Tag: low vision

Know the Terms

Happy Saturday! Miserably 3H today. That is hazy, hot and humid. A Pennsylvania summer day at its finest. I don’t mind this. It is the type of day I would head off for the swimming hole when I was a kid. Good memories. However the husband hates it and the Beastie Baby, elderly and with lung disease (cancer?), is not thrilled.

Nine days in and she is still not looking as if she is at death’s door. Dare I hope? Still just taking it a day at a time.

I went to the Y this morning. I was cleared to TRY some things that would involve my shoulders. Got about halfway through yoga before I got ouchy.

Time to go back to major modifications. Grrrrrrrrrr…. I really am trying to be good. It is not easy.

Once I got home – and discovered I had zero motivation for any real work – I decided to write a page. Topic, topic,….TOPIC! How about visual impairment?!?!?

I always explain I am visually impaired, not blind, not low vision, etc. Some days I say I am legally blind. I have never been totally sure I am legally blind, though. I know I had to be legally blind in order to get the services I got from the state but maybe someone fudged a bit? I don’t actually feel legally blind.

But I digress. What are the proper terms anyway?

VisionAware published a list of terms. They say low vision is the preferred term these days. (Does anyone else have trouble keeping up with the ‘acceptable’ terms recently? I am always woefully not PC.) Low vision is uncorrectable vision loss that interferes with daily activities. Low vision’s definition is functional. If you cannot get enough correction to do what you need to do, it’s low vision. Sort of a subjective definition.

Legally blind Is a term used by government agencies. It is not subjective. If you want to try for disability or get goodies, you need visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with best correction. Another option for qualifying would be no correct letters read from the 20/100 line on the new charts.

Please note I said in the better eye. That means there has to be impairment in BOTH eyes. We have had clients insisting they qualify for help with only one ‘bad’ eye. Not the case.

The other way to qualify with dear Uncle Sam is to have tunnel vision. Tunnel vision is 20 degrees of arc or less in the better eye.

Remember that is with your better eye and with optimum correction. Those of you with only one involved eye again don’t qualify for help.

And as I get to the end of the article, I find my preferred label, visually impaired. Visual impairment is sort of a general term. It covers the gamut. You can be moderately, severely or profoundly impaired and still fall under visual impairment. Visual impairment and its levels are objective rather than functional as defined. The World Health Organization uses these levels in their work.

So, when all is said and done, I guess I can still tell people I am visually impaired. It is still an acceptable term, but you can say your are low vision, too. Don’t get too attached to your terminology, though. These ‘label’ things can change like the weather!

written July 22nd, 2017

Continue reading “Know the Terms”

Will I Go Blind?

QUESTION: “Will I go blind?” is one of the most common and emotionally-charged questions asked when a person gets a diagnosis of any macular disease such as Age-Related Macular Degeneration, Stargardt’s Disease, Myopic Macular Degeneration (and others) that can damage central vision.

The short answer is no.

Having AMD or any form of macular degeneration affects one’s central vision, but peripheral vision is spared. More details below.

Central Vision Loss is NOT Inevitable!

You can find what the risk of having a vision impairment or vision loss: I have AMD. What’s my chance of having vision loss?

With early or intermediate dry AMD, the chance of progressing to a stage where vision loss can occur (wet or geographic atrophy) is 10-15%!

That means that MOST PEOPLE do NOT have vision loss.

Blind? Vision Impairment?

Many people use the word ‘blind’ to mean any vision loss, but we try NOT to use that word for macular degeneration. Instead, some people will have a visual impairment or become legally blind, but not everyone.

Terminology

This is just a partial list of terms.

    • Total blindness refers to an inability to see anything with either eye.
    • Legal blindness is a level of vision loss that has been legally defined to determine eligibility for benefits. The clinical diagnosis refers to a central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with the best possible correction, and/or a visual field of 20 degrees or less. Often, people who are diagnosed with legal blindness still have some usable vision.
    • Vision loss refers to individuals who have trouble seeing, even when wearing glasses or contact lenses, as well as to individuals who are blind or unable to see at all.
    • Visual impairment is often defined clinically as a visual acuity of 20/70 or worse in the better eye with best correction, or a total field loss of 140 degrees. Additional factors influencing visual impairment might be contrast sensitivity, light sensitivity, glare sensitivity, and light/dark adaptation.

 

GO BACK TO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

 

News: July 15, 2016

Welcome!

June 2023 There’s an announcement that since Sue has not written any new journal pages for some time, the site has been archived until we can decide if the work necessary to make sure all information is accurate and up-to-date can be made. In the meantime, you’ll get some pages ‘not found’ or ‘private’ until that decision has been made. The emphasis for several years has been on the Facebook group.

You are here to follow the journey & misadventures of a woman named Sue who became visually impaired with Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD or ARMD) seemingly overnight.   Join in the tears and laughter. Join in the discussion. Learn more about Age-Related Macular Degeneration. Find resources for your own journey or that of someone you know.

We’re going on a bear hunt….can’t go over it, can’t go under it, got to go through it.

Sue is a psychologist trained in Dialectic Behavior Therapy (DBT) and is using it to help her cope with this vision loss. Her trusted and invaluable friends bring computer, research and occupational therapy skills to this endeavor. Yeah team! We hope you benefit from the fruits of our labors.

We are not offering free psychological therapy.  We are not medical people.   Please read the disclaimer.

This website is divided into 4 parts:

  1. If you have just been diagnosed or if you are beginning your research, here’s a place to start in I Have Macular Degeneration…Now What?
  2. Sue’s journal pages which are like chapters in a book
  3. Highlights & News which are basically blog posts
  4. Links to helpful resources (still under construction)

For those of you who aren’t familiar with websites or blogs like this, to ensure that you will be notified when information is added to the website, you must subscribe by email.  On a laptop & most tablets, you’ll find the place where you can do this in the right-hand column.  On a smart phone, you will find it below the content for the page that you are looking at.

We are still learning, we don’t know everything about this challenging disease.

Courses Coming Soon!

Thanks!

Thanks to Lesley B., Sally R., Dave M. and Gerry M. for going through the website looking for links that didn’t work, things that didn’t read well and typos.  We couldn’t have done it without you.

 

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