If I should go blind

[serene]

So there's no way to say this next sentence without sounding kind of dramatic, but imagine me saying it in a "hmm, that's interesting" kind of way, not an "OHMIGOD" kind of way, because I've known about it for a couple of years and it's not something I lie awake at night thinking about, 'kay?

There's a small-to-medium-sized chance, according to my eye doctor, that one day I will wake up and my eyesight will be very bad, and then I'll go blind very quickly. I have a rare enough form of macular degeneration that every retina examination I've ever had has prompted the doctor to go grab a bunch of other docs and students to take a look. Also? They're always *stunned* (and a bit unbelieving) that I've never done drugs (besides legal ones). Seems that the crystals in my retinas are in an unusual pattern that's generally caused by drug abuse.

So, anyway.

I am thinking of doing two things as proactive disability preparation for myself: Learning to use screen-reader software, and maybe learning Braille.

I know that Braille is used less and less often as other kinds of accessible texts spring up all over the place, but when I think about the prospect of being forced to be *read to* instead of reading things for myself, in my head, in my own voice, I get a bit agitated and upset.

So, anyone out there know the best way for me to go about learning Braille?

Comments

[ailbhe]

I don't know how you'd start but I imagine the cognitive process would be fairly similar to learning to read print, in that subconscious word-recognition would be important after a bit. I wonder would those magnetic labels for tins help? They're a shopping-list tool; a sighted person says what the tins are and the braille-reader labels them and when the tin is empty the label sticks to the fridge door for a shopping list.

[roseydawn.livejournal.com]

I'm in the largely in the same position as you are, except that my eyesight has been in slow decline after my first of many retinal detachments. There's usually an organization that helps visually impaired people somewhere in your area - I'm a member of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, for a example. The folks there will usually help you understand what options are available for assistive technology. A quick search yielded this: http://www.lbcenter.org/Home.html but I've never heard of these folks so I can't speak about them.

Assistive technologies like screen-readers and Braille devices (not books) are stupid expensive. I've always found it to be a travesty that companies making these devices and software would charge their customers these rates - IMHO, they shouldn't be priced anywhere near the amounts they're charging

[wordweaverlynn]

This would be scary for me. I admire the way you're preparing for the eventuality.