Blindness What It Is What It Does And How To Live With It

A deeply touching and uplifting view of the world through different eyes, and a roadmap to finding bliss in the simplest of things. Zena Cooper lives a full life, in which she uses her senses to examine and explore the world around her. She does all that without one thing many of us take for granted: sight. Born with Marfan syndrome, a connective tissue disorder that means she is almost completely blind, Zena kept the extent of her condition hidden from the world for four decades. That was until Munch - a guide dog full of personality - took up residence in her life and, almost overnight, a disability she had been hiding for years was suddenly clear for all to see. What You See When You Can't See follows Zena's journey in accepting her limitations. A qualified integrative counsellor, she shares her unique model to reset negative thought patterns, along with tools to help anyone reshape their narrative. Zena asks her readers to find beauty in their own adversity. With Munch at the heart of her experience, this book explores the possibility of an amplified life, no matter your circumstances.

In this New York Times bestseller, Isaac Lidsky draws on his experience of achieving immense success, joy, and fulfillment while losing his sight to a blinding disease to show us that it isn’t external circumstances, but how we perceive and respond to them, that governs our reality. Fear has a tendency to give us tunnel vision—we fill the unknown with our worst imaginings and cling to what’s familiar. But when confronted with new challenges, we need to think more broadly and adapt. When Isaac Lidsky learned that he was beginning to go blind at age thirteen, eventually losing his sight entirely by the time he was twenty-five, he initially thought that blindness would mean an end to his early success and his hopes for the future. Paradoxically, losing his sight gave him the vision to take responsibility for his reality and thrive. Lidsky graduated from Harvard College at age nineteen, served as a Supreme Court law clerk, fathered four children, and turned a failing construction subcontractor into a highly profitable business. Whether we’re blind or not, our vision is limited by our past experiences, biases, and emotions. Lidsky shows us how we can overcome paralyzing fears, avoid falling prey to our own assumptions and faulty leaps of logic, silence our inner critic, harness our strength, and live with open hearts and minds. In sharing his hard-won insights, Lidsky shows us how we too can confront life's trials with initiative, humor, and grace.

The ability to see deeply affects how human beings perceive and interpret the world around them. For most people, eyesight is part of everyday communication, social activities, educational and professional pursuits, the care of others, and the maintenance of personal health, independence, and mobility. Functioning eyes and vision system can reduce an adult's risk of chronic health conditions, death, falls and injuries, social isolation, depression, and other psychological problems. In children, properly maintained eye and vision health contributes to a child's social development, academic achievement, and better health across the lifespan. The public generally recognizes its reliance on sight and fears its loss, but emphasis on eye and vision health, in general, has not been integrated into daily life to the same extent as other health promotion activities, such as teeth brushing; hand washing; physical and mental exercise; and various injury prevention behaviors. A larger population health approach is needed to engage a wide range of stakeholders in coordinated efforts that can sustain the scope of behavior change. The shaping of socioeconomic environments can eventually lead to new social norms that promote eye and vision health. Making Eye Health a Population Health Imperative: Vision for Tomorrow proposes a new population-centered framework to guide action and coordination among various, and sometimes competing, stakeholders in pursuit of improved eye and vision health and health equity in the United States. Building on the momentum of previous public health efforts, this report also introduces a model for action that highlights different levels of prevention activities across a range of stakeholders and provides specific examples of how population health strategies can be translated into cohesive areas for action at federal, state, and local levels.

In the author's words . . . When I graduated in 1978 from the University of the South, I cherished the ideal behind the inscription in Sewanee's university seal. Ecce quam bonum-the first lines of Psalm 133, "Behold, how good it is." But as I entered the adult world of commerce and culture, there were too few times when I actually beheld the good. The world seemed far too harsh to me, so full of inequality and conflict. I had to dig deep for the strength and determination to keep going. Thirty-five years later, however, my perception of that collegiate instruction-to see the good-carries a very different meaning. Struggle, controversy, disappointment are integral to life, certainly, yet, within the nature of that harsh reality, I now also find bright dimensions of meaning and hope. Joy and love are, in fact, ever-present in our circumstances . . . whatever those circumstances may be. Sue W. Martin, eqb, September 2013 Sue Wiygul Martin has written a deeply honest and moving account of the rebuilding of her life after a desperate, impetuous act in her youth ended in traumatic blindness. Since that day, she has greeted the world with her trademark determination and humor, accepting each new day of challenge while squarely facing the issues attending her post-traumatic adjustment. Now, after more than thirty years of an extraordinary recovery and reconciliation with the past, Martin is ready to share the simple truth of her journey. Martin's truth is a universal truth, one which is so easy to lose sight of-each and every person, man or woman, has a story worth telling. We are all the same, yet so beautifully different. So, fasten your seat belts. Sue Martin would like to take you on a wild ride through this life of hers. Get ready for some joy, sorrow, beauty, a few cosmic slaps of enlightenment, and a thousand other thoughts and feelings along the way.

Kadence loves to bake cookies and hang out with friends. She's also partly blind. Kadence is real and so are her experiences. Learn about her life in this illustrated narrative nonfiction picture book for elementary students. Kids are naturally curious about differences and disabilities. Kadence sheds light on her life, with the help of experienced children's author Mari Schuh. She's not defined by visual impairment, but she does some things differently than sighted people. Beautiful illustrations and a dyslexic-friendly font promote accessibility. Includes tips for kids about interacting with someone who is blind.

Have you ever wondered how a blind person pours a cup of coffee? Or how they and their guide dog know when it's safe to cross a busy road?When Lois Strachan lost her sight at the age of 21 years she had to learn the answers to these and countless other questions of how to live as a blind person in a sighted world.In this delightfully quirky and entertaining book Lois shares some of the secrets she discovered about how to live an "ordinary" life in an extraordinary way despite her disability.The second edition of A Different Way of Seeing contains the complete original book with an additional 30% new content - many more stories and updated information that add to this humorous and enlightening perspective of what it's really like living life as a blind person. Author Interview: Q: Did you always want to become a writer?A: No, when I was young I wanted to be a rock musician. Then I wanted to become an archeologist. And then I lost my sight. I became an author almost by accident when I met an illustrator who encouraged me to publish several children's books I'd written years previously. These became the series "The Adventures of Missy Mouse". Next thing, a mentor suggested I write a book describing how I accomplish tasks to answer the questions that audiences at my motivational talks had. Which became my narrative non-fiction, "A Different Way of Seeing". That was the point at which I fell in love with writing as a career. Q: Why write about your blindness?A: I think that one of the greatest challenges we have as the blind and visually impaired community is that people do not understand how we accomplish tasks and assume, incorrectly, that those tasks are either hard or impossible for us. My book is an attempt to bridge that gap of understanding to build greater levels of inclusion within society and the workplace. Q: Who should read your book? A: Am I allowed to say that everyone should read it? My target audience is anyone interested in learning how I live my life as a blind woman, anyone who is experiencing sight loss, or anyone interested in a feel-good story of moving forward after a lifechanging challenge. Although I'm more than happy for anyone else to read it! Q: What topics do you write about? A: I write about many different aspects of my life, from tasks like cooking, cleaning, selecting clothing, applying make-up, using technology, right the way through to topics like travel, entertainment, and of course, my three beautiful guide dogs. And I sprinkle stories of my personal experiences throughout the book.Q: What message do you want readers to take away from your book? A: That disability does not mean inability - that we have tools and techniques as members of the visually impaired community that allow us to do almost anything that a sighted person can. Q: What part of the book did you most enjoy writing?A: Definitely the chapters about my wonderful guide dogs, who have walked so much of the journey alongside me. Q: Your writing is unexpectedly light-hearted. Was that a deliberate decision when you wrote the book? A: Yes and no. Ralph Smedley, the founder of Toastmasters International, said that we learn best in moments of enjoyment. So I felt I wanted the book to focus on some of the light-hearted stories from my life as a blind woman. But I usually see the lighter side of things that happen to me, so it's true to who I am as a person. Q: In your book you mention how much you love reading. What types of books do you enjoy most?A: I'm something of an escapist reader, so anything that will take me on a journey to another time or place. My current favourite genres are urban fantasy, alternate history, and literary fiction... oh, and I also enjoy travel memoirs. To be honest, I'll read almost anything that suits my mood at the time.

In the tradition of Oliver Sacks's The Island of the Colorblind, Rosemary Mahoney tells the story of Braille Without Borders, the first school for the blind in Tibet, and of Sabriye Tenberken, the remarkable blind woman who founded the school. Fascinated and impressed by what she learned from the blind children of Tibet, Mahoney was moved to investigate further the cultural history of blindness. As part of her research, she spent three months teaching at Tenberken's international training center for blind adults in Kerala, India, an experience that reveals both the shocking oppression endured by the world's blind, as well as their great resilience, integrity, ingenuity, and strength. By living among the blind, Rosemary Mahoney enables us to see them in fascinating close up, revealing their particular "quality of ease that seems to broadcast a fundamental connection to the world." Having read For the Benefit of Those Who See, you will never see the world in quite the same way again. "In this intelligent and humane book, Rosemary Mahoney writes of people who are blind . . . She reports on their courage and gives voice, time and again, to their miraculous dignity." -- Andrew Solomon, author of Far From the Tree