snellen chart

[GarethB]

Mike,

I think one of the comittee objectives is better recognition of KC. I understand when a deaf person has a health check by an employer, they are tested worst case without their hearing aid if they have one. For us it is the opposite we must be assessed on best case with corrected vision regardless of how long it can be corrected!

The trouble I have at the moment is I need painkillers to dull the pain in my shoulder after a car accident so I cna get my lenses in. Downside is the painkillers have a slight affect on my vision, most noticeable in my right eye as it is ahrde to keep the lens in the right place.

Fortunatly the physio and insurance and solicitors are quite understanding. Took three visit to the GP to find one that understood so six weeks after the accident the shoulder pain is due to a neck injury I sustained.

And I thought whiplash was a pain in the neck, it isn't, more like the shoulder!

[rosemary johnson]

Agreed entirely -
"the rules" need to take account of the part-time blind.

They also need to be able to take account of hyper-light sensitivity, and the restrictions this can cause.
I'm sure that a big part of the reason I didn't get one job I was interviewed for was that they needed someone who could handle project publicity and "the media" and I cannot go anywhere near flash photography.

Rosemary

[Andrew MacLean]

I was taking a wedding on sturday. although I always ask photographers not to use flash cameras during the service, this time the official photographer thought that I did not mean him!

right at the most critical moment, he flashed his camera right in my face. I could see nothing for about half an hour.

I think in future I'll go back to the old "no photography" rule

Andrew

[GarethB]

Andrew,

My local church has a no photography rule during the service.

The only pictures allowed inside the church were the signing of the register and due to the designg of the methodist Chapel, the Bride and Groom leaving the main part of the Chapel into the foyer.

I hope you reprimanded him so he knew how difficult he must have made the rest of the service for you.

[Andrew MacLean]

Gareth

In the church we apply the same rule. Saturday's wedding was at a local castle. It has always been possible for Church of Scotland ministers to solemnize marriages absolutely anywhere, and until the WW2 it was by far the most common experience for couples to marry in a religions service conducted somewhere other than the church.

Newark Castle is within my Parish, so it is very common for me to take services there.

All part of the rich tapestry of life!

Andrew

[mike scott]

hi gareth, andrew, rosemary
thank you for all your replies
i'm actually a part time wedding photographer so am guilty of the flash thing myself lol, however i may change direction on that, as i worry about what if i'm having a really bad eye day on the day of a booking! looking more to taking and selling pictures through an agency as its obviously more flexible and they do the work and i have the fun.
with regards to the way deaf people are assessed as to us, i didnt realise that was the case.
firstly , isnt there an argument for "disability" discrimination.
secondly, if you have a sight impairment , surely that is a more dangerous state of affairs than being hearing impaired. ie somebody who cant hear can still see a car coming, or operate dangerous machinery, or see where the stairs are etc, someone who cant see is surely more of a danger to themselves and the public at large.
no offence to anyone i'm merely trying to make a case for legal arguments if you like.
does any one have thoughts on this?
mike

[rosemary johnson]

If you can't hear, you won't know if someone is yelling "Look out!" or "Stop!!" at you.
And it ay be totally un-apparent to the person trying to warn you that you can't hear them.
OTOH, there are people with quite bad eyes who just put their glasses on and they can see fine.
I don't know the thinking behind the rules - but maybe that has something to do with it.
Hearing aids are only "aids", they do not "correct" in that ay that, for some people, specs or lenses can.

Our problem is that the level of correction is not constant - if we get a "bad eye day", or a lens suddenly pops out, or gets grit underneath, or any of a multitude of problems, suddenly our correction is gone.
It's that "part-time blind" problem again, that the "rules" don't allow for.
Of course, hearing aids can go wrong, the batteries can run out at awkward moments.... and most of all, they can be less than properly effective in noisy environments 0 they can amplify all th ebackground noise so it drowns out the things you're really trying to listen to.
Anyone now any people with hearing aids who take them out when they go to a pub, or a restaurant?
My mum complained at great length when she first got hers about how People These Days make such a horrible racket clattering their knives and forks about on their plates....!
Rosemary

[mike scott]

hi rosemary
point taken
like i said, i wasnt trying to offend anybody, they were just some thoughts to debate and its still strongly debated i know.
i appreciate the comments
take care
mike

[Susan Mason]

Hello all

I am sure that we will all agree that any disability is challenging both physically and emotionally.

The obstacle that we all seem to at some point or another have issue with is the way the guidelines for what is and isn't classed as a disability have been written.

I can understand why hearing is tested without the hearing aid and also why if your vision can be corrected by glasses or lenses (that you can actually tolerate and wear) you are not classed as having a disability. However, KC is a very different thing. We all know how lens wear can be and how it can alter rapidly from day to day - my employers on the other hand do not find this easy to understand. I look quite normal (well in their view) and in this respect why should they provide me with larger text, surely I am just being a pain when I ask for it.

Personally I have found that it is only when you start to have problems of your own you start to see just how a great proportion of the general public do not give a stuff. And the way I was brought up (and I am not a pensioner yet 38)) a lot of it is just plain manners.
To be pushed in a supermarket que because you are not moving quick enough and do not have a white stick, so obviously can see, by a rude pensioner I find just plain bad manners and then a mouthful of abuse as well.
To make this worse the next time you bump into each other and you have your lenses in and say a polite hello well obviously you must be making it up as you said you couldn't see the last time.

The day KC is understood will be a milestone along with many other illnesses I am sure.

If anyone knows the answer to how we get around the KC/disability/part time partially sighted maybe we should look into working towards getting this recognised and then others at work/school/college in the future may not have such a rough time.

Susan

[mike scott]

i think that one of the big problems for people with KC, is that without specific recognition, we are forced to live and compete in a "normal" world when there are times that we have very real problems even if they are for short periods. during these times our schooling/work life suffers but we are treated in thge same way as anyone else, ie disciplinary actions at work for sometimes often intermitant days off, and likewise at school. because the condition is so variable its obviously difficult for people to understand, but would we want to purposefully subject ourselves to disciplinaries at work etc and send our careers in a downward spiral, surely outsiders must understand that! or would we be tied in with the people who habitually "throw sickies" and be viewed with mistrust, when we have genuine reason for not being able to do things that we should be able to do.
i also think that this feeling that KC could be questioned or misunderstood by employers can create guilt for having KC in the first place when you need genuine help , like time off cos you cant see

mike