sue’s New Page

Sue has loved photography for many years and for the past several, she’s entered a local contest.  And she has won blue ribbons over and over so now she’s hooked! Just because her vision has changed doesn’t mean she will give up taking photos or entering the contest.  Most of her shots have been taken on vacations and she’ll continue that.  She’s also experimenting with different subjects and techniques.  She’s not the only one, there are quite a few fantastic photographers with low vision…some of whom are reading this now!

Shots in the Dark

 

Sue starts another work week.  As she reviews what she did over the weekend, she says “so maybe I was ‘bad’ a little bit?”  She was raised with a strong work ethic, as I was, as many of you were.  Of course, she wasn’t bad because she did things to replenish herself, it takes a lot of effort and energy to be visually impaired.

Monday, Monday

Sue and I are both educators.  We went into this project with the intention of helping those who have AMD and related vision disorders to learn as much as they can about what is happening with their eyes.  That is you, dear reader.  Do you find that the people with whom you talk have accurate knowledge about AMD?  Do you try to educate others? We hope that you will take what we are sharing and pass it on!

Each One, Teach One

Sue’s not been hiding the fact that she’s not Suzy Homemaker and now she tells us she’s Queen of the Pilers (Pilers are people who don’t file things, they pile things).  Even though she won’t FOLLOW these suggestions on being organized, she’s gracious enough to pass them on to the rest of us! ::grin::

Are You Organized?

Sue’s come a long way since February of this year. She has been surprised by the positive feedback from those around her including from the subscribers here and the Facebook group members.  One of the folks from Blind and Visual Services called her a success and mentioned the word ‘calendar’.  Sue suggests that since there are hundreds of thousands of people like her getting by each day that she says “Maybe we can all be calendar girls (and guys)!”  What do YOU think, want to be on a calendar page?

Calendar Girl

Sue has a lot of connections in the town where she lives. She has lots of friends who work together to help her get where she needs to go.  But she also has people who know her and have missed her at places like the mechanics at the car repair garage and the people who work at the Chinese food take-out place.  She is back in the routine that reminds her that she knows where she belongs.

My Place in the World

 

Sue is the most positive person I know.  But she is also realistic and knows that we all have negative things happen or said which can create negative feelings.  She has gone through this herself since her vision declined at the beginning of 2016.  In this page, she shares the DBT techniques that help us to prevent negative feelings from ‘sticking’.

Teflon Mind

Sue loves shoes & admits that she’s bought many of them because they are ‘cute’ & many of these have high heels.  These days, though, she’s had to do a lot of walking so she’s been wearing shoes often called ‘sensible’.  If she wanted to add more stuff to what she has to take with her these days, she could wear heels more often but let’s face it, she admits she has some difficulty keeping track of things as it is.  This is a day when she doesn’t have any need to wear sensible shoes so she’s going to enjoy it.

Today, I Wear Heels

Sue spent some time alone while her husband recuperated from back problems in the hospital and then in a rehabilitation center.  She has had to do things by herself that were no problem before her vision changed. She now knows that she can order food to be delivered so she won’t starve and she can arrange for transportation so she can get where she needs and wants to go.  But there are things that she’s realized she still needs to learn.

Always Learning

One of the major issues for those who have had to quit driving because of vision problems is transportation.  Sue has been able to set up a complicated transit system for herself made up of rides from friends and co-workers and public transportation.  There is no room for error, there is no deciding at the last minute that you want to go to the grocery story.  Every day she has a previously-scheduled way of getting where she needs to go.

From One Point to Another

Sue’s bored so what does she do? She does what I do, what a lot of people do: eat!  But being the person that she is, she also turns this into an opportunity to teach us something. In this case, it’s how to have…

Never a Dull Moment

Sue’s had a rough few weeks.  She knows what she needs to do to take care of herself and a big part of that is to get enough sleep.  What does that have to do with ‘glare glasses’? Nothing, really. 🙂

Increase Sleep, Reduce Glare

You are probably familiar with Murphy’s Law: “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.”  You are also probably familiar with the term catastrophizing, ie, having irrational thoughts about things.  Even as much as she is a positive person, Sue is subject to them both.  In this page, she gives us constructive ways to deal with them.

Murphy’s Law

 

Sue has lived in the same place for probably 30 years…or more.  She has 3 or 4 organizations that she works for, several exercise classes she attends regularly.  Her license is in Pennsylvania and that’s where she will work for as long as she can. The eye hospital where the clinical trial she hopes to be in is not far.

One of the most important parts of her life there, one that she has built and nurtured for all these years, is the community of people who have helped her since her vision changed.   This is not a time to move.  This is a time for her to say…

I Love My People

Sue has talked about mindfulness in past pages.  In this journal page, she shows that she’s not above viewing those cute dog and cat photos and videos that are all over the Internet.  How does this relate to training the mind?  Is the mind more like wild horses or a…

Crazed Puppy

Sue has embraced technology so that she can continue to live and work as best she can with her current vision.  Why?  She shares the answer to that and also gives us some insight as to why some people don’t use technology.  Her BVS caseworker asked her to demonstrate her competency with assistive technology to his supervisor (it’s annual review time).

Dog and Pony Show

What do you do when you are stressed?  Sue talks again about mindfulness and how different cultures/religions use prayer and meditation.  That’s where these folks come in.

Whirling Dervishes and Others

There are some days when Sue has things that just don’t work out well.  She re-frames the situations and things turn out to be OK.   So where’s the pony, you ask?

There Must be a Pony Somewhere

Do you, at times, blame yourself for having developed AMD?  Do you try to figure out what you may have done or didn’t do to prevent it?  Sue talks about how important self forgiveness is.  You’ll have to read the page to find out what this has to do with…

Cats and Dogs

Do you find that you go on with your life from day to day only doing things that you are comfortable with?  I think we all do at times.  Sue shares an experience where she tries something that she’s done before but not since her vision has declined.

Comfort Zone