Living With Sight Loss Top Tips

As it is Eye Health Week we thought we would take a semi light hearted look at some of the things we get asked about quite a lot.

At Forth Valley Sensory Centre we have a group of ambassadors who perform various roles and one of these is going out to schools and meeting groups of people. Living with sight loss, whatever the cause, is a regular topic so we decided to put some of the questions and tips together here.

You can also read more about our ambassadors on our website here.

First up is a slightly serious message from Terry Robinson who is one of our trustees and has undertaken a number of fundraising initiatives in the past few years. Terry is an amateur radio enthusiast who regularly builds his own aerials and dabbles with electronics.

Terry says:

“If it’s only your eyes that aren’t working properly then we can assume that everything else is at it was. You’re therefore still capable of doing everything you did for which sight isn’t essential. Reflect on that and move forward with a bit of help from peers and friends as you need!

“Technology can be helpful, but don’t put all your eggs in the one basket. Much of it isn’t what others might crack it up to be. This from a lapsed engineer.

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Many things may take longer and require more mental or even physical effort. Keep active, keep interested and fit. The fitter you are the more likely you are to be

able to cope, even with things that don’t necessarily go right at first.”

Sage words and very much the approach we take here at Forth Valley Sensory Centre, encouraging people to be as confident and independent as possible. Our groups and classes, for example Knit and Natter, regularly looks at keeping up a hobby without letting sight loss be a factor.

Centre User Lawson Eades has some more practical tips too:

“If your shampoo and conditioner bottles are both the same size and shape use a rubber band on one of them for easy identification. All you then need to do is remember which bottle the rubber band is on!

“Struggling to put toothpaste onto your toothbrush? Buy toothpaste that comes in a pump dispenser for your use only. This dispenses exactly the right amount of toothpaste and can be pumped directly into your mouth. Saves a lot of mess.

“Always return things to where you got them from e.g. Keys, mobile phones etc and ask family members to do the same. This can save a lot of time looking for lost things.”

I think we can all agree the rubber band is brilliantly simple!

Another item we use a lot here at sensory towers are ‘bump ons’ these are small rubber buttons that can be used to highlight the edge of drawers or shelves but can also mark specific points or items. For example, volunteer John Ormsby puts bump ons on the end of his USB charging cables so he always knows which way up the cable should be and doesn’t damage the charging port of his phone or other electronic devices.

Not sure about your heating setting and have a dial type thermostat? Put a bump on at 20 degrees so you know exactly what you have set the temperature to! You can do the same with the oven, with bump ons at 200 or 180 degrees of even the 40-degree wash on your washing machine.

By joining in with groups and classes at the Centre you will always be able to meet people who have been or who are in the same situation as you and have lots of practical advice! Sight loss does not mean you have to give us on the things you love, you might just have to do them in a slightly different way…

Find out more about our groups here and please consider supporting our work with a donation here.