D'you know, when you're 'blind' and disabled...

[Flumptious]

... threading a needle takes you flippin' *ages*!

I just sewed up the hems of my youngest daughter's school trousers. They are a little bit too long for her, so they have frayed like mad at the bottom.

On another note, though, today I had a phonecall from 'Sight for Surrey'. They rang me up, the other week, as I'm registered blind. I explained to them then that I have 'joined' that group, because I want to support it, although I don't really feel that I 'need' it. Well, the lady I spoke to the other week clearly went and spoke to other people. The lady who rang up today asked if I would be happy to help out, and give some talks to other 'blind' people, about my situation. They are keen to get visually impaired people into work, and I would talk about my experience. (In case you don't know, I am a university lecturer. I had to have 18 months off after my accident, and they let me go back for a trial period of 3 months, and they said that we'd know at the end of that period whether or not I could continue. Thankfully, they agreed to let me stay, and I've continued recovering, bit by bit).

So, they are going to let me know when and where they want me to go along, and I agreed that I will do some 'mentoring' type of stuff, over email, supporting people, and encouraging them.

I am really glad that I was able to go back to work, and I would like to try and help other people do that. Of course, I don't know what type of people I would deal with - how bad their sight problems will be, or what caused them. But Sight for Surrey say they would introduce me to it all, and they think I could be helpful.

So:

[iforget]

I rarely have the patience to thread a needle ... I usually hand any thing that needs sewing to my husband along with some of that tape stuff..he knows where the iron is

The Sight for Surrey stuff sounds really positive and interesting. Do let us know how it goes. I am sure you will be an asset and hopefully you will get something out of it too... these things usually work out well in my experience.

[moo196]

Ooohh .... just reminded me I meant to get my youngest to thread a few needles for me before he went back to Uni so I have some in advance if needed !

Good luck with the the Sight for Surrey group.

Kx

[sporan]

I think advice from people that have the same or very similar problems is the most helpful.

Consultants are always short on time and concentrate on the biological and medical issues and NOT the coping strategies or after support, plus of course they don't, or rarely, have ever actually suffered from the conditions they treat so don't have any 'real' first hand experience, a reason that I find sights such as this so useful.

Good luck with the mentoring and I'm sure that you will probably get as much of a boost as those you talk to by knowing you have helped them to overcome obstacles.

Geoff.

[Matt2584]

Hi Flumptious,

That is great news about this mentoring thing of yours. It is a kind thing to help out others.

At my local Headway group, I am a service user mentor of sorts. Basically, I am a volunteer who makes teas and coffees for the rest of the group and I love doing it.

I have not had a payed job before and The volunteering is my job and the benefits I get is my pay... well part of it is. The rest of the benefits money is to pay off my BI because having a BI is like having a job in itself, you have to work extra hard... at least I do.

Good luck with your mentoring,

MJ

[Matt2584]

PS, My hand-eye coordination has gone to pot... Well it is not as good as it was and so threading the eye of a needle could be a bit difficult.

One thing I need to be careful about is if I was going to pick up a glass. I might see the glass as a little further than I think and my hand could practically punch the glass :). Or it could be the other way around and I could see the glass closer than I think and my hand might approach the glass too slow.

Matt