My Hands Became My Eyes...

They say that when you lose one of your senses your other senses compensate for the loss and for me it was my hands that became my eyes.

When I lost my sight my youngest child was two and my eldest eight. My husband went to work and I got on with life at home. I got the kids up and dressed for school, I made them breakfast; I did the washing and cleaning and played with the little one. And the only way I could do all this was by learning to use my hands instead of my eyes. I didn't have any of the gadgets that are available to help blind people. I learnt that when you dropped something just sweeping around randomly with your hand didn't work but if you put your hands together and then move them out and round in a circle and repeat this widening the sweep you are more likely to find whatever it was you dropped.

You have to look at clothes with your hands and learn to identify the different sizes by touch.

When I cooked I would have to touch the food to see if it was cooked.

I find that if I am going to pick something up it's best to approach it from the side this way you won't knock things over.

When I go shopping I won't buy clothes or toys or shoes ect. without looking at them myself, I don’t have anybody choosing my clothes for me and if I don't like it then I don't buy it.

I would do the ironing and people would say how can you do that when you can’t see. Again it was my hands that made it possible. I always made sure that I put the iron down facing away from me and would slide my hand along the edge until I touched the wire this way I could pick the iron up again without getting burnt. I would always have my left hand on the garment and ironed with my right it was just instinct that enabled me to keep my left hand away from the iron but still use it to hold the garment and know when it was done properly. I confess that I can't iron a shirt to save my life it would end up with more tram lines than there are in Manchester Piccadilly. But I don't lose sleep over what I can't do, that's just life.

I peel veg with a potato peeler and I'm sure that sometimes I miss a bit but it's never done us any harm so again I don't let it bother me.

I wash up and know that I and other blindys quite often do this better than those with sight. I am sure this is because we feel the plates and things as we're washing them where as people with sight wear gloves or just think it looks clean when it isn't.

When it comes to housework, I don't get offended when my family tell me that I'm missed stains or bits when I've hoovered or mopped the floors or that I haven't done the windows properly. I just go back and do the bits I've missed or even let them do it for me.

I remember being asked to talk to a woman who was losing her sight shortly after I'd lost mine. She was finding it really hard to cope. She would get upset when she couldn't tell the difference between a can of beans and a can of peas. I was lucky in that I wouldn't ever have let a thing like that bother me.

One thing I did find hard to do was go out on my own using a long cane. I had used a symbol cane in strange areas and after dusk but this was completely different. I had a few mobility lessons in, of all places, the corridor of a secondary school. Of course this didn't help much but it was all that was offered.

I remember the first time I went to pick the kids up from school I crossed the road and my nose hit a (stationary) lorry. My cane went under it and my false eye bounced out into the road. Fortunately I somehow managed to find it and continued on my way. I was doing fine until I got on to the first main road when I crossed a side road that shouldn't have been there. I was so confused but knew I wasn't going the wrong way. It was only when my kids told me that during the five months I'd been out of action they had built a new estate and that was the entrance into that estate.

I absolutely hate using a cane and will avoid doing so unless absolutely necessary and I admire any blind person who does use one.

To me it is really important that I do as much as I can for myself for as long as I can. I'm not afraid to ask for help and I don’t mind help being offered but for as long as I have the use of my hands I will be as independent as it is possible to be.

B x