morrisdelancey

Getting a job, 100%. In general, after someone has adapted to blindness, it doesn't keep us from being able to work. However, it does make people wary of hiring us. The ADA makes discrimination against the disabled illegal when it doesn't interfere with the job being done, but it still happens. People can barely fathom seeing us alone in public, let alone working. Out applications tend to be thrown out, and 80% of us are unemployed.

A very unusual way, actually. When I was 14, I got very sick. At the time, they didn't know what it was. I couldn't walk for 9 months due to leg stiffness, and my vision became extremely blurred. I went under a battery of tests, but the only thing that came back abnormal was my VEP, a test of the optic nerve. My legs returned to normal only after 2 years of physical therapy, but my eyes didn't. Years later, they found out, via another bout of the same illness, that I had something called PANDAS. Basically, when I get strep throat, my body can't differentiate between the bacteria and my nervous tissue. It attacked my brain. Normally this caused OCD symptoms and a tic disorder, but, on rare occasions, it manifests as a movement disorder as well. There was no permanent damage to my brain, but, because my brain was swollen at the time, it compressed my optic nerve and starved it of oxygen. I'm blind due to the optic nerve damage.

Transportation. I use RTA, but that means I have to schedule my rides 24 hours in advance. I'm a very spontaneous person, so, if I want to do something on a whim, I have to find a friend to take me. Because of this, I hope to move to a place with a taxi service soon.

The most useful thing they've done is let me take pictures of the board in place of notes.

I actually have a very funny story about something kind of stupid they almost did. For a few years, I went to a private catholic school because they had a disability scholarship and REALLY nice extracurriculars I wanted in on. Their special education department, however, required students with IEPs to take ASL because the intervention specialist taught the class. You can see my dilemma.

Probably EDS. While I think it did help me to become the person I am today, the pain really isn't worth it. I can definitely still live a happy life, but it's a major pain in the neck.