Dear LPG, 

I have to say that I have no idea what this feels like because it is not happening to me, but it is the second time I have found myself involved with this problem. I want to talk about a friend whose sight has been deteriorating over the past couple of years. She has a reasonably large circle of people around her, and we have watched as her eyesight has made life more difficult for her.

She is an older lady who lives alone in sheltered accommodation and fiercely values her independence, but while those around her have introduced her to all sorts of aids designed to help, they are not working. I am talking about things like magnifying glasses, brighter lights, both handheld and suspended and various wearable magnifying spectacles with lights designed to be worn over your glasses.  

The problem is that while we all become increasingly aware that she continues to struggle with seeing much at all, she still sees her problems as temporary.

Without hurting her feelings, many of her friends and family members are trying to introduce her to the fact that if she were registered as partially sighted, she would be able to get more help. She visits the optician regularly, and we suspect that she has been told more than she is telling us, but while she is aware of her problems and has a perfectly sound mind, this is just something that she is having real difficulty accepting. 

I think we are finally managing to get through, and she is on the brink of considering that being officially registered as partially sighted might be realistic and advantageous to her. Still, it occurs to me that there must be many people who find it difficult to accept.

I hope that writing about it might help a few other people and their friends who might have a similar dilemma to come to terms with,  to talk about this possibility or at least think about where their sight is up to.

YP, Brockley

YP found some information that might help…

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