Wednesday 23 January 2013

Monoculars

I'm fascinated by other blind people.  I can't get enough of watching them and trying to glean information.  We went bowling recently and witnessed another low-vision kid there.  He was much older than Charlotte, maybe 8-10, and he was using a monocular to see the scoreboard screen.  He wore it on a string around his neck.  I suspect he had Ocular Albinism because his hair was very fair.  I watched him for a while, he was with a group of much younger kids, helping them with their balls and checking the scoreboard for them.  I'm not sure if he could see the pins or not, he didn't use his monocular to look at the end of the lane so I decided that either he didn't need it or it was no use.

The most interesting experience for me was the different reactions of those close to us.  It was my mother-in-law who pointed him out to me.  Then she said, "He's having a terrible time."  I watched him for a bit and then decided that he was managing extremely well.  I guess she meant, he is having a terrible time seeing the scoreboard without assistance.  It is so interesting how we could have had two totally different points of view about exactly the same situation.  Perspective is everything.

I really wanted to go over there and ask him all about his monocular: where he got it, when he started using one, how it helps him, etc.  But it would have been inappropriate so I didn't.