YvonneFelix

When I did my original demo, the first thing I saw (literally as I put the glasses on) was my husband holding my very young son. I'd never seen either of their faces before. That was pretty overwhelming.

And, actually, it still is. Actually seeing my husband and my two sons is just incredibly powerful.

I have to say though, the glasses have also changed my life because I can now work. I have a real office job! (and I swear that's a good thing)

Wearing the glasses, I test at 20:20 (so called "perfect vision"). Without them, I'm 20:400, which means I can't read, see faces, lots of difficulty avoiding obstacles, etc.

Basically, I went from needing braille to reading newspapers.

Normal sight is a really complicated idea for me. First, I haven't had it for about 20 years. Can you imagine trying to describe something you haven't had for that long? It's hard.

The only comparison I can make is to the sight I have naturally, and eSight makes a huge difference. But, it's really interesting talking to other users. Everyone seems to have a just slightly different experience of using the glasses, and it helps them in different ways.

I'm still fascinated by the things I can see though. Sometimes, I sit in meetings and just sort of marvel at the way people move their faces. I didn't know (maybe I'd forgotten) that people make these weird expressions when they're thinking.

Also, I'd forgotten about eye contact. When I first got the glasses I felt like everyone was just staring at me awkwardly. It was sort of terrible. Someone actually had to explain to me that looking at each other is a thing sighted people do; I used to it now.

Did anything look different? YES! There was a carpet I loved in my house but, when I could actually see it, it turned out to be horrendous. At least my husband turned out to be pretty cute.

My next endeavour is helping others; I work really hard at it. I work with eSight (the company) to help people that can't afford the glasses raise money. The blind community actually has a lot of financial challenges (70% unemployment, lack of education, lack of funding...it's a long list) so that's why I do the best I can to help.

I fundraised for myself to get eSight and, honestly, it's really hard work. Full disclosure, I now work with the company helping other people in the blind community raise money to get them.

Right now, we have fundraisers all over North America. If you're curious what I'm working on, check out www.MakeBlindnessHistory.com (it's a site I put together to help my sister --and hopefully others-- to raise the money)