Blind painter inspires disabled artists

I was going to blog about yet another one of my Journals, but after visiting Violette’s Blog I just had to share this link with you:
Blind painter inspires disabled artists

As regular readers know I have been registered Partially Sighted since November 1999. It took less than 5 and half months from me bring fully sighted to being partially sighted and 2 years after the first diagnosis, I was registered disabled. Up until then I was fully sighted with only the need for glasses for distance and even then hardly noticeable. With the loss of any of our senses or abilities comes a great loss of confidence. Many times I didn’t want to go out alone. I no longer recognised people, even close friends, unless they were practically on top of me. Along with peoples embarrassment, grew my own embarrassment of my disability. The death of my husband , forced me into a situation which at first I found uncomfortable. I HAD to learn to shop alone, cross roads, go out alone and cook food for myself, I had to learn to cut grass (without running over the wire!) and do so many things that I found at the least, quite traumatic. It was (and still can be) a long and lonely road, where you just have to get on with it. I think my Ex. Was embarrassed that I was not ‘perfect’ and chose to ignore the fact there was anything wrong, would offer little or no help and quite honestly treated me most of the time like a fully sighted person. I don’t have a problem asking for help and one of the cruelest things he ever said was when I told him I couldn’t read a map that he was expecting me to navigate for him, When I came out with the, I’m sorry, I can’t see…. He replied “Oh that old one”.
It takes very little to shake someone’s already fragile emotions regarding their disability. I have met many amazing people, warrior men and women, who through their sheer strength of will, manage to become (like me) self employed and they are true fighters for their cause. Mostly we choose self employment as an alternative to being on the job scrap heap and on benefits the rest of our lives. Just the thought of that is enough to make your blood run cold and loose your self esteem! The positive side of all this though, is I am a stronger person, I may get frustrated sometimes, but I AM so much stronger, and I am far more brave in that I take more risks, every day than I ever did while I was sighted. Jeez, even crossing the road is a challenge! lol. I am committed to seeing people get the best for themselves, whether that means encouragement or just to raise their self esteem and self confidence, I will do all that I can for as long as it's needed. I do believe we can achieve anything in life, if only we put our minds to it and of course it very often involves taking a risk.

I don’t want a pat on the back for my achievements (we warrior spirits can do that for ourselves) but what I do want to do is to make people aware that no matter how perfect and able bodied we are today, it can all change in a flash. My fellow Glitter Sister Anna suffered a stroke not long after we all met in Thirsk and has battled with her condition since, it was shortly after her 40th birthday. Another friend told me last night of a friend of his who doesn’t drink, smoke, is not overweight and physically fit, suffered a stroke at the weekend. He is in ITU and it’s touch and go whether he will pull through. He was 32!
I’m flying the flag for those with disabilities. We are not dim, we are not stupid. Yes things are harder than you can ever believe when you have been able bodied and suddenly find yourself in this position, but 9 times out of 10, we will have a go. The other 1 time out of 10 we HAVE to ask for help and you have no idea how hard that is and what pride you need to swallow.
So a great big round of applause for The Blind Painter and her description of looking at the sun with Vaseline on your glasses is a good description, try it for a day, I DOUBLE DARE YOU!

If you are disabled and either have your own business or are thinking of setting up self employment go to Disability Means Business website for great, helpful support and advice.