Hello!
I got inspiration for this
post from this
video: so I thought I'd talk about some of the "scary" or
uncomfortable things about being blind or visually impaired. I agree with some
of the "scary" things mentioned in the video, but I'll also talk
about some of my own.
Without further ado here's my
list:
Buzzing Insects
Before you all start mocking me by saying
"what a wuss, she's scared of a few harmless insects!" Well, let me
ask you something: How do you kill something you can't see? Once you figure
out an answer to that re-think the buzzing point in this list. The thing with
buzzing insects is that most of them fly and because of that it's difficult to figure
out where they are. When alone in a room with a buzzing insect, I try and use
a piece of paper to try and swat the thing away by listening for the buzzing
sound and figure out its location; unfortunately I'm not very successful
because the bastard sees me coming before I even start and moves to the other
side of the room. As a result I'm usually aiming at nothing in the air. Also, I
can't tell what the buzzing insect is. Is it a fly, a wasp a bee, will it sting
me? I don't know. I've also left the door & window open for them to leave
me alone but it takes me a while to listen and guess if the insects have left.
If I'm with someone I'll get them to get rid of it for me.
Gaps
With my sort of vision,
I can't tell how steep or big a gap is which makes me unsure at times. In
situations like these I do what most visually impaired people do, stick my foot
out over a gap and guess if it's ok. Most of the time the gap isn't that big
and like I tested out with my foot, the ground is quite near me; other times
it's been a bit steeper than I anticipated, so when landing I nearly tripped. Gaps
don't scare me, they're more of a guessing game and can catch me off guard. Also, with small holes on a path I don't usually notice them and nearly trip. I
find that if I'm familiar with an area I can walk "normally", as in
not nearly trip thanks to a gap I didn't notice. According to my family
members, I walk fast and "girls are supposed to be graceful"; maybe
that's also a reason behind my relationship with gaps.
Puddles
Puddles aren't
something that scare me or make me uncomfortable, they just annoy me. Why?
Because I can't tell how big they are so it's difficult to tell if my shoes
will get really wet when walking in them.
Darkness
Once again if you're going to mock me, think
about being in a blackout with no torch, lanterns, candles, phone, or
other forms of technology, just complete and utter darkness. How long do you
think you'd last without freaking out? Not long. That's what I thought. The
thing with darkness is that my night vision isn't very good so I often get
uncomfortable in an unfamiliar dark situation. To give you an example, back
when I was 16 I took part in the NCS challenge and on one of the days we stayed
at an out-door centre, went through the woods to have a camp fire and looked at
the stars. Let me point a few things out to you: 1. I can't see the stars, all
I saw back then was the black sky. 2. The only thing I could make out
"well" was the fire in the middle of a circle we made. Also, it was
the only source of light so I could vaguely make out there were people around the fire but couldn't tell who was who. Plus a lot of people were talking so it was
quite loud. To cut this long story short, we were sitting on a log, my friend
told me to move up saying there was still space. I tried to feel around for
space but felt nothing. I then started crying, my friend thought it was because
I was homesick, so missed my family (I didn't), in truth I hadn't really
thought about them while on The Challenge and I'm fine being away from them
for a long time; I think the reason for my tears was because I felt
uncomfortable in the dark, in the sense that I wasn't in control of the situation because I couldn't see well in the dark. I couldn't move around and do things
for myself. To get back to the present, I now use a torch to help navigate
myself in the dark, and even though I'm an adult I don't go out by myself in
the evening (like at 8 or 9pm), maybe it's something I'll learn with practice and maybe I need to "man up" and try going out in the evening? I can navigate myself around small places when it's dark, like feeling around my room, to figure out where I need to go. Either way I'm not at my best
in the dark or with dim lighting.
Heights & speed
The reason why I put
these two into one category is because these two usually go together hand in hand. Well, that's usually the case for me. Let me explain: a while ago I went
to Go-Ape with my sister, brother in-law, his siblings, and my brother. For those
of you who don't know, Go-Ape is a place where you climb trees or do some
zip-lining. Before we got there, I thought It would be really fun, you know
the adrenalin rush and all that jazz. Oh how wrong I was. It turns out I'm
scared of heights. Every time we'd go zip lining, I'd stand at the edge of the
platform and be scared to jump or walk off; oh and also the actual zip lining
bit, I wasn't the best at landing so would fall or land on my butt every time.
I was fine for the obstacles, I could handle those. I think the thing with the
zip lines is the fact that I can't see the zip line very well or where I'll
end up; all I see is the ground and I'll think I'm going to fall off ( I would of fallen at one point, because I forgot to hook myself onto the rope at the
ledge! Thankfully my brother in-law reminded me). Maybe the speed and height thing is why I'm like a virgin to rides, every ride feels like first and I'm a
screamer. Either way, I won't be doing Go-Ape a second time around.
Ok, I think those are all the
points I wanted to make. I hope you enjoyed this post and bye for now!
