Saturday, September 12, 2009

Guest Post #1: Oouch

I got an email from my friend Andrew, who has the same vision impairment that I do, and we both thought it was worth sharing with everybody else. And as I took the short amount of time to post this, I found myself twisting and cracking my neck. Funny how life imitates descriptive prose.

Anyway, here it is:

I had the notion to peruse your blog this morning in search of confirmation that other not-so-sighted people might share my pain in a particular area. Notably, my neck. It is my suspicion that, unlike totally blind or fully-sighted people ("Sighty", as they are refereed to in my family), those harboring visual impairments also carry proportionately more stress between their shoulders. Craning my neck has been an occupational hazard that seems to slowly be taking a greater toll each time I bend over to read something with my magnifier or arc my chin toward the computer screen. The encumbrance of being legally blind is well-documented as far as the difficulties limited reading ability brings, but rarely is the physical stress of day-to-day low-vision operation acknowledged.

As a playwright, you might face the same thing. Even with easily adjustable screen enlargement applications, I find myself hunching toward the computer much of the time instead of increasing the magnification. It's natural, especially for those of us who grew up with more vision than we have now: when you can't quite see/read something, you get closer to it. You lean. You squint. With books and magazines (in the rare instance I attempt to interact with them such plane takeoffs, barbershops) I've gotten better at lifting them vertically to my face rather than lower my back to the flat surface they're on. But still, I'm choosing between extended elbow pain and the shadow of my head for the former or an awkward position and added pressure on my poor neck for the latter.

All of which is to say: ouch. Anyone else?

Back to wrestling with my instincts to lean toward the computer...

Don't let Sight get you down,
AB

Thanks, Andrew! Much obliged.

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