This blog will end this summer

I haven’t blogged in a while, and I am blogging now to let you know I’m going to stop. As a matter of fact, I’ve already notified WordPress not to renew my subscription when it comes due this summer. That means, if I have interviewed you and you want to keep a copy, you may want to print it before the subscription expires as I’m sure it will say at that point that the site is no longer available.

Why am I no longer going to blog? There are several reasons, but the primary reason is my vision. As it continues to deteriorate (will it ever stop?) and seeing becomes more and more difficult, I’ve decided not to do things if they bring me little or no joy. Don’t get me wrong. I will always do the right thing and do things for others (that brings me joy) and do what I have to do, but if doing something as simple as a blog leaves me exhausted and frustrated, why do it, right?

I’m not a quitter. It’s just that I have to find other avenues to express myself and help others.

I am toying with the idea of a YouTube Channel with a focus for the legally blind, as that is what I am. There are about one million blind/legally blind people in the United States. That umber will continue to grow as people age and develop conditions like macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and others. In my quest for knowledge and emotional support, I have discovered a channel called The Blind Life, which has helpful tips, technology information, and insights.

Part of the frustration with this my condition is the lack of information you receive from your doctor. “How bad will it get?” I asked him when the atrophy first started in 2018 (I’d already been getting regular eye injections in my better eye for eight years and had been legally blind in the other eye for 29 years). His response? “No one knows. Everyone is different.”

But I researched. And I found out that people with my condition are typically legally blind within ten years of onset. Why didn’t he tell me that? I wouldn’t have put off those trips I wanted to go on in retirement. New York City. The Rockies. A Western driving adventure through the Dakotas, Wyoming, and Montana. Another cruise, this time to the Virgin Islands. I wouldn’t have spent time editing other people’s books. I would have written my own instead (but I thought I’d have my own publishing company after teacher retirement.) I would have done more of the arts and crafts I loved because I can’t do them anymore.

I had to find for myself and with the help of my husband things like measuring cups and spoons for the visually impaired, a magnifying device that exceeds the abilities of the Walmart variety, and IrisVision, the headset/phone system that looks like a virtual reality headset to help me read (although I can’t actually read, just a few words) and watch television from a normal distance. I had to figure o9ut for myself to buy an adaptor for my laptop that could be connected to an HDMI cord of a not-in-use 47 inch television so I can use the computer (and sometimes have to wear IrisVision with that.)

Why did the clinic not give me that information? I don’t know.

But that’s what my channel will be about. I will share what I’ve learned and what I continue to learn. I will allow people to share their feelings in the comment section because even legally blind people can use speech to text and have web pages read to them by their computer (something else I had to learn about from a friend who is battling macular degeneration bu not yet legally blind in both eyes). I want the channel to be encouraging but also empathetic.

I hope to get the channel up and running in the next month or so, and I will blog about it at that time. I may blog about supporting caregivers of those who are handicapped as the caregivers are often overlooked. They have emotional burdens, and people forget about them. I may blog about a book or two coming out soon (because I can only stand to work on the computer for about an hour at a time, writing is a very slow process).

One of my sons cautioned me about letting my disability define me. I guess he’s right, but at the same time, I’m not giving in to it. I’m just trying to figure out what I can do to help myself, help others, and keep my life moving in a good direction.

I think the YouTube channel will help me accomplish those goals. The audience will be those who are in the same boat I am or caregivers for them. It will be focused, not random.

Many thanks to those of you who have followed my blog or read it when I’ve shared it on social media. I appreciate those of you who have allowed me to interview you, those of you who have commented on what I had to say, and those of you who shared my posts with others.

Now I’d better get busy figuring out how to do this YouTube Channel thing. At my age nothing with technology is easy!