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My name is Giles I am 39 years old and when I was 25 I lost all the central vision
in both eyes as a results of Multiple Sclerosis. It's called optic neuritis. What the loss of central vision
means is that I can see enough to walk down the street because I can see vague shapes
and I can see movement and I can see most colours. What I can't ever see is detail of
any kind. So I can't see faces, I can't see street names, I can't see bus numbers.
Well if I am crossing the road more often than not I can see cars and buses but not always,
because sometimes they will go straight into my blind patch in which case I don't see them at all.
I never see cyclists.
If I take somebody's arm I like to, I take hold
of their arm and because I am holding them it means that if I want to stop or if I want
to let go or if for any reason I want to stop I can just release my arm.
Giles: Yeah, if you want to help me over the road that would be great. Lisa: Yeah, of course.
Would you like to take my arm? Giles: Yes if that's alright. Thank you.
When somebody takes hold of my arm it's not in my say-so anymore
and anybody who is visually impaired I think would identify that we like to be as independent as we can.
So when somebody takes my arm I'm not independent, they're in control and it's not such a comfortable feeling.
My advice to anybody who is looking at a visually impaired person and wondering if they need help is ask them.
I think sometimes sighted people get to feeling awkward because they feel like they should know what to do - well why?
Visual impairment is so different case by case by case, that I don't believe anybody would know what to do before asking.
So the wisest thing anybody can do is ask.