I recently heard the familiar slogan, “Dance Like Nobody’s Watching”. I always thought that was good advice. Now, because of my vision loss, I am both more inside my head than I ever was (and I spent a lot of time in there when fully sighted), and also completely focused on my environment in the interest of safety. The details of my surroundings are no longer available to me, therefore, I operate on shapes and outlines. If someone’s eyes are on me, mine don’t see it. I live my life as if no one is watching.
That does not mean, however, that I don’t sometimes worry about what people think, especially when I do something visually-impaired-ish, like hold something close to my eyes to see it or I walk right up to a public restroom door to determine if it’s a men’s or women’s room or I don’t smile back at a stranger because I don’t know their frown turned upside down is directed at me. But for the most part, all my attention is on what I’m doing so that I don’t fall or succumb to any number of potential dangers that await.
Take it from me, the only eyes that matter are your own.
