Becky, who is blind

Often I am asked - What can you see? Retinitis Pigmentosa is an interesting lesson in ambiguity. Vision can change from day to day, its unpredictable on when it will take its next 'drop' or additional vision loss, and many like me have a pinhole remaining that is fairly clear/useable vision. For the past while, mine has been stable at roughly 3 degrees. The picture to the side is a good visual of what I can see -- kind of like looking through a fuzzy peephole that continues to get smaller. So, you can see the need to walk with a guide dog or cane from this picture. What becomes confusing for others, if something is far away in that little peephole, I may be able to spot it! Yesterday, at the Portland Market, I spotted something - thought it was cute soap and it turned out to be fudge (even better) so you can see the vision is often unreliable. There is still some misconceptions that blindness = total black. True for some, however, the majority of people who are blind have some type of remaining vision. I have found that many times that remaining vision is not reliable and have embraced the tools available to a person who is blind. If someone has questions, (are you training that dog? etc) I may explain the term legally blind (less than 20 degrees in peripheral vision or 20/200 or higher in acuity) or visually impaired as education purpose. Language is empowering and love the concept of People First Language.