Category: Uncategorized

  • I’ve never met others like me!

    Found a Reddit thread where other people with aphakia are chiming in.

  • Driving in the City

    One thing that has dogged me all my teen and adult life is being unable to drive in the city. On paper, my vision is just good enough to drive, but I lack depth perception for maneuvering vehicles in tight spaces like our former horse barn garage. When turning left I can’t tell which lane a car coming is in.

    I didn’t realize how much being able to drive meant to people because nobody would say it to my face. I remember the Family Guy joke about how not being able to drive would have you dying a virgin. A women I was on a date with in my early 20’s was very critical of my not driving, asking, “you seriously don’t drive”.

    So you can guess that I got giddy over the new Cybercab self-driving car you can buy, even if you can’t see well enough to drive. It is a pipe dream of mine at this point, as I don’t have the infrastructure for it, nor has the technology been proven. But it was the first time I had felt hopeful in a long while, seeing 8 Bit Guy being driven by a self-driving Tesla.

  • Advice Doesn’t Work

    This is insightful, the main takeaway is that good advice works for some people but not others, especially if they are neurodivergent or have deficits about them that don’t attract a partner.

  • the first thing people notice about you
    is the last thing they forget about you

    a lot of a disability’s pain comes from prejudice
    the thorn in the flesh sticks out as it digs in

    conservatives say to get ahead you have to focus on changing yourself
    instead of society
    but no amount of hard work
    no amount of grit
    no amount of character
    no amount of personal responsibility
    is going to surmount the disability based prejudice I receive
    whenever I try to get a job

    those of privilege have all that power
    all the marginalized have
    is their story

    if the worst part about you is your Face
    (like me with my thick glassess)
    then Zoom is going to be Hollywood Squares of hell for you

    BORN: explicit language warning

    I was born blind
    and wear very thick glasses
    which make some people uncomfortable
    as with any disability it’s incumbent upon the person with a disability
    to clear the air about what makes them different
    to make everyone else in the room comfortable
    the story I’d use to put people at ease
    I joined the air force after high school
    and was going to be a fighter pilot
    but it didn’t end up working out
    that’s why, kids, you should never jack off

  • Off My Keyboard, On Their Terms

    People won’t engage me where I’m most powerful, which is in writing. They want to move all communications with me to either over the phone or in real life, where I am the weakest. I’m not alone in this; most people with disabilities are treated worse in real life than online. That’s why those in power are always trying to maximize real-life contact with things like return-to-office mandates because that’s the context where the privileged are the most powerful and we are the least.

  • Is It a Bug or a Floater

    When I see a bug I automatically assume it’s a floater so I switch to my other eye to see if I still see the bug. If I do I know it’s a bug and not a floater. Also floaters move differently than bugs, more of a arc pattern where bugs zigzag more.