Q&A with Nicole Rae discussion

I was born legally blind but have been totally blind for ten years. Many people have questions about visual impairment but don't know how to ask. If there is anything you would like to know about myself, conditions, how I do things, or whatever, feel free to ask. I don't get offended easily. This thread is your safe zone:) No question is a dumb question... except for the one you haven't asked, so get asking!

Did you know that there is a blind person on Master Chef? I personally don't watch the show, but plan to check it out soon. I guess she has a sighted helper to read her the recipes and do things like telling her the color of the food she's cooking so she can tell how done it is. Othar than verbal help, it sounds as though she does everything else completely by herself. As a blind person who isn't the most gourmet when it comes to cooking... my hat's off to her. From what I hear from watchers of the show she has been doing great on the show and is an amazing cook.

How do you read? Sorry about the bluntness of this question. And how on earth can you still type wonderfully punctuated posts?

I typically read via audio books. I have always loved to read and figured if I'm going to keep up the addiction I was going to have to merge into the audio world. My computer as well as my phone talk which is what allows me to use the lovely internet technology:) It's the same when I write. My computer tells me what I'm typing as I'm typing it.

That is really cool.

Hi, Nicole! I think it's great you haven't let your blindness hold you back:) Just a tidbit about me: My mom has been legally blind in her right eye for 17 years (some kind of degenerative disease that my grandfather also had). I look forward to reading more of your work:)

Thank you very much. I try not to let it get me down. I wasn't so upbeat about it in the beginning. At first, I admit that I thought my life was over. I learned quick that it would be if I didn't get off my butt and do something. My life wasn't going to live it self and I had to work hard to get what i wanted. Sometimes twice as hard as others, but I had to do it. If not for me, for my girls. I want them to look at their mommy and be proud.

Thank you so much for reading Clandestine and joing in the discussions. I really appreciate it. I hope you will join in the Clandestine threads too:)

Did you know that a baby born with perfect eye sight can still go blind? I learned of a study once that said that if you took a newborn baby and put them in a room that held absolutely no light whatsoever, they would go blind.

First off, that is a horrible thing to think about. Hopefully they didn't actually experiement with this and it's just an assumption.

I do have to admit, it's an interesting concept. It does make sense that if a baby is deprived of one of their senses, they will lose it. I wonder if the same thing applies with hearing??

It's amazing how you're trying to overcome everything, Nicole. I myself have been legally blind in my left eye since I can remember. I have 20/400 vision the last time I got it checked. It's hard enough with just the one eye- no depth perception, no 3-D movies (and my great great uncle created them), and I have to get a doctor's note to get my driver license renewed since I flunk their eye test.

I have to say I live in fear of losing my good eye, because I have difficulty concentrating on audio (haven't tried audio books yet)

It can be a scary thing for sure. If you don't mind my asking are you without sight in your other eye?

As for audio books, it's an acquired taste. Although now that I'm into it I'm hooked;)

Nicole wrote: "It can be a scary thing for sure. If you don't mind my asking are you without sight in your other eye?"

I can see, but it's basically a blur of colors. I cannot watch TV at all with that eye, cannot drive, but can tell if it's day or night, can tell if there is a person near me, but not who it is unless they have a really distinctive feature that I can make out. My other eye is 'making up' for the bad, according to the eye doctor but that still doesn't help with depth perception. I had to learn while driving other ways of figuring out distances. In Texas, on the neighborhood streets there are regular tar marks in the road. If I am going 30mph and I start hitting the brake 3 tar marks before the stop sign, I'll stop in time.

Hi, sorry it's taken me a bit to get back to you. Things have been monster busy around here.

Wow, sounds like you're dealing with a lot. I think it's cool that you don't seem to let it get you down. I'm totally jealous that you get to drive, that is really cool. Hopefully someday they will have GPS smart cars out on the market and I'll get to scare the world with my driving mastery lol.

I know that you said that you do have vision in the one eye, but I was just wondering... does that mean you are into audio books at all? I love them personally.

I haven't tried them yet, actually. I think I have ADD (both my boys from different marriages have ADHD, and one ADD/ADHD combined) and I tend to let my mind wander when I listen to things (songs, even background TV) so I'm worried I won't be able to follow. When they first caught my eye problem (like at 9 years old; although 6 years old is even 'late' to catch it and correct it) they made me wear an eye patch over my good eye. I had to 'listen' to movies and TV, and had a devil of a time on my bicycle. All during that time, I think I ended up resenting the patch and not 'seeing' things.

My youngest daughter has been diagnosed legally blind. She will be four in Decemeber. We have to patch her good eye as well. She is totally not a fan. However, the differencial between her two eyes makes it crucial. It's the only chance we have at strengtheing her bad eye. The doctor says that because of the differencial, she isn't even using the bad eye. I've have been told she looks super cute in her little glasses though:)

I feel for you hun, I know you feared this happening to your girls. Email me if you need a chat. x

Thank you Adelle. I really appreciate that. You are a good friend:) The same goes for you.

I feel for you and your daughter, Nicole. Eye patches aren't as fun as pirates make it out to be

Exactly, it's nearly impossible to get them on her

I tried two chapters of an audio book for the first time today. I tried to pay attention, and at first I was snickering because of the funky accents for some characters. It seemed cheesy at times. And then once I tried to get anything else done at the same time I kept tuning out the book. The narrator would say something and I was all, wait a minute I missed something... like half the chapter I missed. Maybe this narrator just isn't for me.