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platinum-luna30 karma

Another blind redditor here. I don't have any questions but I figured I'd give this link to Chrome Vox, a screen reader you can use with Google Chrome to get on inaccessible sites like Reddit! I use Voice Over mostly, but there are some websites that are completely inaccessible to screen readers. My boyfriend told me about the free Chrome download so I've been sharing it with all my blind friends.

platinum-luna4 karma

Hi there! I have albinism as well. I'm legally blind and my vision is hand motion, so upwards of 20/1,000, and I have a guide dog. I just wanted to say thank you for doing this AMA. I've thought about doing one but the idea of having to read all the potentially rude/mean comments doesn't sound appealing to me.

Do you use a cane or guide animal? I have blind friends with mobility aids and friends who don't use them at all.

Do many people recognize that you have albinism? I find that, if people don't know what they're looking for, they don't notice it much.

platinum-luna3 karma

I grew up in NC and went to public schools in Craven and Johnston county. Neither of them were as impoverished as the county where you work, but there certainly wasn't a lot of money. I had an IEP because I'm legally blind. Unfortunately, I noticed that services for disabled children in my counties were far worse than for students in wealthier counties. Have you noticed this where you work? Do you have many IEP students, or sensory impaired students in general? For a wider context, I'm now going to Appalachian State, a university in the western part of the state, but I had to teach myself a lot of the techniques I needed for college on my own.

platinum-luna2 karma

Glad to hear that you're doing better and recovery is going okay. I just wanted to let you know that I have nystagmus too, but mine is caused by albinism. The only thing that seems to help for me is not straining my eyes too much, getting enough rest, things like that. I do hope your symptoms/headaches improve.

platinum-luna1 karma

Well if she ever considers it, I think it could help her, but that's just based on my experience. It makes me feel ten times more independent, and instead of people asking me why I'm so pale, am I albino, what's wrong with my eyes, etc., they ask me about my sweet, fluffy dog instead :D How frustrating for your mom. I'm sure it was a relief to finally understand what was going on with her eyes.

I guess what I mean by social issues is vision literally making it harder to participate. For example, I can't find people in crowds, and I've heard people say before "I don't think platinum-luna likes me, I waved at her and she didn't wave back." Um, it's because I can't see the people waving, but sometimes people don't realize that. Or if I don't recognize someone's voice and they say "hi platinum-luna" I'm like "...hi!" while wondering who it was. And flirting is hard, because I can't make eye contact or even tell if a guy is checking me out. Here's an example. Friend: that guy was looking at you. Me: what guy? what did he look like? Do you or your sister ever experience this?

I think it's awesome that your sister is going to engineering school. I'm trying to go to law school, and not many blind people make it into higher education for a combination of reasons.