I hate it when people think that if you’re not legally blind, you can see perfectly fine. I’m not legally blind, but I do have vision issues, which not going to go into detail but basically my right eye is super weak and can’t process depth correctly and makes everything blurry, even with glasses, so I need accommodations at school for it, like larger text and text to speech and an aide (since my school is kind of sloped and I fall a lot otherwise without help)
But once I had a sub who refused to let me use the specially printed test because “if you’re not legally blind, you don’t need it! You’re just trying to be special”
So yeah, no one ever talks about vision impairment in schools and public it feels like, only being legally blind to the point you can’t see anything
GOD I WOULD HAVE WHIPPED OUT MY CANE AND SAID "WHY WAS I GIVEN THIS HUH?!?!" fuck OFF with that shit !!!!! I'm so sorry man that stuff pisses me off so bloody much 😭 would've fought the urge to hit her with it, too.
It's almost like terms like low vision and visually impaired exist for a REASON... thats why I get annoyed with people whose vision IS FULLY CORRECTED with glasses using it. It has a meaning and people already don't take it seriously... people think vision is "all", "fixable with glasses" and "nothing" and it fucking sucks. It's so so much more than that. People don't seem to realise that glasses don't fix everyone's vision. My vision without glasses is 6/48. With glasses? Strong glasses? It's literally just a step better, at 6/38. Legal blindness, which is determined by your corrected vision, is 6/60. Literally two steps below my corrected vision (so one above my uncorrected vision) (According to this chart I'm looking at, that's 20/160, 20/125 and 20/200 respectively, in the US system)
I used to have an aide and stuff like that in school too. They'd get me ebooks where possible for textbooks or books we were reading in class, or they'd try and get the large print (either A4 or FREAKING A3 SIZE PAPER 😭) copy from Vision Australia. Fortunately I think I only had one stupid instance like that, again with a casual teacher too. Even though I sat at the front of the classroom, I still couldn't see the board. So I'd have my phone on my desk so I could USE THE CAMERA TO SEE THE WHITEBOARD. that was IT. I never touched it aside from that. I held it up and this casual teacher freaking yelled at me for using my phone.
Mate I'm the only person in this class using a laptop, MUCH bigger than the usual school ones, my worksheets are on A3 paper, im freaking HUNCHED OVER MY DESK TO WRITE ON THE WORKSHEET, my face basically on the table... why do you think I might be holding my phone up to the whiteboard?? I just looked at her like "...I'm trying to see the board so I can write notes???" I think. This mightve been in history in year 10 or modern history in year 11... if it was modern, I may have had some friends help me out there.
People can be so freaking stupid. I've been "accused" of "faking being blind" for using my phone (<5-10CM FROM MY FACE!!) while holding a cane...
God I'm sorry this got rambly, I don't know what I'm saying anymore. It's 5pm, I've been out of the house since 7:20am and awake since 4am, running on very little sleep. I'm sorry again that teacher was stupid. I hope you were able to report her or something.
Oh also, if you fall without help, I'd recommend looking into a white cane. They're not just for legally blind people either. I have one, was taught how to use it at 11 cause the high school I was going to the next year was a half hour walk away. There are folding ones, so you can just have it out when you need it. It's just a suggestion; personally my cane helps me move around a lot more confidently, and quickly too.
