Deceptively Easy

Maybe I make it look too easy. 

You will see me confidently walking at a brisk pace down the sidewalk. 

You will see me staring at my tablet or a computer.  

You will see me watching television or you will see me at a theater watching a film. 

You will see me occasionally looking through a book or a magazine. 

Maybe I make it look too easy, so you forget that I'm visually impaired. 

Maybe you don't realize I'm walking down a sidewalk I'm familiar with.  I know where the bumps and cracks are, though new or unsuspecting obstacles are always waiting to challenge me. 

Maybe you don't realize that whatever I'm doing on my tablet or a computer is on a website or app I had often used before my vision loss, such as this blog.  I know from memory what's what and where I need to click.  Plus, my tablet reads me the words I cannot, including the words I type. 

Maybe you don't realize how I miss subtle facial expressions and movements, or how easily I get lost during action scenes in films and television.  Though I recently experienced subtitles that I could decipher just enough of the words to figure out what was being said.  This was at a theater, and the subtitles were large enough, with a stark enough contrast, but I still didn't catch every single word.  

Maybe you don't realize how little I can read physical print.  I occasionally flip through a book or a magazine in bittersweet memory and to see what I can see.  I can sometimes decipher a title of a book or magazine article, but the regular text is often too small for me to figure out.  Maybe I'll be able to decipher a letter or two, or a small word, but the grey blob in my right eye obscures little details and sometimes larger details, too. 

Maybe you don't realize I am able to do all that I just described because of my Mad Scientist Glasses, except for walking.  Walking while wearing my M.S.G would be dangerous and stupid to attempt.  

I typed this post because I was recently in a situation where people who know of my half-blind eyes seemed to have forgotten my current reality.  It made me realize I needed to put out a friendly reminder.  

Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words.

Freak Out, 

JLH 

P.S. For more insight into my half-blind eyes, please click INFO. 
______________________

John L. Harmon is an indie author, blogger & videographer.

enter---> THE JLH COLLECTIVE <---enter

He currently resides left of center in the state of Nebraska and has been visually impaired since December of 2016.