Taking my Sight for Granted on World Sight Day #WSD2017

Today is World Sight Day and I have an admission to make - I rarely think about the privilege that it is to be able to see the world in glorious colour. I take my eye sight completely for granted, I am so lucky to have been born in a country where healthcare and eye-care is free for every child. Of course the same can't be said for many living in the poorest parts of Africa. I recall when I was visiting Ethiopia just how many people I met who had numerous eye problems such as cataracts and these problems adversely affect their life in a massive way.

This years theme for World Sight Day is #MakeVisionCount and they are raising awareness that around 285 million people worldwide are visually impaired and that around 80% of those people are suffering from blindness or visual impairment due to a preventable cause (1).

I have no real idea of the impact blindness would cause on my every day life, so yesterday afternoon I did something simple and put on a blindfold and tried to navigate my house. It was after school so the kids were there if I needed them and I told them to just treat me as normal. I managed a trip to the loo on my own and I could do that OK although I have to admit I found it very scary living in the darkness, even only for a short time.

Just as I was about to come out I heard one of my girls calling my name and it was pretty shocking that I couldn't actually tell which of my twins it was. When I identified it was Miss E she said come and help me with my maths homework mum and normally I help her read the questions as she is dyslexic and it can take her a while but of course I couldn't do that. I had to ask my son to help her. Then my other daughter asked for a snack and could she have a cream cheese and ham wrap? I decided to attempt this without my sight as I wouldn't be using a sharp knife or such and it was fine but it took me twice as long, was pretty messy and she ended up with chicken slices rather than ham.