I remember when I was 17 and getting my first seeing eye dog. I met a man there who is probably at least 15 years older than I was, who had just lost his sight. At that time, I tried to convince him that it was better being blind than having Vision! I wouldn’t say that today, of course, because I realize all the benefits of sight. But the thing I wanted him to know was that you can really judge a persons character when you are blind. You can tell who is really compassionate and who is not. You can tell who is willing to totally ignore you when you have a need, who will just pass you by without speaking, and then you know that when they do that it doesn’t display a kind compassionate character. Every time we met at the school somehow we got into that discussion. I don’t know whether it helped him at all, and, as I said, I would not say that today because an M a little more mature. But, I’m also glad that I can’t see the people who see me and deliberately walk past without speaking.
I didn't have sight difficulties until a few years ago. My wife told me how my hearing had gotten better. I mentioned this in a blind group I belong to and one person said "Your hearing didn't get better, you just learned how to listen better."
That Blindguy same here with me! I became visually blind well legally blind 10 years ago due to malpractice here in Baltimore! I don’t allow it to stop me from doing anything except for driving!
Ive been visually impaired basically my whole life and there are definitely things I hate about it but focusing on the good or at least normal things I can do makes life much easier.
My visual impairment makes light unbearable for me, which has really given me a unique perspective and appreciation of darkness , and a much deeper appreciation of my other senses. It’s a nice silver lining to what is otherwise a pretty painful and inconvenient condition
when I was first diagnosed with Stargardts 40 years ago I made it my mission to see everything I could see before it was too late.. That led me into a career in travel and I have seen the world.. Even now I try to soak in as much as I can with the limited vision I still have left. The sense you did not talk about was your intelligence. I am the one who usually finds lost items in my house because i use my brain to figure out where the item went.. Sighted people take their vision for granted and turn off their brains when looking for things, looking at nature, etc. I hate speaking in generalities, but I know that I appreciatte beauty much more than if I had perfect vision.
Hey Brian, super late reply but if you do read this, thank you for taking the time to write that. I've recently become aware of how much I take my sight for granted. Your comment has made an impact on me in a very positive way.
Loved this video, really enjoyed it. Visually impaired myself and really related to it, definitely with overhearing restaurant table conversations and feeling things. Great to see a more positive video. yes. there are hard bits of these conditions but there's awesome stuff too. I love relying on sound, especially as a musician too.
I've been visually impaired since birth and and it wasn't until talking about how I do what I do with sighted people that I truly realized how much I rely on my hearing and touch to find my way in the world. People often ask me how I mange to get around and work and have the level of independence that I do and what you've said in this video is pretty much exactly how I explain it to them.
Awesome video!! I agree with you that the negatives outweigh the positive, but I try not to think about those very often since we can’t change it. I agree with you on all these points!!
Bro, you're the first person I ve met/seen on youtube that sees like I do. I don't know what else to say right now. I'm full of tears because I finally met someone who sees like me and struggles with the same things. Wow, I'm not alone...
I am also visually impaired (was medically discharged and lost vision 2 years ago) and found this channel today. So many things we take for granted like our senses. I am very grateful for what I do have and the lessons that I can teach/show others. Thanks for this video, subscribed! One day at a time :)
So enjoyed the video Sam. It’s always good to hear what others experience having visual impairments. I know for me, it can be a challenge. However, not hearing very well on top of it makes it more difficult. But life goes on and you make the best with what you have. Thanks for what you do.
Jessies pets I became legally blind saying years ago and I promise you I do everything except for Drive! I keep a positive outlook no pun intended LOL on everything a party I hang out I travel I even have a podcast! If you ever need someone to converse with just let me know I’m on all social media platforms as well! Good luck!
@@rostanley Hi! I am just now seeing the youtube channel. I am legally blind rp in left eye,right eye is slowly behind. I would love to heat your podcast. Good luck with all you do!!
I’ve been using my hearing a bit more lately but I do need to pay more attention to touch as well especially at night or in a low lit area where I have trouble finding things.
Sometimes hearing better does backfire sensory overload or mechanical noises drowning out the things you want to hear. The best part about being visually impaired is you can never tell if people are giving you weird or dirty looks so it makes it easier to not care about what people think LOL and you can just be yourself
Hello sir . I too have the same challenge . In fact , I too love being visually challenged . When we are not seeing , then , the attention is not divided and life is beautiful , being free from judgment . Thank you so much sir for making this video in order to spread optimism throughout the world
Thank you for sharing this. I can relate as far as the hearing is concerned. I've had low vision my entire life. As it has worsened with age, I am finding myself needing to rely more on touch.
Robert L Foshee CPA I know it is definitely a daily challenge. There are times when being visually impaired makes me very angry. But.............. My vision is only going to get worse from here. I am 24 and I was born with Retinopathy Of Prematurity and at age 11 in 2005 I was diagnosed with childhood Arthritis. 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 It's called Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. It is extremely painful. 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 I have lots of disabilities though.
Your spin is so refreshing. I was in raged for years due to how my parents reacted to my partial vision. My mothyer used to tape my eyes fully open to "\amake me look normal. I like the fact that we are all inventors, figuring out ways to get things done.
I've been told that I notice a lot of detail. I love to touch also, but others don't. I have to avoid it with people. I have no parallax, so I see only 2 dimensions. Touch has always been my source of reality. For a long time, it was a challenge to connect with the "cardboard" people I saw. It made a distance in relationships. Eye contact is too important to the sighted world.
I practice identifying a minimum of at least five distinct sounds. I am like Radar and can hear the train from 5 miles away. Other family members will not hear sounds for a number of seconds after I have I also do this with the sense of smell. Here is a quick tip: buy drinking glasses with gold rims.
Wow, glad I found you, I am recently visually impaired isomatic optic neuropathy. It is cool to see somebody else visually impaired who does not look visually impaired as nor do I
Hello,I'm from Nigeria and I have low vision. for people like me it is not easy because I don't have those cool tech that can help. but seriously I love this Chanel #KeepUpTheGoodWork
@Rob Moss I can write but I will have to move very close to the book Intact I'm in the university What ad been a major challenge for me is reading because the words in the books at the library is very tiny
@@ola-rs7hu obviously I don't know your situation, but is there anyway to order things from abroad to help? Some things are cheaper than others. Sadly disability stuff is expensive but something's are accidentally accessible so cheaper!
I am a "new cane user". Now that it is cooler in the desert, I have started walking to and from work. Traffic is usually busy when I am walking and I have noticed how different sounds are. For instance, I pass a bus waiting area that is on my left side. The sound becomes a little more hollow sounding in that ear when I pass it. It is also a good reference point for me as soon after that is a busy intersection that I need to cross using an audible crossing signal. Sometimes, that sound is hard to hear because of motor cycles, trucks school buses, vehicles with louder sounds. That happens again when I get to the next signal except now there may be a plane taking off ; especially if it is a military jet(s). Touch is also different. While I am walking I notice how I rely on the diffenet textures that may be under my feet even while wearing shoes. Sand or dirt that is next to a grassy area also let's me know about where I am. Because of your videos, I have been posting my walking experiences on FaceBook. It's amazing the comments I get from people who never thought about what it must be like. You are an inspiration to me ! Thank you for YOUR videos !
The one thing that drives me up the wall is when the person brings it up at least five times or more before getting into their video reminding them that they are blind Like my channel is called EveryThingBlind so I don't have to mention that in every single video that I am blind
LOL, I know what you mean! Sometimes I’ll get a comment where somebody asks me if I’m visually impaired. I think to myself, don’t you see what the channel is called?! LOL
I can hear things like you too; it's hard and sometimes is strange to me. I have no problem when the lights goes off. I use the hearing to find the way; better than a bat. I consider me a kind of Bat-man (Bat-Fer) hihi anyway I am happy on my condition coz I can see and walk allover the town but I can't see the details but I still able to cross the streets and order my favorite pizza
I can relate to what you say about hearing. I was so sensitive to sound even before sight loss. I'm not so sure hearing gets any better but I just think sighted people just don't listen well! Most people are thinking what they are going to say next, before processing what the other person has said. With sight loss you suddenly have to be really aware of everyone and everything around you - because FOR SURE they are not as aware of you!
Hey bro I find it really inspiring and honestly very entertaining I subscribed and hit the notification bell keep continuing to inspire oh I forgot to mention I am almost completely blind and almost completely deaf so I know the struggle and how it’s always good to make frayed of a not so bright situation
Respect buddy I’ve had LHON since October. You have to find a silver lining somewhere. And without laughter and great sense of humour days would be a lot longer and a lot darker. Thanks for expressing that you can still have life after losing sight.
I agree with both of these. My sense of touch is very helpful. I use it to plug things in and to hook things up quite often. I helped my grandfather hook his computer up to his TV a while back and he was shocked. It was mounted to a wall and the HDMI port was located on the bottom. I had it plugged in within 10 seconds, and didn't even look at what I was doing.
I prefer to think of the positive aspects of a disability my disability is different to yours but I have many perks. Closer parking, I always have a seat etc 😂
Sam you spoke about sense of touch.. there was a book by Anthony Storr (with two r's) it was called "Solitude Return to the Self". it talked about how feeling of isolation can be overcome by using your imagination and creative side. A prisoner of war had been in a concrete cell for over 10 years, every morning when they put the pale of food thru the slot, she would imagine redecorating her 10 by 10' cell , she imagined the furniture she would use, down to the fabric and what style the curtains would be. Because she was a language specialist before Hitler thru her in solitary, she knew 6 languages, and she had been an understudy for 4 or 5 plays. So every afternoon, she would act out a play in a language, the next day she would choose a different play and a different language.. This was her routine for 10 years. She had never spoke to even the guards during that time. She attributes her ability to keep sane with her ability to be creative and use her mind to take her other places. In a sense, your ability to see with touch is the same. May God be with you and your family..
@@theblindlife Sam.. Anthony Storr's. Spelled: S T O R R.. I wish his books were available in Audio.. Solitude, Return to the self and Music and the mind are amazing books. In Music and the mind, he talked about how the movie industry use cord progression: ie A to A flat to D minor would make you feel a specific emotion.. Then switch them from A to C minor to D flat and you feel a different emotion. I read it years ago.. i could not hear the cords in my head as i read... So i had to sit at the piano and play as i read. Anthony's books are not for beginners, he has several doctorates and i had to read paragraphs several times. Blind people need tools to understand the world around them. Having ways to cope with the loneliness and solitude is good. That is why i talked about "solitude, return to the self"
As a visually im[aired person I try and remain as independent as possible. Sometime so much so that people tend to forget that I am visually impaired. Since losing most of my vision I have done things that maybe I wouldn't have done otherwise. That is one of the things I have come to appreciate about it. I enjoy your videos. I find them in"sight"ful and useful. As much as I like to poke fun at my visual impairment I also take it very seriously and often comment to people about the need to care for their eyes and have regular checkups etc.
I have a visual impairment also, I just wanted to say that I loved your video, i also have a great sense of hearing which could be a negative thing sometimes, but also it could be a good thing. I am also good at knowing were everyone is in my house, by knowing where each person is or if they are not home.
I recently unsubscribed from your channel after your Blind Brothers Growing Up Blind video, and someone at work convinced me to give this video a chance. I must say, you handled the topic much more respectfully and realistically than in that video. This video wasn’t shaming or condescending in any way, not coming off as flaunting blindness as this wonderful amazing thing, and was overall more informative. I actually really appreciate this video. If you are going to continue to speak highly of visual impairment, you should stick to a format like this. The Blind Brothers video is an example of something I believe that no sighted person should ever watch if they want to get an idea of how to look at and treat blind people. This video however is something I would GLADLY recommend to sighted people to watch. Good job. Myself and others appreciate the more realistic and genuine approach
I do the absent-minded touching too. The think I love about being blind is I can do things in the dark. One time when I was really little, I was at my grandmother’s house with the family. A big storm knocked all the power out. We were eating dinner. Everyone else stopped eating, but I kept going as nothing had happened.
I love the fact that you are being more positive about blindness. I do something similar with my podcast. It's really nice to meet someone who has similar ideas. Thank you for bringing this to your channel. Being blind does suck, but it does have advantages. For example, there is no need to pay for all the expenses of a car LOL
Such a great video Sam. When people constantly live everyday with Vision Impairments, we don't like to think about the positives. 💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️ ❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙❤️💙 Don't you wish everything was accessible to blind or low vision people?????????? I sure do, but to put braille everywhere like in theme parks like in Silver Dollar City or Six Flags or maybe Disney World, it is very expensive. It also makes me sad because they do not have things in large print either. 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
For those complaining he doesn't talk about the negative aspects have an issue. The negative aspects are self explanatory if you are vision impaired. I'm visually impaired I love hearing others be positive. It helps me
Thanks Sam, I too like to use touch quite often to see what is going on but sometimes you have to be careful. Whenever I use a power screw driver to put in a screw I invariable touch the screw head when I am done to make sure it is flush and if you have ever done this you know the screw head will be smoking hot (LOL, maybe one day I will learn to wait).
Haha I accidentally eavesdrop on people in restaurants all the time. My boss too. Her office is next to mine. I still have a good bit of vision left I was only diagnosed a year ago at 37. Reading has become very tough and one thing I love about having low vision are audiobooks! Audible is my new best friend. What's great about them is that you can listen on the go and as a result I have gone through more books in the last year than I would have ever been able to do if I were just reading in the usual way.
I always get shouted down at the museum for "touching" . But how am I supposed to "appreciate" without seeing with my fingers? Anyways, my favourite saying to my teenage son is 'hey, I can hear what you'rd thinking!'
Some museums and galleries offer audio description too = always worth asking, wherever it might be helpful. I was given a fantastic tour behind the scenes at my local theatre last year after I contacted them about a show.
I use my sense of touch quite a bit. I also try to gloss over the negative stuff too. I was born with underdeveloped macula in my eyes, so my vision simply cannot physically get better than it is without a full-on retina transplant (which I don’t know if something like that is anywhere close to the point where they could do it on general patients), so I figure it’s pretty unproductive to dwell on it, cuz it’s just who I am. Obviously I spend some nights wondering what it’d be like to have good vision, but I brush it off quickly
Too right about the sound overload in restaurants and other loud rooms. When doing activities in a large class of some 70 students, everyone is talking at once, I'm like hello! I can hardly hear you! Man, lip reading... It always drove me NUTS when I was a kid and I'd catch my parents speaking sub-vocally , reading each others lips. I always knew when they were doing it, though, and I'd be like "Hey, no lipping!" LOL! They eventually broke the habit. I have a totally blind friend who can't stand loud places and loud music. I'm similar, but to a lesser extent, likely because I'm low vision rather than total. My family sometimes calls me big ears jokingly because I can hear across the house and a floor away. Other VI perks, if using a screen reader on a phone, you can turn on screen curtain and use headphones, that way nobody can peak at things. Also, whether in Braille or through apps on my phone I can read in the dark dead of night! I loved reading Braille books late into the night and nobody knowing because my light was off! If anyone started opening my door I'd just slip the book further under the covers and lay down! Also, car reading without getting sick, score one for long car trips!
Great video Sam! Positivity is always a good thing in my book. I have a suggestion for your next video. Would a camera like the G7x mk ii with it's f1.8 aperture lens work well as an Optelec Farview replacement(for reading street signs, navigating at night, etc? Hope to hear from you soon, my friend! And btw, Hi from The Philippines!!
It’s possible that it would be helpful although the screen on the back isn’t very large. I believe the far view screen is about four or 5 inches while BG7X screen it’s probably three.. however if that works for you then it would probably work very well.
@@theblindlife Thanks for the input Sam! Is it possible for you to make a video using your camera as reference, the Canon 70D(?) If I remember. It has a bigger sensor, right?
Hi sam, love youre video's. I see a lot video's about technique's but i was wondering you mentioned youre family, youre kids and how you hear them from the livingroom where and what their doing. So i was wondering how it works to parenting blind or with low vision. What are you doing for fun with them and how you know they wanna fool you. I am a sighted person so i try to understand everyone and i experience blindness for minutes at school but i dont know how it is to be blind or visually impaired 24/7 with no option to put off the blind glasses and be sighted. If i would think about being or getting blind it would scared me because how do i do the things i used but than with a disablety. I dont have kids and i never get them but that would make it worse. The responsibility of little people when you are blind or visually impaired. Would that be questions you once ask youreself. The anxiety now youre eyes dont do what they always did?. Love sabrina
Those are great questions and I’ve actually made videos on all of those topics before. My wife and I have a whole series called couples Q&A where we talk about dating, marriage, raising children together. I’ve also made videos where I talk with my children about what it was like growing up with a visually impaired parent. I would definitely recommend going to my channel and searching for those videos, I think you’ll find them interesting.
@@abdulmalekchaar5835 i understand youre frustration of people who havent patience with visually impaired people or every disabled person. Its so sad that they dont understanding. I am a sighted person but i have other difficulties and even my own family doesnt understand me. And it hurts. It is so hard to pretend to be someone they want i am and totally lose myself. And if i dont do it they dump me if i am a piece of trash. You said youre a newly low vision person. I think you learn to cope with this and if you go blind that would be sad but you also learn to deal with it. Trust me ofcourse its no fun but a life chanching experience and a great lesson. Because you learn to look to the world in a different way. And ofcourse there will be cons but also positive ways and how black the world is gonna be there will be light in a other way where you really can enjoy things. My legally blind ex boyfriend sometimes making fun of him self and he laugh the hardest. And i do the same. Humor is working. Within youre own borders ofcourse. And not everyone can make a joke. Only the people you know and trust. Love sabrina
Yes I love useing my touch and hearing senses I love to just pick up a random object and explore it and as for my hearing I can literly hear a pen drop
Well said!! I live with keratoconus in my left eye…I was diagnosed in my id 20’s and had cornea transplant 3 summers ago…but due to my visual mpairement I got the 2 Covid vaccines which I found out that was bad as my eye doctor told me that I should not have gotten the vaccines…so now my vision is worse…yet I am grateful for my visual impairment…^_______^ Thanks for this Awesome video!!^_______^
I became hearing impaired two or three years before I lost my sight and wear two hearing aids which are more hindrance than help in noisy places. Therefore, I absolutely detest restaurants or other public places with all the voices coming at me at once, and being unable to focus on just one. My husband just can’t understand what I experience, and I will send him out to eat while I choose a PB &J In the quiet of my own home! I had no period of adjustment to blindness - it was instant, due to medical error. I am left with only very poor peripheral vision in one eye, and one eye with only very near, poor central vision that I am losing very quickly. I will be 80 years old this year and everything I loved to do was taken from me with vision loss. Men don’t do the same things or have the same hobbies generally that women do, and my hobbies were intensely vision demanding. I feel adrift, with no pleasurable, creative activities left in which to participate. I had to wait two years to start blind school due to the pandemic, so I have adapted in many ways because I am highly creative, but I’d like to hear from women who do the kinds of things that women traditionally enjoy. Just sitting around feeling things with my hands is not something I would find either polite or enjoyable. So, a week ago, I bought the OrCam. With it reading things to me, I can cook things that were going to be off-limits otherwise, including canning food with the Instant Pot Max, and dehydrating other foods. I am growing a garden in buckets and Rubbermaid tubs, getting my garden closer to my face. Those only require gross motor skills. My pleasure always came from fine motor skill related activities. I want to try doing things again with my Cricut cutting machine. What I miss most, though, is the designing and precision sewing I did for so long. What do blind women do in the creative arts that I love?
I get headaches from being out in busy public places , information overload i guess... smoke alarms , emergency sirens almost debilitating in volume... I also eavesdrop by accident all the time
Hello greetings from Panama Rep of Panama. I have RP howver still have a good central vision. Could you comment on the differences between the WeWalk vs. the Ultracane? Thank you very much
Hey Sam ! yes the smell of the rain and semolina bread.my husband gets frusterated. when other blind people examine all things around them. he does if they start to touch him. he just wants to respond as a sighted person. I laughed when you said about eavesdropping. I used to do that to my family.. I Thanks Sam it is good to see you.
As a rider I use touch a lot. hands to feel the horses mouth and neck. I can tell you if there is tension in the jaw or neck by feel. But also through my seat. I think I am more tuned into what the horse is doing. Also why I like treeless saddles. I can usually feel a spook before it happens. Most riders can see the scary deer ready to run off and scare the horse. I don't but can feel the tension of the horses back before the spook. I think it makes me a better rider. Also have a tendency to use my feet especially with steps. The hands are the first thing people think of when you say touch but I think we use the touch sense with other parts of the body without realising it. The hand is just the easiest to use most of the time.
Agree with you in everything. Another sense that normally increases, it's the smell sense, which can be a jbig help for us; of course, it also has its inconveniences :) ;) but can be very useful as well...
I remember a few weeks ago I was at a restaurant with my support worker, and when I was eating my meal, I put my hands on the sides of the plate to hold it, and I felt a chip in the plate. I showed my support worker, and she said it was incredible I picked that up by touch, and even she said although she has very sharp eyesight, she never saw the chip on the plate, and when we let the waitress know about the chip, she said she didn’t know it was there either, and my support worker said to her isnt it incredible that it took someone who is blind to notice the defect in the plate, and the waitress laughed somewhat awkwardly and said yes it sure is. For years I’d always thought being partially blind was all bad, but that situation was one time where I think it’s actually not too bad at all lol. :)
Thanks for the info Rob! I love using beard oil‘s as well. The only shipping product I use his mustache wax every now and then. If the stash is getting too long and unruly!
Unfortunately I have to go to a barber to get it trimmed. Since I can’t see myself in the mirror I am not able to do it. I actually made a video about this very topic. I think I called it the beard spot.
I miss having vision. I lost most of my vision at a young age. I miss my vision. I didn’t have accessibility or assistive technology growing up. I had to self advocate. Yes our other senses heighten and become better. But I hope to buy ky own home or build my own home and have all the accessibility. And I had partial visual wear I could drive and I haven’t tested it for a while so now I’m cautious of what my capability could bw
Back in the '60s, Stan Lee was so impressed with this ability to strengthen other senses because of blindness, he created the super-hero 'Daredevil: Man Without Fear. I hope we won't see yu doing any Parkour though!
New subscriber. I use my other senses that you've described, especially my sense of smell. I love to stay clean and active. I memorize people by their scent also, especially women. I'm a single man. Almost like wolverine of the x-men. Real talk, the brain puts more emphasis on the other senses. I'm medically blind. Good video.
I love love my sense of touch. Because I have been blind since I’ve been six months old. Never ever saw color or my family faces. So sometimes yes I get bored and just start filling around. And now during Covid when I’m with my sister TEE is older than me and we’re shopping I just automatically reach out and start touching and she say hey and I say what she say stop it it’s Covid and I’m like sis this is how I see she says I know then she say do you have hand sanitizer on you I said yes I say when I’m done looking around I will definitely hand sanitize my hands. So now she doesn’t say anything. But my middle sister she always asked me can you see the TV or did you see that. She doesn’t understand or I think she don’t want to take to her heart that I can’t see. But I’m not upset with her and I don’t wanna force it on her. She knows yes I’m blind but she still asked me did you see that on TV or when I’m sitting or did you see the lady and I have to explain to her TEE I can’t see the TV TEE I can’t see what the kids are showing me as she gets really sad so I don’t know push it on her. But I guess love love my sense of touch. Now my Hearing know since I’m blind my hearing is not good because when I was 11 years old I started losing my hearing and now today without hearing aids I’m totally deaf and with hearing aids I am profoundly profoundly profoundly hard of hearing so I’m considered deaf blind so I use my hands for my eyes and my body to feel sound and I am a 25 year guide dog users my first three got old sick and passed away
Hi ... Hearing .. i get that one for sure ... I live in an apartment building , and i hear my neighbor's above,below , both sides and across the hall .. I know pretty well what they are all doing at any time ...I had an old friend that said to me " I bet you can hear a mouse fart at 100 feet away " lol
I am not a fan of restaurants or very crowded places due to the amount of noise and sensory overload. It isn't just the sounds for me, I also have a very sensitive nose and some things (and people) have such strong smells it can be very distracting. I have learned how to tune conversations around me in and out (assuming an individual's voice is not shrill or low and vibrating) so I can pay attention to what is being said at my own table. But it takes a lot of concentration and can cause quite a headache so I try to avoid overly crowded places as much as I can. I should rely more on my sense of touch but I am not a very tactile person and feel odd touching things that do not belong to me or touching other people. Something I should probably work on.
I can’t think of anything I love about it. Just crossed over 20/200 line with glasses. Diagnosed with albinism at the age of 1. And had around 20/70-20/120 with glasses. Thought it wasn’t supposed to get worse but yeah. It did lol. Kind of a shot in the face as I do have a drivers license.
I am totally blind man what I love about being visually impaired is my ability to have critical thinking I don’t just take things at face value I do my own thing I think for myself
Oh my God? You are a male form of me. I have Stargardts since age 8. I am a 35 and a mom now, and my children actually believe I have a hidden camera because I always know what they're up to.
If your born with very poor sight you have a lifetime to develope skills to cope but if as many people do lose their sight with ageing then learning to see their hands as an alternative way of seeing the world can be hard
I'm legally blind but I can see to do things that need to be done. I can work on speakers and fluorescent lights any of my hobbies. The way my vision is it's like a camera that is not zoomed in on a particular item in a room. When I was younger I did not know how to explain my vision until I started messing with cameras you zoomed them out you see the full room but you're not focused in on one particular item. To me having 20/20 vision would be like a video camera that is zoomed in you had to move it around in order to see things in the room vs a low vision person like me is a camera zoomed out in a room although it sees things but it's not zoomed in on a particular object. Like I said the speakers 15inch woofers. I can see those speakers less than 20 ft away vs a person with 20/20 vision can see them I'm guessing around less than a hundred feet if you know what I'm saying. The reason why I use speakers as an example is to help understand it better.. I'm legally blind I can't drive a vehicle I can't see good enough for that.
Hi, Sam... I have about 30% vision from optic nerve damage. I find that lover vision reduces visual distractions, obliging me to concentrate harder on my current task. This is a good thing, because although I spend more time getting something done, it's usually better completed than it was when I had fuller vision. Does that make sense?
I remember when I was 17 and getting my first seeing eye dog. I met a man there who is probably at least 15 years older than I was, who had just lost his sight. At that time, I tried to convince him that it was better being blind than having Vision! I wouldn’t say that today, of course, because I realize all the benefits of sight. But the thing I wanted him to know was that you can really judge a persons character when you are blind. You can tell who is really compassionate and who is not. You can tell who is willing to totally ignore you when you have a need, who will just pass you by without speaking, and then you know that when they do that it doesn’t display a kind compassionate character. Every time we met at the school somehow we got into that discussion. I don’t know whether it helped him at all, and, as I said, I would not say that today because an M a little more mature. But, I’m also glad that I can’t see the people who see me and deliberately walk past without speaking.
I didn't have sight difficulties until a few years ago. My wife told me how my hearing had gotten better. I mentioned this in a blind group I belong to and one person said "Your hearing didn't get better, you just learned how to listen better."
after i became blind i didn't really like it but now being blind isn't that bad. i really enjoy experiencing life in a whole different perspective.
That Blindguy same here with me! I became visually blind well legally blind 10 years ago due to malpractice here in Baltimore! I don’t allow it to stop me from doing anything except for driving!
How are you writing this if you’re blind
@balladear you don't need sight to feel a keyboard. I learned how to type in high-school without looking at the keyboard. It makes you proficient
Ive been visually impaired basically my whole life and there are definitely things I hate about it but focusing on the good or at least normal things I can do makes life much easier.
I'm pretty new to vision loss and agree with Sam about touchy feely stuff and hearing. i like the challenges around me.. it's fun to explore anew. 🤗.
My visual impairment makes light unbearable for me, which has really given me a unique perspective and appreciation of darkness , and a much deeper appreciation of my other senses. It’s a nice silver lining to what is otherwise a pretty painful and inconvenient condition
when I was first diagnosed with Stargardts 40 years ago I made it my mission to see everything I could see before it was too late.. That led me into a career in travel and I have seen the world.. Even now I try to soak in as much as I can with the limited vision I still have left. The sense you did not talk about was your intelligence. I am the one who usually finds lost items in my house because i use my brain to figure out where the item went.. Sighted people take their vision for granted and turn off their brains when looking for things, looking at nature, etc. I hate speaking in generalities, but I know that I appreciatte beauty much more than if I had perfect vision.
This is an amazing comment ... you really cheered me up now
Hey Brian, super late reply but if you do read this, thank you for taking the time to write that. I've recently become aware of how much I take my sight for granted. Your comment has made an impact on me in a very positive way.
Loved this video, really enjoyed it. Visually impaired myself and really related to it, definitely with overhearing restaurant table conversations and feeling things. Great to see a more positive video. yes. there are hard bits of these conditions but there's awesome stuff too. I love relying on sound, especially as a musician too.
I've been visually impaired since birth and and it wasn't until talking about how I do what I do with sighted people that I truly realized how much I rely on my hearing and touch to find my way in the world. People often ask me how I mange to get around and work and have the level of independence that I do and what you've said in this video is pretty much exactly how I explain it to them.
Mclegend 👊
Awesome video!! I agree with you that the negatives outweigh the positive, but I try not to think about those very often since we can’t change it. I agree with you on all these points!!
Thanks Casey, this video was actually inspired by a few of yours!
Bro, you're the first person I
ve met/seen on youtube that sees like I do. I don't know what else to say right now. I'm full of tears because I finally met someone who sees like me and struggles with the same things. Wow, I'm not alone...
Im 6 months into my low vision adventure and I too am far more in tune with my senses. I also like the challenge of taking new routes. 🙋
Thanks for sharing!!
I’m losing my eyesight and once I go completely blind I’m killing my self .
I am also visually impaired (was medically discharged and lost vision 2 years ago) and found this channel today. So many things we take for granted like our senses. I am very grateful for what I do have and the lessons that I can teach/show others. Thanks for this video, subscribed! One day at a time :)
Thanks captain, you’re absolutely right! Nice logo also!
So enjoyed the video Sam. It’s always good to hear what others experience having visual impairments. I know for me, it can be a challenge. However, not hearing very well on top of it makes it more difficult. But life goes on and you make the best with what you have. Thanks for what you do.
I totally agree! I feel same way
Thank you so much for being positive!. I have RP in both eyes and i try to be positive too. I love your youtube channel!.
Thank you!
Jessies pets I became legally blind saying years ago and I promise you I do everything except for Drive! I keep a positive outlook no pun intended LOL on everything a party I hang out I travel I even have a podcast! If you ever need someone to converse with just let me know I’m on all social media platforms as well! Good luck!
@@rostanley
Hi! I am just now seeing the youtube channel. I am legally blind rp in left eye,right eye is slowly behind. I would love to heat your podcast. Good luck with all you do!!
@@tanishagrant7363 Oh wow thank you so much I would love to share my story as well as hear yours are you on Facebook or Instagram?
When we're out eating I do the same thing, can't help it....lol. I can just hear everything.
I’ve been using my hearing a bit more lately but I do need to pay more attention to touch as well especially at night or in a low lit area where I have trouble finding things.
Sometimes hearing better does backfire sensory overload or mechanical noises drowning out the things you want to hear.
The best part about being visually impaired is you can never tell if people are giving you weird or dirty looks so it makes it easier to not care about what people think LOL and you can just be yourself
Hello sir . I too have the same challenge . In fact , I too love being visually challenged . When we are not seeing , then , the attention is not divided and life is beautiful , being free from judgment . Thank you so much sir for making this video in order to spread optimism throughout the world
Thank you for sharing this. I can relate as far as the hearing is concerned. I've had low vision my entire life. As it has worsened with age, I am finding myself needing to rely more on touch.
Robert L Foshee CPA
I know it is definitely a daily challenge.
There are times when being visually impaired makes me very angry.
But..............
My vision is only going to get worse from here. I am 24 and I was born with Retinopathy Of Prematurity and at age 11 in 2005 I was diagnosed with childhood Arthritis.
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It's called Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. It is extremely painful.
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I have lots of disabilities though.
Thanks for your enthusiasm and positivity!
Your spin is so refreshing. I was in raged for years due to how my parents reacted to my partial vision. My mothyer used to tape my eyes fully open to "\amake me look normal. I like the fact that we are all inventors, figuring out ways to get things done.
It's not that bad. I've been blind for sixty-five years, and it's definitely a lot easier today than when I was young. Love your channel.
Thanks!
One of my pet peeves is looking for my reading glasses and finding the softened butter dish.
I've been told that I notice a lot of detail. I love to touch also, but others don't. I have to avoid it with people. I have no parallax, so I see only 2 dimensions. Touch has always been my source of reality. For a long time, it was a challenge to connect with the "cardboard" people I saw. It made a distance in relationships. Eye contact is too important to the sighted world.
I practice identifying a minimum of at least five distinct sounds. I am like Radar and can hear the train from 5 miles away. Other family members will not hear sounds for a number of seconds after I have I also do this with the sense of smell. Here is a quick tip: buy drinking glasses with gold rims.
I love my family support - it makes me feel so special
I really enjoy your presentations, but remember, we are vision impaired. If we were visually impaired, we would be ugly. Think about it😂
LOL very good point!
Wow, glad I found you, I am recently visually impaired isomatic optic neuropathy. It is cool to see somebody else visually impaired who does not look visually impaired as nor do I
How do you deal with explaining to people that you can see, but you can not.? I feel I have to explain to people constantly!
Hello,I'm from Nigeria and I have low vision.
for people like me it is not easy because I don't have those cool tech that can help.
but seriously I love this Chanel #KeepUpTheGoodWork
@Rob Moss I can write but I will have to move very close to the book
Intact I'm in the university
What ad been a major challenge for me is reading because the words in the books at the library is very tiny
@@ola-rs7hu obviously I don't know your situation, but is there anyway to order things from abroad to help? Some things are cheaper than others. Sadly disability stuff is expensive but something's are accidentally accessible so cheaper!
Very amazing video well done and I love listening to your videos as I am blind and I am a white cane long cane user
Also I do the same thing at restaurants! I feel guilty but I can't help it !
I am a "new cane user". Now that it is cooler in the desert, I have started walking to and from work. Traffic is usually busy when I am walking and I have noticed how different sounds are. For instance, I pass a bus waiting area that is on my left side. The sound becomes a little more hollow sounding in that ear when I pass it. It is also a good reference point for me as soon after that is a busy intersection that I need to cross using an audible crossing signal. Sometimes, that sound is hard to hear because of motor cycles, trucks school buses, vehicles with louder sounds. That happens again when I get to the next signal except now there may be a plane taking off ; especially if it is a military jet(s). Touch is also different. While I am walking I notice how I rely on the diffenet textures that may be under my feet even while wearing shoes. Sand or dirt that is next to a grassy area also let's me know about where I am.
Because of your videos, I have been posting my walking experiences on FaceBook. It's amazing the comments I get from people who never thought about what it must be like.
You are an inspiration to me ! Thank you for YOUR videos !
I really liked this one. I am finally starting to laugh a little more about my vision, and you fed that. Thanks!
The one thing that drives me up the wall is when the person brings it up at least five times or more before getting into their video reminding them that they are blind
Like my channel is called EveryThingBlind so I don't have to mention that in every single video that I am blind
LOL, I know what you mean! Sometimes I’ll get a comment where somebody asks me if I’m visually impaired. I think to myself, don’t you see what the channel is called?! LOL
I can hear things like you too; it's hard and sometimes is strange to me. I have no problem when the lights goes off. I use the hearing to find the way; better than a bat. I consider me a kind of Bat-man (Bat-Fer) hihi anyway I am happy on my condition coz I can see and walk allover the town but I can't see the details but I still able to cross the streets and order my favorite pizza
I can relate to what you say about hearing. I was so sensitive to sound even before sight loss. I'm not so sure hearing gets any better but I just think sighted people just don't listen well! Most people are thinking what they are going to say next, before processing what the other person has said. With sight loss you suddenly have to be really aware of everyone and everything around you - because FOR SURE they are not as aware of you!
Hey bro I find it really inspiring and honestly very entertaining I subscribed and hit the notification bell keep continuing to inspire oh I forgot to mention I am almost completely blind and almost completely deaf so I know the struggle and how it’s always good to make frayed of a not so bright situation
Respect buddy I’ve had LHON since October. You have to find a silver lining somewhere. And without laughter and great sense of humour days would be a lot longer and a lot darker. Thanks for expressing that you can still have life after losing sight.
Thanks man!
I agree with both of these. My sense of touch is very helpful. I use it to plug things in and to hook things up quite often. I helped my grandfather hook his computer up to his TV a while back and he was shocked. It was mounted to a wall and the HDMI port was located on the bottom. I had it plugged in within 10 seconds, and didn't even look at what I was doing.
Makes you feel like a superhero!
I prefer to think of the positive aspects of a disability my disability is different to yours but I have many perks. Closer parking, I always have a seat etc 😂
Sam you spoke about sense of touch.. there was a book by Anthony Storr (with two r's) it was called "Solitude Return to the Self". it talked about how feeling of isolation can be overcome by using your imagination and creative side. A prisoner of war had been in a concrete cell for over 10 years, every morning when they put the pale of food thru the slot, she would imagine redecorating her 10 by 10' cell , she imagined the furniture she would use, down to the fabric and what style the curtains would be. Because she was a language specialist before Hitler thru her in solitary, she knew 6 languages, and she had been an understudy for 4 or 5 plays. So every afternoon, she would act out a play in a language, the next day she would choose a different play and a different language.. This was her routine for 10 years. She had never spoke to even the guards during that time. She attributes her ability to keep sane with her ability to be creative and use her mind to take her other places.
In a sense, your ability to see with touch is the same. May God be with you and your family..
That’s really interesting, thank you for sharing!
@@theblindlife Sam.. Anthony Storr's. Spelled: S T O R R.. I wish his books were available in Audio.. Solitude, Return to the self and Music and the mind are amazing books. In Music and the mind, he talked about how the movie industry use cord progression: ie A to A flat to D minor would make you feel a specific emotion.. Then switch them from A to C minor to D flat and you feel a different emotion.
I read it years ago.. i could not hear the cords in my head as i read... So i had to sit at the piano and play as i read. Anthony's books are not for beginners, he has several doctorates and i had to read paragraphs several times.
Blind people need tools to understand the world around them. Having ways to cope with the loneliness and solitude is good. That is why i talked about "solitude, return to the self"
As a visually im[aired person I try and remain as independent as possible. Sometime so much so that people tend to forget that I am visually impaired.
Since losing most of my vision I have done things that maybe I wouldn't have done otherwise. That is one of the things I have come to appreciate about it.
I enjoy your videos. I find them in"sight"ful and useful.
As much as I like to poke fun at my visual impairment I also take it very seriously and often comment to people about the need to care for their eyes and have regular checkups etc.
Always good to see the positive, I do the same with my visual impairment
I have a visual impairment also, I just wanted to say that I loved your video, i also have a great sense of hearing which could be a negative thing sometimes, but also it could be a good thing. I am also good at knowing were everyone is in my house, by knowing where each person is or if they are not home.
Posativity rocks! Keep it going!😎🦮🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🎈🥰
THANK YOU FOR SHARING IT WAS DELIGHTFUL TO HEAR ALL YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH YOUR OTHER SENSUS
I can REALLY relate to the sense of touch and hearing bit lol!
Cool video Sam! Fun to hear about your extra sensitive Spidey skills! LOL
LOL!
Btw, this is Amma 😁 ... I realized that with the name that shows up with my profile, that was probably not obvious 😉
I recently unsubscribed from your channel after your Blind Brothers Growing Up Blind video, and someone at work convinced me to give this video a chance.
I must say, you handled the topic much more respectfully and realistically than in that video. This video wasn’t shaming or condescending in any way, not coming off as flaunting blindness as this wonderful amazing thing, and was overall more informative. I actually really appreciate this video.
If you are going to continue to speak highly of visual impairment, you should stick to a format like this. The Blind Brothers video is an example of something I believe that no sighted person should ever watch if they want to get an idea of how to look at and treat blind people. This video however is something I would GLADLY recommend to sighted people to watch.
Good job. Myself and others appreciate the more realistic and genuine approach
I do the absent-minded touching too. The think I love about being blind is I can do things in the dark. One time when I was really little, I was at my grandmother’s house with the family. A big storm knocked all the power out. We were eating dinner. Everyone else stopped eating, but I kept going as nothing had happened.
Lol, that’s great!
I love the fact that you are being more positive about blindness. I do something similar with my podcast. It's really nice to meet someone who has similar ideas. Thank you for bringing this to your channel. Being blind does suck, but it does have advantages. For example, there is no need to pay for all the expenses of a car LOL
LOL, so true!
Such a great video Sam.
When people constantly live everyday with Vision Impairments, we don't like to think about the positives.
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Don't you wish everything was accessible to blind or low vision people??????????
I sure do, but to put braille everywhere like in theme parks like in Silver Dollar City or Six Flags or maybe Disney World, it is very expensive.
It also makes me sad because they do not have things in large print either.
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For those complaining he doesn't talk about the negative aspects have an issue. The negative aspects are self explanatory if you are vision impaired. I'm visually impaired I love hearing others be positive. It helps me
Thank you so much!
Thanks Sam, I too like to use touch quite often to see what is going on but sometimes you have to be careful. Whenever I use a power screw driver to put in a screw I invariable touch the screw head when I am done to make sure it is flush and if you have ever done this you know the screw head will be smoking hot (LOL, maybe one day I will learn to wait).
I do this 😂
Haha I accidentally eavesdrop on people in restaurants all the time. My boss too. Her office is next to mine. I still have a good bit of vision left I was only diagnosed a year ago at 37. Reading has become very tough and one thing I love about having low vision are audiobooks! Audible is my new best friend. What's great about them is that you can listen on the go and as a result I have gone through more books in the last year than I would have ever been able to do if I were just reading in the usual way.
I always get shouted down at the museum for "touching" . But how am I supposed to "appreciate" without seeing with my fingers? Anyways, my favourite saying to my teenage son is 'hey, I can hear what you'rd thinking!'
Great info!
Some museums and galleries offer audio description too = always worth asking, wherever it might be helpful.
I was given a fantastic tour behind the scenes at my local theatre last year after I contacted them about a show.
They really need to provide replicas so you can touch without damaging!
I use my sense of touch quite a bit. I also try to gloss over the negative stuff too. I was born with underdeveloped macula in my eyes, so my vision simply cannot physically get better than it is without a full-on retina transplant (which I don’t know if something like that is anywhere close to the point where they could do it on general patients), so I figure it’s pretty unproductive to dwell on it, cuz it’s just who I am. Obviously I spend some nights wondering what it’d be like to have good vision, but I brush it off quickly
Too right about the sound overload in restaurants and other loud rooms. When doing activities in a large class of some 70 students, everyone is talking at once, I'm like hello! I can hardly hear you!
Man, lip reading... It always drove me NUTS when I was a kid and I'd catch my parents speaking sub-vocally , reading each others lips. I always knew when they were doing it, though, and I'd be like "Hey, no lipping!" LOL! They eventually broke the habit.
I have a totally blind friend who can't stand loud places and loud music. I'm similar, but to a lesser extent, likely because I'm low vision rather than total. My family sometimes calls me big ears jokingly because I can hear across the house and a floor away.
Other VI perks, if using a screen reader on a phone, you can turn on screen curtain and use headphones, that way nobody can peak at things. Also, whether in Braille or through apps on my phone I can read in the dark dead of night! I loved reading Braille books late into the night and nobody knowing because my light was off! If anyone started opening my door I'd just slip the book further under the covers and lay down! Also, car reading without getting sick, score one for long car trips!
Great video Sam! Positivity is always a good thing in my book.
I have a suggestion for your next video. Would a camera like the G7x mk ii with it's f1.8 aperture lens work well as an Optelec Farview replacement(for reading street signs, navigating at night, etc?
Hope to hear from you soon, my friend!
And btw, Hi from The Philippines!!
It’s possible that it would be helpful although the screen on the back isn’t very large. I believe the far view screen is about four or 5 inches while BG7X screen it’s probably three.. however if that works for you then it would probably work very well.
@@theblindlife Thanks for the input Sam!
Is it possible for you to make a video using your camera as reference, the Canon 70D(?) If I remember.
It has a bigger sensor, right?
I completely agree with you because each and every thing that you said also happenes with me
I never thought about it but I too hind myself ease dropping apsent mindedly
Hi sam, love youre video's. I see a lot video's about technique's but i was wondering you mentioned youre family, youre kids and how you hear them from the livingroom where and what their doing. So i was wondering how it works to parenting blind or with low vision. What are you doing for fun with them and how you know they wanna fool you. I am a sighted person so i try to understand everyone and i experience blindness for minutes at school but i dont know how it is to be blind or visually impaired 24/7 with no option to put off the blind glasses and be sighted. If i would think about being or getting blind it would scared me because how do i do the things i used but than with a disablety. I dont have kids and i never get them but that would make it worse. The responsibility of little people when you are blind or visually impaired. Would that be questions you once ask youreself. The anxiety now youre eyes dont do what they always did?. Love sabrina
Those are great questions and I’ve actually made videos on all of those topics before. My wife and I have a whole series called couples Q&A where we talk about dating, marriage, raising children together. I’ve also made videos where I talk with my children about what it was like growing up with a visually impaired parent. I would definitely recommend going to my channel and searching for those videos, I think you’ll find them interesting.
@@abdulmalekchaar5835 i understand youre frustration of people who havent patience with visually impaired people or every disabled person. Its so sad that they dont understanding. I am a sighted person but i have other difficulties and even my own family doesnt understand me. And it hurts. It is so hard to pretend to be someone they want i am and totally lose myself. And if i dont do it they dump me if i am a piece of trash. You said youre a newly low vision person. I think you learn to cope with this and if you go blind that would be sad but you also learn to deal with it. Trust me ofcourse its no fun but a life chanching experience and a great lesson. Because you learn to look to the world in a different way. And ofcourse there will be cons but also positive ways and how black the world is gonna be there will be light in a other way where you really can enjoy things. My legally blind ex boyfriend sometimes making fun of him self and he laugh the hardest. And i do the same. Humor is working. Within youre own borders ofcourse. And not everyone can make a joke. Only the people you know and trust. Love sabrina
Yes I love useing my touch and hearing senses I love to just pick up a random object and explore it and as for my hearing I can literly hear a pen drop
Well said!! I live with keratoconus in my left eye…I was diagnosed in my id 20’s and had cornea transplant 3 summers ago…but due to my visual mpairement I got the 2 Covid vaccines which I found out that was bad as my eye doctor told me that I should not have gotten the vaccines…so now my vision is worse…yet I am grateful for my visual impairment…^_______^ Thanks for this Awesome video!!^_______^
I became hearing impaired two or three years before I lost my sight and wear two hearing aids which are more hindrance than help in noisy places. Therefore, I absolutely detest restaurants or other public places with all the voices coming at me at once, and being unable to focus on just one. My husband just can’t understand what I experience, and I will send him out to eat while I choose a PB &J In the quiet of my own home! I had no period of adjustment to blindness - it was instant, due to medical error. I am left with only very poor peripheral vision in one eye, and one eye with only very near, poor central vision that I am losing very quickly. I will be 80 years old this year and everything I loved to do was taken from me with vision loss. Men don’t do the same things or have the same hobbies generally that women do, and my hobbies were intensely vision demanding. I feel adrift, with no pleasurable, creative activities left in which to participate. I had to wait two years to start blind school due to the pandemic, so I have adapted in many ways because I am highly creative, but I’d like to hear from women who do the kinds of things that women traditionally enjoy. Just sitting around feeling things with my hands is not something I would find either polite or enjoyable. So, a week ago, I bought the OrCam. With it reading things to me, I can cook things that were going to be off-limits otherwise, including canning food with the Instant Pot Max, and dehydrating other foods. I am growing a garden in buckets and Rubbermaid tubs, getting my garden closer to my face. Those only require gross motor skills. My pleasure always came from fine motor skill related activities. I want to try doing things again with my Cricut cutting machine. What I miss most, though, is the designing and precision sewing I did for so long. What do blind women do in the creative arts that I love?
I get headaches from being out in busy public places , information overload i guess... smoke alarms , emergency sirens almost debilitating in volume... I also eavesdrop by accident all the time
It’s kind of cool that since you’re a RUclipsd that’s visually impaired that you can get sponsorships for some really cool stuff
Hello greetings from Panama Rep of Panama. I have RP howver still have a good central vision. Could you comment on the differences between the WeWalk vs. the Ultracane? Thank you very much
I’m afraid I haven’t had a chance to try the ultra cane. So wouldn’t be able to discuss the differences.
Hey Sam ! yes the smell of the rain and semolina bread.my husband gets frusterated. when other blind people examine all things around them. he does if they start to touch him. he just wants to respond as a sighted person. I laughed when you said about eavesdropping. I used to do that to my family.. I Thanks Sam it is good to see you.
As a rider I use touch a lot. hands to feel the horses mouth and neck. I can tell you if there is tension in the jaw or neck by feel. But also through my seat. I think I am more tuned into what the horse is doing. Also why I like treeless saddles. I can usually feel a spook before it happens. Most riders can see the scary deer ready to run off and scare the horse. I don't but can feel the tension of the horses back before the spook. I think it makes me a better rider. Also have a tendency to use my feet especially with steps. The hands are the first thing people think of when you say touch but I think we use the touch sense with other parts of the body without realising it. The hand is just the easiest to use most of the time.
Agree with you in everything.
Another sense that normally increases, it's the smell sense, which can be a jbig help for us; of course, it also has its inconveniences :) ;) but can be very useful as well...
I remember a few weeks ago I was at a restaurant with my support worker, and when I was eating my meal, I put my hands on the sides of the plate to hold it, and I felt a chip in the plate. I showed my support worker, and she said it was incredible I picked that up by touch, and even she said although she has very sharp eyesight, she never saw the chip on the plate, and when we let the waitress know about the chip, she said she didn’t know it was there either, and my support worker said to her isnt it incredible that it took someone who is blind to notice the defect in the plate, and the waitress laughed somewhat awkwardly and said yes it sure is. For years I’d always thought being partially blind was all bad, but that situation was one time where I think it’s actually not too bad at all lol. :)
Gray information! I utilize those 2 senses allot myself.
Could you do a video about moving out on your own when your young with bending visually impaired and all.
How do you keep your beard tight? The topic of today's which I have trouble so I never grow one even though I want to.
Thanks for the info Rob! I love using beard oil‘s as well. The only shipping product I use his mustache wax every now and then. If the stash is getting too long and unruly!
Unfortunately I have to go to a barber to get it trimmed. Since I can’t see myself in the mirror I am not able to do it. I actually made a video about this very topic. I think I called it the beard spot.
I miss having vision. I lost most of my vision at a young age. I miss my vision. I didn’t have accessibility or assistive technology growing up. I had to self advocate. Yes our other senses heighten and become better. But I hope to buy ky own home or build my own home and have all the accessibility. And I had partial visual wear I could drive and I haven’t tested it for a while so now I’m cautious of what my capability could bw
Back in the '60s, Stan Lee was so impressed with this ability to strengthen other senses because of blindness, he created the super-hero 'Daredevil: Man Without Fear. I hope we won't see yu doing any Parkour though!
I’m too old for that!
New subscriber. I use my other senses that you've described, especially my sense of smell. I love to stay clean and active. I memorize people by their scent also, especially women. I'm a single man. Almost like wolverine of the x-men. Real talk, the brain puts more emphasis on the other senses. I'm medically blind. Good video.
Thanks and thank you for being a new subscriber!
I love love my sense of touch. Because I have been blind since I’ve been six months old. Never ever saw color or my family faces. So sometimes yes I get bored and just start filling around. And now during Covid when I’m with my sister TEE is older than me and we’re shopping I just automatically reach out and start touching and she say hey and I say what she say stop it it’s Covid and I’m like sis this is how I see she says I know then she say do you have hand sanitizer on you I said yes I say when I’m done looking around I will definitely hand sanitize my hands. So now she doesn’t say anything. But my middle sister she always asked me can you see the TV or did you see that. She doesn’t understand or I think she don’t want to take to her heart that I can’t see. But I’m not upset with her and I don’t wanna force it on her. She knows yes I’m blind but she still asked me did you see that on TV or when I’m sitting or did you see the lady and I have to explain to her TEE I can’t see the TV TEE I can’t see what the kids are showing me as she gets really sad so I don’t know push it on her. But I guess love love my sense of touch. Now my Hearing know since I’m blind my hearing is not good because when I was 11 years old I started losing my hearing and now today without hearing aids I’m totally deaf and with hearing aids I am profoundly profoundly profoundly hard of hearing so I’m considered deaf blind so I use my hands for my eyes and my body to feel sound and I am a 25 year guide dog users my first three got old sick and passed away
Hi ... Hearing .. i get that one for sure ... I live in an apartment building , and i hear my neighbor's above,below , both sides and across the hall .. I know pretty well what they are all doing at any time ...I had an old friend that said to me " I bet you can hear a mouse fart at 100 feet away " lol
I use my sense of touch in sense of hearing as well
Thanks, I needed a reminder!
I am not a fan of restaurants or very crowded places due to the amount of noise and sensory overload. It isn't just the sounds for me, I also have a very sensitive nose and some things (and people) have such strong smells it can be very distracting. I have learned how to tune conversations around me in and out (assuming an individual's voice is not shrill or low and vibrating) so I can pay attention to what is being said at my own table. But it takes a lot of concentration and can cause quite a headache so I try to avoid overly crowded places as much as I can. I should rely more on my sense of touch but I am not a very tactile person and feel odd touching things that do not belong to me or touching other people. Something I should probably work on.
Omg this is me I love to touch thing all the time and I also have really good hearing and smell and toast as well
I know it sounds bad but I love being legally blind it’s amazing💀💀
I will never trade my blindness four sight I love it 😎
I can’t think of anything I love about it. Just crossed over 20/200 line with glasses. Diagnosed with albinism at the age of 1. And had around 20/70-20/120 with glasses. Thought it wasn’t supposed to get worse but yeah. It did lol. Kind of a shot in the face as I do have a drivers license.
There us a third fact which ilove anout is, that my live became more warmly. My social luve is now less stressy.
I am totally blind man what I love about being visually impaired is my ability to have critical thinking I don’t just take things at face value I do my own thing I think for myself
Love your videos. Helps me
Been having to do both a lot more lately
Oh my God? You are a male form of me. I have Stargardts since age 8. I am a 35 and a mom now, and my children actually believe I have a hidden camera because I always know what they're up to.
LOL, that’s great!
If your born with very poor sight you have a lifetime to develope skills to cope but if as many people do lose their sight with ageing then learning to see their hands as an alternative way of seeing the world can be hard
I'm legally blind but I can see to do things that need to be done. I can work on speakers and fluorescent lights any of my hobbies. The way my vision is it's like a camera that is not zoomed in on a particular item in a room. When I was younger I did not know how to explain my vision until I started messing with cameras you zoomed them out you see the full room but you're not focused in on one particular item. To me having 20/20 vision would be like a video camera that is zoomed in you had to move it around in order to see things in the room vs a low vision person like me is a camera zoomed out in a room although it sees things but it's not zoomed in on a particular object. Like I said the speakers 15inch woofers. I can see those speakers less than 20 ft away vs a person with 20/20 vision can see them I'm guessing around less than a hundred feet if you know what I'm saying. The reason why I use speakers as an example is to help understand it better.. I'm legally blind I can't drive a vehicle I can't see good enough for that.
I relate to all you talked about.
I can do that with my hearing to what they’re doing or in the kitchen and I know with their opening
😎 Thank You!
Hi, Sam... I have about 30% vision from optic nerve damage. I find that lover vision reduces visual distractions, obliging me to concentrate harder on my current task. This is a good thing, because although I spend more time getting something done, it's usually better completed than it was when I had fuller vision. Does that make sense?
Yes absolutely
I feel things with my hands too