Low Vision Living Skills Help Legally Blind Veteran

As a legally blind vet, family member or close friend we have a unique understanding of how vision loss affects the way we live. We understand what it takes to cope with the ever-changing world around us. The sad facts are many U.S. veterans and their families are not aware of the programs that exist designed to help them get back to life and the things they once enjoyed. Today there are many tools both easy to acquire and learn. You will be amazed as to how you put workable solutions for any everyday task into practice. The very things we need help doing are available with little or no out of pocket costs, and the Veterans Administration Hospitals Blind Centers are there for us to take full advantage of those many resources.

Transitioning from a life defined by normal vision, to one obscured by the loss of visual acuity or field is unsettling to say the least for not only the Vet, our friends and family also share the burden. Think about it for a moment, impaired vision affects disabled vets that easily become disoriented and overwhelmed.

After all struggling to perform simple everyday tasks when you cannot see, pouring a cup of coffee, reading the newspaper or magazine, and watching TV is darned frustrating when you cannot see the words on a page, television or computer screen. Let alone drive the car to a favorite coffee shop, bar, work or a friend’s home.

Making matters worse, most folks have no idea where to start the arduous journey of regaining their independence. That is Ok; we all need help in refocusing our positive energies and redefining our individual goals.

In many cases, Vets vision problems have to do with a diminished field of sight. These folks have relatively clear vision. Their problem, their sight is like looking through a drinking straw. No peripheral sight, they have the ability to read words on a page, but cannot tell where they are on the page making it easy to get confused. Adding to the frustrations, this tunnel vision if you will is not always in their central vision.

Our central vision is where we see all the details, colors, images, people’s facial features, text on a page and so on. From our central spot of focus where our vision is normally 20 / 20, as our eyesight transitions to our peripheral vision, acuity lessens.

Imagine for a moment how it feels to catch something out of the corner of your eye, a sudden movement; something seems out of place, or an undefined object that requires further examination. We can see something however exactly what it is, is unclear.