The Oxford Dictionary says “independence is the state of being independent.” Independent is “the state of being free from outside control, not depending upon others for one’s livelihood and capable of thinking [and doing] for oneself.”
Independence means TO ME:
- Being able to drive where I want and need to go
- Finding a transportation service and using it to go where I want and need to go
- Asking a friend, neighbor, family member for a ride when needed
- Being able to cook in my kitchen as it is
- Being able to cook in a kitchen that has been adapted to help with my visual challenges
- Taking the time before my vision declines to research and see how to adapt my home for the future so I can do my own cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc.
- Working and paying my bills from those wages
- Changing from a job that has become difficult to one that is less difficult
- Investigating what rights I have in the workplace regarding what my employer has to do to accommodate vision impairments
- Applying for a source of income that is available to me
- Joining a local support group to help me adjust to my vision changes
- Talking to someone who has the type of vision loss you could have to separate the facts from the fiction (eg, macular degeneration does not cause complete darkness/no useable vision; they do not sit in a completely black darkness; a person can learn to use the vision that they have to do many of the things they used to do)
- Sitting down and opening a book and read easily
- Using a low vision aid (handheld magnifiers, CCTVs, computers, apps, headworn devices) to be able to read my mail, books, magazines, newspapers
- Finding free or cheap sources of electronic or large print books, magazines and newspapers
- Moving out of my comfort zone to look for new people to become my friends and ‘family of choice’ (senior centers, church groups, support groups)
- Searching out people who have a visual impairment who do the things that I want to continue doing: crafts, painting, photography, travel, etc, to see how they are continuing to do those things
- Not depending on anyone for anything
- Investigating what living options there are if you no longer can take care of yourself especially if you have multiple health challenges
- Investigating low vision devices and techniques to help me use the vision that I have
- Learning how to use a white cane so I can avoid things like falling because my depth perception doesn’t work well
- Changing the way I deal with self-care such as grooming; eg, eliminating makeup or doing it differently, changing a hairstyle that requires less attention
- Reaching out to a counselor if I find that my depression and anxiety will not go away after a ‘reasonable’ time
- Accepting that my family members WANT to help, they do not consider me a ‘burden’ and accepting that help
My Macular Degeneration Journal 