Anxious days and sleepless nights, found my heavy heart and troubled mind, floating into the realm of YouTube.
At first I was just watching music videos, in an attempt to stay upbeat. I was too scared to Google RP so for some reason, I YouTube’d it.
It would appear I am in good company. RP may be a 1 in 4000 occurrence but I am feeling less of an anomaly right now. There are some truly inspirational people out there. Blind and visually impaired folk, are stepping out, from behind the shadows of sight loss and living their best life.
A few people have really moved me, over the last few weeks; please check out their channels. Their journeys, experiences and attitude, towards their sight loss is so empowering. It has been a really difficult and low couple of weeks but these amazing people, have been a light at a very dark time;
- Molly Burke
- Lucy Edwards
- Matt from Blind to Billionaire
- Sam from The Blind Life
- Christine Ha
- Derek from Life After Sight Loss
- The Tommy Edison Experience
- Joy Ross
- Fashioneyesta
- Cayla with a C
I have laughed and cried, when watching these channels. No topic, situation or question is left out. Their diagnosis, hospital experiences, adjusting to their vision loss, working, dating, travel, make up, technology, fashion, success stories and embarrassing fails; it’s all there.
Blindness is one of the most feared conditions. Even on YouTube, you find the most heart-wrenching comments from people. Alongside subscribers commending bravery, you have viewers, who say they would rather be deaf than blind, or worse, would rather die than not be able to see. Even from fellow VIPs (Visually Impaired People), not everyone’s experiences are positive. Many people feel isolated and alone, have lost friends, struggle to get out, socialise, find work, build relationships and plan their future. Stories of bullying from YouTubers and their subscribers, will test your faith in humanity.
The statistics from the RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People), regarding sight loss is heartbreaking:
- As of now, there are just over 2 million, blind or partially sighted people in the UK.
- Only 17% of people experiencing sight loss, are offered emotional support in response to their deteriorating vision.
- Only 27% of blind and partially sighted people, of working age are in employment. Access to work and/or discrimination is a huge problem.
- 39% of blind and partially sighted people of working age, say they have some or great difficulty in making ends meet.
- 35% of blind and partially sighted people say that they sometimes, frequently or always, experience negative attitudes from the public in relation to their sight loss.
- 31% of people are rarely or never optimistic about the future.
In 2016 the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and Specsavers joined forces, to put together a report on the nation’s eye health. Some of the key findings were quite upsetting:
- Sight is the nation’s most precious sense by far; 78% of people said sight was the sense they fear losing most.
- Every day 250 people start to lose their sight in the UK.
- 1 in 5 people will live with sight loss in their lifetime
It’s not all negative. It’s not all positive either. I guess, I’m still trying to find my way through it. Every ‘Why me?’ day is followed by an ‘I got this!’ day. I miss the days, where my brain didn’t even think about this stuff but here I am.
Today, I got this!