Warriors and wimps by Trevor Plumbly
Somebody remarked that when you’re blind you are ‘one step away from the edge of the world’. It sounds a bit dramatic, but for those of us who faced sight loss somewhat late in life there’s a fair bit of truth in it. It’s not just tripping over the stuff that you swear somebody left in the way, there’s the mental hurdles: disbelief, adjustment and final acceptance are pretty tough to absorb, along with having to convert once instinctive actions into calculated steps. Coping is, of course, the key, and I reckon… Read More
Toupee or not toupee by Trevor Plumbly
Taking a dim view I never took much notice of blind people. They were there, of course, but short of a flush of sympathy and a few guilt dollars, there wasn’t much else I could offer. Things became a lot clearer (excuse the pun) when my own sight failed. In some respects I’m lucky: whilst my particular problem is inoperable, it is taking time to inflict total blindness and, as a result, I’ve been able to adjust on a gradual basis. But yearly visits for specialist assessment always show a little more… Read More
Blind Man’s Bluff by Trevor Plumbly
Whatever they’re calling us these days, whether it’s the basic ‘blind’ or the posh ‘visually impaired’, there’s a few of us around and I’m the one in our house. I’m a ‘blindy’: not totally, just enough to be a little more dependent than I’d like. The popular concept is that blindies need constant monitoring and attention to keep them fed, watered and accident free. But a blind friend recently mentioned a report from the USA which indicated that partners of the disabled often quoted their own ongoing stress as the cause of… Read More
