Sometimes, we who are blind run into times when it seems even family, friends and even our husband or wife doesn’t quite get how our vision loss affects our day-to-day livelihood. We crave for times when we can find someone who does.
Perhaps, you are part of groups at a local church or center for independent living where you bounce ideas, tricks of the trade or just good ol’ stories with others who are blind. Maybe, you enjoy time with a local chapter of ACB or NFB just catching up with others in your group, perhaps over lunch after a meeting or simply when riding paratransit together.
We all love those times. Sure, chat groups where the screen reader voice makes everyone’s comments sound the same. The FB hang-outs are great. I’m part of several myself.
Then there are those neat opportunities that come our way where we meet that acquaintance who’s blind, who gets us, and we just start branching out into a million other directions, too.
Check out this discussion from the Hadley School where folks meet in a Peer To Peer Program. No, it’s not counseling and it isn’t necessarily your singles meet-up gig. It’s designated for folks to make friends with those who are like us in our vision loss, who do get it without always having the need to ask a bunch of get-to-know-you questions to just understand. I hope this will be of help to some of you and raise awareness for others. Having that contact who does get it makes a big deal, especially for those learning to embrace the contours that blindness presents us.
https://hadley.edu/podcasts/hadley-presents-conversation-experts/peer-peer-hadley?_q=iz963odlvo
Boldly Blind 