My story is a bit long since I became legally blind in 1971 as a result of an auto accident. I was a passenger in the back seat of a 1964 Chevy Nova. I had multiple facial lacerations, skull fracture, two broken cheek bones and a broken jaw. The accident occurred in Grove City, PA but I ended up in Youngstown South Hospital. I was there for three weeks before being sent home to Orchard Park, NY. I lost all use of my right eye and my left was around 20/300 so I was indeed legally blind.
I had just returned to campus for the beginning of my Junior year after having taken a semester off to serve out draft eligibility with a high lottery number in the draft. After recovering for three months at home, I was faced with a decision of whether to return to college and try to finish my BS in Biology or look into other options. I decided to return to college. In 1972, there were not a lot of accessibility options for visually impaired students but I was able to find all of my books on reel to reel tape from Recordings for the Blind, Inc. The decision was made and I returned to campus. The first attempt to read an assignment using the recording did not go well and I found that I had to be physically involved with the reading to keep my mind from wandering off. I had a pair of magnifying reading glasses and I ended up reading all of my assignments from then on. I never used the tapes again. I did graduate in 1974 with my BS in Biology.
A settlement with the insurance company allowed me to get married in December, 1972 to my high school sweetheart and we moved into a nice little $55/month apartment in town. In 1973, I decided to take up photography and we ended up having a part time darkroom/bathroom. I joined the yearbook staff as a photographer and ended up being made photo editor of the 1974 yearbook.
Up until now, it all sounds like a success story, but I went through many stages of grief and I know that I was hard to live with. My dear wife stuck with me, I really don’t know why. After graduation I needed to find work. I didn’t think that there would be much call for a legally blind biologist in any labs, so I ended up working in the type of jobs I held during my summers off from school. I sold electrical supplies and lighting. I also had a huge chip on my shoulder because I felt I was working well below my ability but I did not know of any way to overcome the vision issue.
In the early 90’s, I became involved with the computer based BBS hobby and I met a young woman who was totally blind and running a BBS system of her own. Since some of the software did not work well with her speech program, I offered to help with setting up a few applications. I ended up going to NFB meetings and I met totally blind people doing amazing things. And I felt that each of them would probably gladly trade their vision for mine.
That is when I turned the corner, so to speak. I began to have more confidence in my abilities, and I stopped feeling like damaged goods. I did volunteer work, setting up websites for not for profits, managing databases for church groups. I was an advanced level skier prior to the accident and I returned to the sport that I loved. I have put many thousands of miles on bicycles and I still do photography. I would not be saying this if it had not been for the undying support from my wife of 53 years now.
What I’ve learned from all of this is to concentrate not on what you’ve lost, but on what you still have. I guess if I did a direct comparison between the vision I had prior to the accident and the vision I was left with, I would be disheartened, but it’s been 55 years now and I honestly don’t remember what 20/20 vision feels like. This is my normal, my reality and I’m wasting my life if I don’t try to make the very best of it.