Since I was 14 I was officially diagnosed with Stargard’s Disease. I have been visually impaired for over 10 years now and I am still wondering if certain aspects of me became this way due to my impairment or if I was supposed to be this way no matter what haha.
I have written about this question before but more in a way as who I would be if I did not became visually impaired. Well, this post is about how many bumps and bruises I could have avoided if I did not became visually impaired haha! Or rather… how many I got by walking into things. Storytime!
I mean, I walk into doors a lot. Is it just me or? I think that everyone can relate to walking into a door, doorknob or doorway every now and then (right?). Well, at least I do haha. There is something about doors that really attract me walking into them. But what frequency is normal? I honestly don’t know.
My elbow (or clothes) often gets stuck behind a doorknob, or I forget that I have shoulders… who then bump into doorways. I even managed to walk into a half closed door with my forehead which left a bump on my head. I am missing my central vision (causing me to see about 5% which, in my case, mostly affects my contrast vision, readability and details in general). My peripheral vision is intact so you would expect me to see bigger objects. However, I keep making these estimation mistakes. For example, when there is a desk with sharp corners, I of course walk to closely to those corners causing the corner to hit my leg. Or when I am at work, I can see a chair in the hallway from 10 meters away but I still manage to bump my toe when walking past it. HOW?!
I like to stay physically active and amongst others I do pole dancing. Due to sports my shoulders became pretty broad/wide (?) (Not in a hulk kind of way… but euhm, actually kind of yes). But it is like the rest of my body/mind forgot that I have shoulders. So when I walk through a doorway I often bump my shoulder due to an estimation error (as I like to call them). Up till now I am still not sure whether I am just very clumsy or that these estimation errors happen because of my bad vision.
I knock over (transparent) glasses or cups now and then but I know that is because of my sight. And I know that when I open a cabinet, hitting myself in the head with the sharp corner of the cabinet door… I know that that is my stupid clumsiness… I think haha.
I guess I can contemplate forever about whether it is my clumsiness or visual impairment. It makes for fun stories anyway (if you like other people’s pain haha). Maybe the conclusion is that it is an unfortunate combination of both haha.
What do you think is normal? Can you relate to this? (whether or not you are visually impaired). Let me know, I am really curious!