Many of us blind and visually impaired people feel like the young man in the story below during this pandemic – without the maids and bodyguards!
We seniors are stuck at home, sometimes feeling lonely and isolated.
Like the young man we can feel emotionally neglected, even as services get cut, some of them permanently.
This story begins a section called “Believing in Yourself and Sticking to It”
“Some years back, I had a client from overseas. He was in his early twenties and was heir to a multi-billion family business. He had very little vision, but his blindness was not mentioned back home. He had grown up with maids laying out his clothes and bodyguards chauffeuring him wherever he needed to go. Sounds great? It was terrible…He found it hard to speak about his life, even to a sympathetic listener. He was a prisoner encased in luxury, and suffering from emotional neglect; from Ch. 3 Learning to Trust Yourself, in my book, When You Can’t Believe Your Eyes.
No wonder we are feeling sad, or depressed without enough acquaintances or friends we can meet at a Senior Center, support group, family or church event – even going to a store feels like luxury to me now!
An expert in counseling people with vision loss and other disabilities recommends “Do something active for your own benefit .”
Getting busy with practical tasks that help you manage your life independently can be therapeutic, so can talking to others in the same situation. Both ACB, American Council of the Blind, and NFB, National Federation of the Blind have community events every week sometimes every day which you can join if you are a member.
For active tasks that give you a feeling of satisfaction where is the best place for you to start? Your clothes, closet or bedside set-up, medications, accessible technology, refrigerator and snacks? Or can you take on a bigger project like part of the garage, basement or yard?
You’ll find all kinds of suggestions, lists and resources in my award-winning book.
When You Can’t Believe Your Eyes: Vision Loss and Personal Recovery, the first How To guide for people losing sight and their families was published in 2019. It is available on Amazon in print, and Google Play Books as an accessible eBook, NLS talking books (#DBC11619) and on Bookshare. Thanks to generous friends and family the eBook is also available free of charge. It can be read in regular or large print or as an audio book. Apply for accessible free copy here.