“There’s None So Blind . . . . “
13 December 2011At the age of 5, I was given glasses. My eyesight was so bad that the optician was amazed that I was able to read. At the age of 17, I moved onto contact lens – the first person I knew to wear them.
My vision is -11.5 in one eye and -9.75 in the other. And if you don’t know what that means, it’s been explained to me as being eligible to register as blind if it weren’t correctable. But with contact lens, I can see as well as the next person.
So what on earth was my optician talking about today? She asked me not once, but three times, if my vision was better when I was wearing my lens. I didn’t quite understand the question. So she re-phrased it. “Can you see better when you’ve got your contact lens in?” as though I were also slightly deaf.
What?
1. She had my file in front of her so knew the dire state of my eyesight.
2. Why would I wear them if I could see better without them?
I think she appreciated my “disability” a little more when, without my lens, I was asked to read the letters on the chart. And I couldn’t see the chart.
So I wait for my new lens with a little bit of trepidation.
PomPom 
What a strange question!
Perhaps you should “see” another optometrist! How strange.
The woman’s an idiot! Go to another one! I don’t like to boast, but before I had my cataracts done my sight was roughly -18 in one eye and -13 in the other. Like you, I had glasses from age 5 and I wore contacts from age 18, and was also the first person I knew to have them. My ophthalmologist from age 5 was an NZ pioneer in contact lens prescribing. He has his own wikipedia page! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randal_Elliott
Sally – you are the only person I know with a worse prescription than me! Mine are currently -6.5 and -8.0. I’ve worn glasses since I was 8, and I’ve had contact since I was 12. (I begged my Mom for them.)
I got contact lenses a few weeks ago just before our engagement party.
My optometrist (doesnt’ have his own wikipedia page but he does have the cool name of Callum McCallum) asked me if wore my glasses all the time. And I had a lot of people ask me why I bother with glasses or contacts as my prescription is so low (-0.75). I like to be able to see goddamit! I hate not begin able to focus on things in the distance 🙂
Could she possibly have meant ‘than with your glasses’ as most poeple (not you, I know) do wear glasses some of the time eg when tired.
But I’m enjoying the battle of the diopters. I’m only -3.25 (R) and -4.25 (L). Can even make a cup of tea without them. When I was a nursing auxiliary I used to cycle round Bristol and work without correction (had to walk to the head of the bed to read the patient’s name on the header). So perhaps I’m the most irresponsible???? (Or was, aged 18).
“I was asked to read the letters on the chart. And I couldn’t see the chart.”
Tears of mirth!!!!