This is a difficult post to write, but one I feel needs addressing. I often don’t feel like I fit in to the community that I’m meant to be a part of. I don’t use a cane or have a guide dog and it has also been suggested that I’m lucky I’m only losing my central vision. I also feel I’m often invalidated because I got my sight loss later in life and that I have been able to do certain things that others were not. Ableism is always spoken about from people who aren’t in the disabled community, but internalised ableism can happen within the community too and I often find this harder to swallow.
It doesn’t matter that my journey through sight loss has been different to someone else’s, or that I have been able to do things someone else hasn’t, like drive a car. This doesn’t take away my experience and what I am going through and it also shouldn’t make others feel like I can’t tell my story. Sight loss is not a competition and it saddens me that acceptance is sometimes based on the sight you have and not the journey you are going on. I just want people to know that it doesn’t matter when your sight loss journey started, how quickly your sight loss progressed, what visual or mobility aids you use or what you can see, your journey is your journey and it is as valid and real as anyone else’s ♥️. Thank you to everyone who supports my journey, I would be lost without you xx
