What Does it Mean to be Born Legally Blind?
I try not to make a big deal about my vision (or lack thereof), but after spending most of my life attempting to hide my disability, I’ve found it better to just let folks know what the heck is going on.
I have a very rare (1 in 500,000) eye condition called Ocular Albinism. I don’t have full-body albinism with its characteristic white hair and pale unpigmented skin, but only albinism in my eyes. That means my eyes have no pigmentation – no color in the retina at the back of the eyes.
Due to this, and the conditions that come with ocular albinism (astigmatism & nystagmus), I am “legally blind.” I was born with a 20/600 vision, which is worse than the legal standard (20/400). What does that mean? In practice, if someone with 20/20 vision can see an object and identify it from 600 feet away, I can only see it from 20 feet away. The reality? I have some small vision, but it is not much to write home about.
Unfortunately, my vision can’t be corrected. There is no surgery or other treatment available, so I just make due with what I have.
So how do I cope? MASSIVE FONT, getting very close to screens, biopics for driving (seriously!), and old school memorization. If I’m giving a keynote, it might look like I’m reading from the teleprompter or directly from the slide, but in reality, I’ve just memorized the entire thing ahead of time.
In truth, these coping strategies are effective. Most people that know me are unaware of how significantly low vision I am. The only downside of hiding my poor vision so well is that I have undoubtedly offended many people by not returning a nod or wave from across the room, simply because I couldn’t see it. This is why I always encourage friends to order dessert: The bigger your are, the easier you are to see!
Don’t forget, there are perks to having poor vision. For example, my wife will never need to get Botox since I can’t appreciate fine lines and wrinkles. Moreover, if you can’t see an audience, it’s impossible to have stage fright!
