While I wish I could see out of both eyes, I’m thankful I have at least one good eye. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have things I have to deal with. Here are some of the ones that come to mind.
3D
Yeah, can’t see it. I remember going to Disney World to watch a show that was in 3D and everyone was screaming and I was like, “yeah, okay,” because it wasn’t popping off the screen. My biggest fear has been that 3D would one day completely replace regular televisions and movie theaters, but for now at least that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Stereograms
A stereogram, or autostereogram, is one of those pictures with all the pixels that hide another picture inside that you can see when you unfocus your eyes. Except it requires two good eyes, which I don’t have. So I just get to look at them and say, “those are some cool waves in that picture.”
Optometrist visits
“Tell me what you can see.”
“I can’t see.”
“What about now?”
“I still can’t see it.”
“And now?”
“Nope.”
And every time you see someone new, it happens all over again.
Shaving
I can’t speak to women, but shaving the side of my face with the bad eye takes some extra work. And sometimes I feel like trimming that sideburn is a crap shoot.
When someone waves to you on your bad side
I’ve had to apologize a few times for people thinking I was ignoring them. Since most people don’t know I’m blind in that eye, they probably wonder if I’m just absent-minded.
When you accidentally cut someone off while walking
My head is on a swivel in crowds, especially ones where there are no obvious walking lanes. It’s so easy for someone to come up on my blind side and me accidentally cut them off.
When you clock a passenger while positioning yourself to back your car out of a parking spot
I’m sad to say this has happened, and it’s a bit embarrassing. I’ve learned to be a little more careful when putting my arm on the passenger side headrest.
When anyone sets up to toss you anything
… and you think to yourself, “please don’t drop it … please don’t drop it … please don’t drop it.”
… or you jut say, “I’ll come over and get it.”
Physical Education class
Not all of PE is bad, but plenty of it is. Baseball, flag football, basketball, kickball … yeah, pretty much anything with a ball in it is a pain. No getting around it. And PE class just isn’t equipped to deal with it; it’s not like PE teachers can change the whole sport curriculum for one kid or easily separate that kid from the rest of the class. Neither of those things would be good for anybody. It’s just frustrating, since no matter what is done, the kid without depth perception is going to have problems to deal with.
Other random moments
A few years ago I went to the DMV to renew my driver’s license. Part of the renewal is a signs test, but when I went to press my head to the display hood where the signs were, the images only appeared on the right side. I’m blind in my right eye. I explained this to the DMV worker, who wasn’t particularly sympathetic. It almost got to the point where I wondered if I was going to be able to renew my license. Instead, I was forced to push my forehead against the toggle for the signs test so I could read them with my left eye.
Things like that don’t happen often, but when they do, they’re a reminder that, yeah, I’m blind in one eye.
Hello,
I just discovered your blog yesterday!
Thank you for sharing your life experience. It’s good to find someone with monocular vision. All of my friends have normal visions and sometimes I feel alone when I can’t do things right or in the normal way.
I was also born blind on my right eye due to retinopathy of prematurity and throughout my school life I was being bullied a lot because my right eye looks strange.
Then a few years ago my good left eye had a major surgery due to vitreous traction and if it left untreated I could go blind on my central vision. Now I develop cataract and going to have surgery next week. Even though it’s not a big surgery like my last one, I still feel anxious.
I’ve been all but blind in one eye since birth. It ‘s not been a huge problem for me, though now that my good eye is 50 years old things are getting harder….. but I wanted to mention some things associated with one eyed vision that you don’t hear about too often:
learning handwriting is really hard as you don’t really know how to fit the letters into the space they should be using, you can’t tell when to should lift you pen off the paper – I still have awful handwriting.
Sawing a STRAIGHT line through any kind of material, with any kind of saw, can be all but impossible.
Using a sewing machine – see above
Buying furniture is difficult because I lack what I call spacial imagination – I know what my lounge room looks like, I know this sofa in the shop would match my decor, but I cannot “see” how it might fit it the room, and eve. With measurements I can’t judge if somethings too big or too small unless I actually put it in the room. It’s like I can’t see in 3d, so I can’t imagine it either. It’s for the same reason I’ve found myself in a hop dressing room trapped inside a far, far too small dress I decided to try on I’ve been all but blind in one eye since birth. I’ve been all but blind in one eye since birth. It ‘s not been a huge problem for me, though now that my good eye is 50 years old things are getting harder….. but I wanted to mention some things associated with one eyed vision that you don’t hear about too often:
learning handwriting is really hard as you don’t really know how to fit the letters into the space they should be using, you can’t tell when to should lift you pen off the paper – I still have awful handwriting.
Sawing a straight line through any kind of material, with any kind of saw, can be all but impossible. ‘s not been a huge problem for me, though now that my good eye is 50 years old things are getting harder….. but I wanted to mention some things associated with one eyed vision that you don’t hear about too often:
learning handwriting is really hard as you don’t really know how to fit the letters into the space they should be using, you can’t tell when to should lift you pen off the paper – I still have awful handwriting.
Sawing a straight line through any kind of material, with any kind of saw, can be all but impossible.
I’m so excited to have found your blog. I lost
sight in my left eye as the result of 7 surgeries to fix a detached retina over 10 years now. I’ve been okay with the loss probably because I’m so thankful that I can see well with the other. BUT there are things that I still have a hard time with:
Ophthalmologist visits. Same one for at least five years. Susie opthamologist assistant: “Cover your right eye(the good one) and read the smallest line you can” Me: I can’t see anything with that eye. Susie: “can you see this light I’m shining directly into your eye?” Me: “Nope I still can’t see with that eye.”
Eyebrow plucking.
People who cut me off and expect that I can see them and will stop. (Walking, not driving).
At first my husband would just suddenly appear and scare the crap out of me. He walks louder now.
Trying to enter a credit card into a computer field.
People-usually family- asking if I’m okay to drive them somewhere, yet totally unconcerned that I’ve been driving myself to work for the past 10 years. Haha
Trying to see around the water raining on my windshield.
I couldn’t enjoy a hike in Alaska because I had to watch where I was stepping on the path. I trip and fall a lot.
The absolute worst: I’ve actually, while driving, almost run over a couple people who popped up on my blind side. I really shouldn’t drive. But I can’t get anyone to drive this “Miss Daisy” (no matter how often my sister says it). Finally, I’m feeling very pitiful that I probably won’t be able to play pickle ball.
Take good care!
Make-up! I’m 79 yrs old and been wearing make-up since a teenager. I’m good at it and have learned how to cover or camouflage a lot. I became blind in one eye recently and it was sudden. Woke up one morning to very little vision in my right eye. Applying make-up, especially the more subtle effects is the hardest part. The saving grace is that I’ve been doing it for so long it’s sort of like braille…..finding my way around. I tell my daughters and friends, if you see me looking like Baby Jane (remember the movie “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane with Bettie Davis?) TELL ME! For years I’ve been telling my kids when they put me in the funny farm, promise you’ll visit me and pull out my chin hairs.