Blind for 8 Years - Humbling Life Lessons from My Disability

[@the_5th_night]

I have been blind since birth. The little eyesight that I have is pretty much useless, kind of like it is for you. I never knew anything different, so as a young girl, I accepted what I had. I mean, how could you grieve for something you never had in the first place? It got a bit hard, when I was 15 or 16, and I started realizing that I wasn’t just a little bit different to my peers, I actually had serious physical limitations because of my visual impairment. I was already in a deep depression at that point, for unrelated reasons. The realization that I’ve got a serious disability that won’t go away, definitely did not help my mental health. It got to the point where I was constantly thinking about a cure for my eye condition, which is not a very healthy mindset to stay in. The doctors are looking into gene therapy for my eye condition, but we’re nowhere near a cure yet, and constantly hoping for something that won’t be possible, for I don’t know how many years, Is not productive in the least! It just constantly breaks your heart every day. When I was 18, I was diagnosed with autism and ADHD. It’s strange, although I had suspected that I was neurodivergent ever since I was about 10 years old, I still have a hard time accepting that I have limitations beyond just my visual impairment, and I may not be at the same pace as my Neurotypical friends. I compare myself to my blind and visually impaired friends all the time, because most of them have Managed to come a lot further in independence, And when other people don’t notice you’re invisible disabilities, you might not notice them either. Having a disability, or more than one, is really challenging. Not all of the challenges are due to your actual medical condition, a lot of your challenges are because society isn’t accommodating to people like us. Thank you for this video! Lots of love from Sweden!❤️

[@JoshTseng]

Wow thanks so much for sharing your story. Yes it's definitely difficult having multiple disabilities, especially hidden ones. I have one particular friend who is not only blind, he developed an ear infection which took away a lot of his hearing, and he experiences chronic pain which is getting worse with age. On top of all that with financial issues, it's really tough for him. I recognise that I'm pretty lucky all things considered. As for you, it doesn't seem you mentioned anything about support, but I hope you have supportive friends and/or family around you. I definitely won't be where I am today without a lot of the people around me to support and encourage me when I was transitioning with my lack of eyesight. You may have your limitations given your neurodivergence plus blindness, but learning to work within those limitations is what I've found to be extremely key. Sometimes, my blindness gives me superpowers because it's made me an observant person who can look past superficial appearances. Other times, it's simply a handicap when I need to do administrative work like editing documents or retrieving a particular photo. Even able-bodied people have their limitations whether it's their inability to manage their anger, or more complex unfixable things like socioeconomic status. I guess for all of us, life's really about making do with what you have. I know it's easier said than done, but be patient with yourself and don't feel bad for not being so-called "caught up" in comparison with others. You definitely have your strengths, it's just about working with them. For example, you really seem like quite a thoughtful person and your language skills are really excellent. Perhaps you can put those skills to good use. Or you've already found a way, in which case that's awesome for you. Also, apologies for taking so long to get back to you. I'm going through a major backlog of comments, work's been super busy for me since the start of the year. Super glad you enjoy the videos! Take care, and hope to see you around!

[@the_5th_night]

@@JoshTseng thanks for your response! I have a lot of support, from family, friends and from the local government. I’m lucky in that sens. And I do have strengths that I recognize. I’m good at writing songs, and I’m quite good with written language. A really good superpower I have, is that I’m good at identifying my emotions and what trigger them, witch comes in handy when I’m at a large gathering and there’s too much noise, and I need to get into a quiet room. I’m in occupational therapy school now, and I’m hoping I can use my disabilities as an advantage, that they help me understand my patients/clients. I see a bright future for me, or maybe I don’t see it, but I sens it.

[@JoshTseng]

@@the_5th_night I *see* what you did there at the end of the comment! I totally understand how your experiences as a person with disabilities might help you as an occupational therapist though, and strong language skills help a lot in general but especially with a job like that where there’s a lot of communication and administrative paperwork. Glad to hear that you have something productive going and something to look forward to. Wishing you all the best and looking forward to seeing you again in the comments!

[@paul19644691]

Empathy is a very powerful thing indeed!

[@JoshTseng]

Totally agree. Thanks for watching the video

[@duplessisart7478]

Thank you for this video.

[@JoshTseng]

No problem, glad you enjoyed it!

[@TheBlindSeaFilm]

Good tips man. Thanks for sharing

[@JoshTseng]

Glad it was informative, thanks for watching!

[@KWAHU93]

Humbling life lessons. Yes brother I too have had some very humbling life lessons. Eat healthy, no more processed foods, pork, etc. excercise 5 days a week push-ups jogging pull ups etc. prayer 🙏🏼 and read the Bible anything is possible with God. God bless u my brother

[@JoshTseng]

Thank you for the well wishes! Yes I will do my best. 🙏

[@KWAHU93]

@@JoshTseng I broke my back in a bad car crash and against all odds I healed as I make my living doing hard labor.. never give up. Place ur faith in God thru his son Jesus who God sent to redeem us and to show us his love for he gave his only son so that u and I may find life. God bless brother.

[@JoshTseng]

Thanks for watching! ❤ My playlist about life with blindness if you'd like to see more: kzbin.info/aero/PLeTWz90b_fBMuuZQzgqzml65ZDa-osslv

[@anghuyviet701]

Hi josh, thank you for sharing your stories with glaucoma. Can you please share how glaucoma worsen your vision, is your high iop the reason. Do u have normal tension glaucoma ? I am a glaucoma patient myself and my left vision is basically gone but I believe as long as the iop is controlled, the condition won’t progress since mine is secondary glaucoma (caused by uveitis)

[@JoshTseng]

Hi thanks for your comment! And apologies for taking a while to get back to the comments, it's been busy at work with my day job. To answer your questions, yes my vision loss from glaucoma was a result of my eye pressure increasing when I was younger. Your comment actually led me to read up on the different types of glaucoma and though I've known that there were different types and causes, I had no idea there were so many. On my medical certificate, my diagnosis is stated as congenital glaucoma. Reading up on the descriptions of each glaucoma type, my particular case seems to be congenital (some damage or incomplete formation of the eye before birth), and primary open-angle glaucoma. Reading up a bit about uveitis and glaucoma, I had never heard of uveitis before but yes it does seem manageable with medications. For my case, my eye pressure has been stable for the past 8 years and my doctor actually took me off medicated eye drops since I don't seem to need it for the time being. I do have cataract developing in my eye though, so we're monitoring that and I'll probably go in for surgery if it ever becomes a problem, like if it causes me pain. But my vision is so poor, we're not going for surgery now since it honestly won't help me see better. Hope that answers your question and describes a bit more about my particular condition. Wishing you all the best and thanks for sharing your stories too! I learned quite a bit reading up on all these things after seeing your question.

[@anghuyviet701]

@@JoshTseng hey thanks for taking your time to answering my question. Like you, I also lost my left vision when I was young because I was unaware of the disease in the first place. I have had a total of 5 glaucoma surgeries already and my iop seems to be under control for now. This is the first time I have heard about congenital glaucoma and i can understand how damaging it can cause I do hope the best for you and thanks for making content, they are meaningful and I believe it helps spread the awareness of blindness to the world. Cheers 🍻

[@JoshTseng]

Cheers for the support, and thanks for sharing your story too! I'll keep doing what I can. We have new ideas in the works and are planning to make the videos bigger and better.

[@Bobjames808]

Never gonna give you up Never gonna let you down Never gonna run around and desert you. got'em

[@JoshTseng]

Hell yeah ✊