Hi, Sophie, I was born with visual impairment and congenital cataract. In research on bullous keratopathy, I found your channel on youtube. I'm learning English, and that's why I'd like you to put the subtitle for Portuguese too. I decided to learn English by watching videos of people who are also visually impaired. Congratulations on your channel.
Thank you! We have a few dotted around the house 😊 I would love to have Funko Pops of our birds one day lol! Oooh I like that - might have to use that one day LOL
I went to a mainstream school for most of my time but because I have almost no vision, I can't pass for sighted and autism and ADHD didn't help either, though they were diagnosed late. The tech age helped me a lot as well. Also, so many parents don't let their kids fail at anything any more and my Mum was ahead of her time in that she championed my being allowed to be as independent as possible from an early age.
My story. I was born with transposition of the great arteries and had to have life saving open heart surgery @ 6 weeks old. I then developed congenital cataracts, which I had removed @ 6 months (I have since read that cataracts can form after a serious illness and I was in an incubator and a head box to give me oxygen just to keep me alive due to my heart condition). Anyway, after having the cataracts removed I was left with aphakia in both eyes, but with a delay in the cataract surgery, my right eye is far stronger than my left, which I can barely see out of, and have amblyopia in both eyes, left worse than right, and also have nystagmus in both eyes. As this was in 1984 I was told I wasn’t given any lens replacement because, at the time, they didn’t think they’d last a lifetime so left me without lenses. Consequently, I had to wear bifocal glasses as a child (which were like fish bowls and caused me great distress on hot, summer days) and made me a target for bullies at school, hence my lack of friends and social anxiety now. When I turned 20 in 2004 and realising that I was growing up and wanted to give myself at least half a chance of attracting girls (which never happened due to confidence issues) I switched to Extended Wear Contact Lenses, which were soft lenses I wore all the time and even slept in, which regular checkups and new lenses being ordered by the hospital. My consultant at the time did say about having an IOL but was happy with the lenses so kept with them. However, in 2017, I made the decision to investigate the IOL Surgery, as I was tiring of the contacts as I had no-one to change them and keeping them looked after was starting to become a burden, but at the same time the hospital optician went on the sick and as they didn’t have a replacement I couldn’t get any lenses. When I finally did a few months later, it was too late as I had developed Keratitis from over wearing of the lenses I couldn’t get replaced, in my right eye, the only eye I see out of so was rendered effectively blind, which terrified the life out of me and is the worst thing I’ve knowingly gone through, and ended up in a specialised eye hospital for a week receiving treatment to fight the infection. Whilst my sight was saved, the infection left a permanent scar in my eye which has made my vision worse, and so had to go back to glasses (I’ll never wear contacts again and encourage everyone else to not wear them). Exactly a year later, after having investigative tests for an IOL I was found to have had a detached retina in the same eye (my right eye the only one I see out of) and whilst I had successful surgery, due to the silicone oil used, it left me with glaucoma and now have to take eye drops for the rest of my life to keep my eye pressure down. In 2020 my new eye consultant said it would be dangerous for me to have lens implantation surgery as due to me having no lens in my eyes for 38 years, the shape of my eyes has changed and he would have to put the lens on my cornea, which was damaged by the keratitis, and is reluctant to do it in case it damages it further and / or my body rejects the implants this meaning I’d need a corneal transplant and thus leaving my vision worse, so I’ll be aphakic for the rest of my life now. After what I’ve been through I’m glad of what little sight I have, but my dreams of having my own lenses in my eyes seem over now so I’ll have to stick to thick heavy glasses and a constant change between reading and distance, which is a pain, but far preferable to contacts which nearly blinded me. To those who can have the IOL, yes I know it’s scary, but you should have it done, at least you’ll be able to, some of us aren’t as fortunate to have that option not unless, as my consultant says, technology improves in the future to give me that option.
You are such a lovely person. I love watching your videos. Have learnt so much about parrot care. I have 2 lovebirds but they are not tamed. Too scared of me. I was always picked last at school for team sports too!
You are so kind, thank you so much for watching! 😊💙🦜 You might find my boyfriend's video useful on taming birds! th-cam.com/video/-P_RD7PFJMc/w-d-xo.html
Great video as always Sophie, I can relate to a lot of that. I had bullying and confidence issues at school too, and did end up befriending some of the kids that had been teasing me because I got to know them and understood the issues they had. That's a cool Crash Bandicoot figure as well, I loved those games. 😀
Hey Glen, thanks for watching! It's tricky isn't it - it's not okay for someone to say unkind things, but at the same time you don't know what they're going through either! I definitely don't miss my school years like some people do! And thank you, I love Crash Bandicoot, will be interesting to see if the new game coming out has any accessibility features. Hope you're well!
Indeed, it is difficult, humans are never simple beings. I hope the new Crash game is accessible. I haven't owned a games console for years so I won't be able to play it, but it looks very cool from the trailer. And I'm doing fine thanks, hope you're keeping safe and well too!
Ah thank you for watching! People dislike the most random of things! If I don’t like a video, I just click off but that’s just me! 😂 thanks for your support 💙🦜
Wow I've got a lot in common with u I was also very shy when I was younger and experienced verbal bullying but despite being shy I always retaliated to combat my shyness my parents introduced me to karate when I was 10 and when I was 14 I earned my black belt. To me karate is more than just a sport its a way of life and hopefully one day I would like to participate in the paralmpics. Karate really gave me the confidence I didn't realize I needed. Primary school for me was quite normal I attended a mainstream school and the teachers reall6 did try to help me the best they could. But when I was in gr6 the new deputy principal seemed to. Have a problem with me being a VIP and didn't miss a opportunity to call my parents to tell them they should look for another school for me. They eventually found a school that's perfect for me, I now go to open air school for children with physical disabilities. But the level and amount of work is the same as mainstream. I'm currently in gr11 and love my school and friends who really turned my life around. PS sorry this is so long
Hey, thanks so much for your comment! I'm sorry that people have said mean things to you, but I'm glad you are now in a supportive school and doing well! That's awesome that you got your black belt - nice work! It would be awesome if you could compete in the Paralympics - I have my fingers crossed for you! Thanks for taking the time to watch my video, and I hope you and your family are safe and well!
I can relate to a lot of the feelings and experiences but due to learning disabilities. Made for some cool adults though 😎 Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm sure this is super helpful for parents/kids with vision impairment. Everything is always easier when you don't feel alone!
Hopefully you don’t relate to the negative ones! Growing up is hard enough, let alone when you aren’t what people perceive to be normal! Thanks for taking the time to watch my video! Give the birbs a snuggle from me! 💚🦜
@@BirdNerdSophie Yeah, but that's what makes us so cool! I have so much compassion as a result and it seems like you do too! And always! Wish we could have a bird party!
Honestly school Was the worst for me I was so against any help because I was really embarrassed I couldn’t see the bored at all so most of the time I just didn’t do anything I could barely read any of the work sheets so didn’t do them I also had terrible depth perception and refused to use any aids or have anyone help me get around and I hated o&m so I just fell over or crashed into things a lot also I didn’t really make any friends till I was like 12 I used to have to do a few classes in the special education unit and they kind of just had everyone of all abilities lumped together I remember being like 6 and having sand thrown at me by this really aggressive boy with severe autism I don’t really think I learned very much tbh towards high school I was a bit more open to extra help I ended up making friends with some people from the special education program that were a bit more capable but still really didn’t want to participate in any sort of activities for blind people or do o&m it also didn’t help that there was only 1 o&m instructor in my town and she didn’t really like me I was invited to a camp for blind people to help them. Learn skills and use different mobility aids including guide dogs but I didn’t go which I really regret as far as sports at school I never went I either just had to watch or go to the special education place 1 teacher made a yoga/dance class for some of the other people who couldn’t do sport but unfortunately she left after just 1 year I really enjoyed drama class but when I got to year 11 I was told it was a university level subject and the teacher said I wouldn’t be able to do it so shortly after that I figured there really wasn’t much point in me going to school so ended up leaving I was never really bullied about being blind though people just kind of avoided me and if they did bully me it was more just about the fact I was disabled in general rather then specifically being blind I did join disability cheerleading and horse back riding and made friends through that so that was good I also tried dance class but was always to embarrassed to ask for help so I only did it for about a year
Hey Kylee, I'm so sorry that your school years were so difficult! I used to feel so awkward asking for help too as I had such bad social anxiety! It's such a shame when school support just isn't up to standard or noticing when a child is having difficulties. It's great that you made some friends despite everything! Cheerleading sounds fun, and I have also had riding lessons which I enjoyed! The great thing now is the internet! With platforms like TH-cam, you can connect with people of all abilities and interests (like us both being visually impaired and loving parrots!)
@@BirdNerdSophie unfortunately school just isn’t for everyone disabled or not but yeah I definitely think school would have been easier had there been more knowledgeable people around to help I feel like things are improving though I found out that the school I went to now has 3 blind students and there is a teacher specifically trained to work with blind people I really loved horse riding I feel like if I hadn’t got so into birds I would’ve probably gotten more into horses and riding but there both so expensive even just basic riding lessons are so expensive but it definitely was a lot of fun And the internet is honestly the best there’s so much more opportunities to connect with like minded people I still feel like I would’ve had a hard time making friends at school even if I wasn’t blind because I have pretty unique interests most 16 year olds just weren’t keen on the idea of going bird toy shopping then going home and hanging out with the birds
@@kyleeciseau5673 that's great that at least current students can get the help that they need! Oh yes horse riding lessons are super expensive, I used to get them for free as I worked on a farm, but now they would be too much! I prefer just being out riding and hacking to lessons anyway. Haha well going bird toy shopping and then going home to play with the birds sounds like the perfect day to me, lol!
Oh interesting! Does being visually impaired mean that u can't read certain colors since u said u couldn't read the red and green ones? And spitting in your face is like 😑😑 I would like punch his face but I would go to detention or something so I normally tell the teacher I actually never experienced any bullying before. I have not gone to school for like 5 or 6 years because I am homeschooled. Quite useful when having 2 parrots hahaha. I have only been to school in kindergarten, my entire elementary is homeschooled. Woah, foot ball and dancing and karate! Cool! Anyway great video! Very interesting to know about u and what visually impaired people go through! 😃👍👍
No I can see colours just fine! It’s when they use light colours on a white board, it’s hard to work out! That’s cool that you are home schooled! I bet it’s nice to spend more time with the birds!
I might of tokd you that i had a squint years ago and they had to operate on my eye but that is nothing compared to what you have gone through! Edit : Writing this on the bus so a lot of mistakes lol :)
Hi, Sophie,
I was born with visual impairment and congenital cataract. In research on bullous keratopathy, I found your channel on youtube. I'm learning English, and that's why I'd like you to put the subtitle for Portuguese too. I decided to learn English by watching videos of people who are also visually impaired. Congratulations on your channel.
Thanks for watching!
I like your Pop Head collection, Bird Nerds, That should be a group! Like a rescue group. The Bird Nerds.
Thank you! We have a few dotted around the house 😊 I would love to have Funko Pops of our birds one day lol!
Oooh I like that - might have to use that one day LOL
I went to a mainstream school for most of my time but because I have almost no vision, I can't pass for sighted and autism and ADHD didn't help either, though they were diagnosed late. The tech age helped me a lot as well. Also, so many parents don't let their kids fail at anything any more and my Mum was ahead of her time in that she championed my being allowed to be as independent as possible from an early age.
Sounds like your Mum set you up for success! Tech can be amazing with helping us!
My story.
I was born with transposition of the great arteries and had to have life saving open heart surgery @ 6 weeks old. I then developed congenital cataracts, which I had removed @ 6 months (I have since read that cataracts can form after a serious illness and I was in an incubator and a head box to give me oxygen just to keep me alive due to my heart condition). Anyway, after having the cataracts removed I was left with aphakia in both eyes, but with a delay in the cataract surgery, my right eye is far stronger than my left, which I can barely see out of, and have amblyopia in both eyes, left worse than right, and also have nystagmus in both eyes. As this was in 1984 I was told I wasn’t given any lens replacement because, at the time, they didn’t think they’d last a lifetime so left me without lenses. Consequently, I had to wear bifocal glasses as a child (which were like fish bowls and caused me great distress on hot, summer days) and made me a target for bullies at school, hence my lack of friends and social anxiety now.
When I turned 20 in 2004 and realising that I was growing up and wanted to give myself at least half a chance of attracting girls (which never happened due to confidence issues) I switched to Extended Wear Contact Lenses, which were soft lenses I wore all the time and even slept in, which regular checkups and new lenses being ordered by the hospital. My consultant at the time did say about having an IOL but was happy with the lenses so kept with them. However, in 2017, I made the decision to investigate the IOL Surgery, as I was tiring of the contacts as I had no-one to change them and keeping them looked after was starting to become a burden, but at the same time the hospital optician went on the sick and as they didn’t have a replacement I couldn’t get any lenses. When I finally did a few months later, it was too late as I had developed Keratitis from over wearing of the lenses I couldn’t get replaced, in my right eye, the only eye I see out of so was rendered effectively blind, which terrified the life out of me and is the worst thing I’ve knowingly gone through,
and ended up in a specialised eye hospital for a week receiving treatment to fight the infection. Whilst my sight was saved, the infection left a permanent scar in my eye which has made my vision worse, and so had to go back to glasses (I’ll never wear contacts again and encourage everyone else to not wear them). Exactly a year later, after having investigative tests for an IOL I was found to have had a detached retina in the same eye (my right eye the only one I see out of) and whilst I had successful surgery, due to the silicone oil used, it left me with glaucoma and now have to take eye drops for the rest of my life to keep my eye pressure down. In 2020 my new eye consultant said it would be dangerous for me to have lens implantation surgery as due to me having no lens in my eyes for 38 years, the shape of my eyes has changed and he would have to put the lens on my cornea, which was damaged by the keratitis, and is reluctant to do it in case it damages it further and / or my body rejects the implants this meaning I’d need a corneal transplant and thus leaving my vision worse, so I’ll be aphakic for the rest of my life now.
After what I’ve been through I’m glad of what little sight I have, but my dreams of having my own lenses in my eyes seem over now so I’ll have to stick to thick heavy glasses and a constant change between reading and distance, which is a pain, but far preferable to contacts which nearly blinded me.
To those who can have the IOL, yes I know it’s scary, but you should have it done, at least you’ll be able to, some of us aren’t as fortunate to have that option not unless, as my consultant says, technology improves in the future to give me that option.
You are such a lovely person. I love watching your videos. Have learnt so much about parrot care. I have 2 lovebirds but they are not tamed. Too scared of me. I was always picked last at school for team sports too!
You are so kind, thank you so much for watching! 😊💙🦜 You might find my boyfriend's video useful on taming birds! th-cam.com/video/-P_RD7PFJMc/w-d-xo.html
Loved getting to know more about you, Sophie! 💙
Thank you so much for taking the time to watch my video! 🥰
Great video as always Sophie, I can relate to a lot of that. I had bullying and confidence issues at school too, and did end up befriending some of the kids that had been teasing me because I got to know them and understood the issues they had. That's a cool Crash Bandicoot figure as well, I loved those games. 😀
Hey Glen, thanks for watching! It's tricky isn't it - it's not okay for someone to say unkind things, but at the same time you don't know what they're going through either! I definitely don't miss my school years like some people do! And thank you, I love Crash Bandicoot, will be interesting to see if the new game coming out has any accessibility features. Hope you're well!
Indeed, it is difficult, humans are never simple beings. I hope the new Crash game is accessible. I haven't owned a games console for years so I won't be able to play it, but it looks very cool from the trailer. And I'm doing fine thanks, hope you're keeping safe and well too!
The person that disliked this, is awful. This is an amazing story and This is no-where near bad. This is a really good video!
Ah thank you for watching! People dislike the most random of things! If I don’t like a video, I just click off but that’s just me! 😂 thanks for your support 💙🦜
Wow I've got a lot in common with u I was also very shy when I was younger and experienced verbal bullying but despite being shy I always retaliated to combat my shyness my parents introduced me to karate when I was 10 and when I was 14 I earned my black belt. To me karate is more than just a sport its a way of life and hopefully one day I would like to participate in the paralmpics. Karate really gave me the confidence I didn't realize I needed. Primary school for me was quite normal I attended a mainstream school and the teachers reall6 did try to help me the best they could. But when I was in gr6 the new deputy principal seemed to. Have a problem with me being a VIP and didn't miss a opportunity to call my parents to tell them they should look for another school for me. They eventually found a school that's perfect for me, I now go to open air school for children with physical disabilities. But the level and amount of work is the same as mainstream. I'm currently in gr11 and love my school and friends who really turned my life around. PS sorry this is so long
Hey, thanks so much for your comment! I'm sorry that people have said mean things to you, but I'm glad you are now in a supportive school and doing well! That's awesome that you got your black belt - nice work! It would be awesome if you could compete in the Paralympics - I have my fingers crossed for you! Thanks for taking the time to watch my video, and I hope you and your family are safe and well!
@@BirdNerdSophie thankyou u are such a kind and genuine person
@@azraaebrahim8198 ah thank you for your kind words! :)
I can relate to a lot of the feelings and experiences but due to learning disabilities. Made for some cool adults though 😎 Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm sure this is super helpful for parents/kids with vision impairment. Everything is always easier when you don't feel alone!
Hopefully you don’t relate to the negative ones! Growing up is hard enough, let alone when you aren’t what people perceive to be normal!
Thanks for taking the time to watch my video! Give the birbs a snuggle from me! 💚🦜
@@BirdNerdSophie Yeah, but that's what makes us so cool! I have so much compassion as a result and it seems like you do too!
And always! Wish we could have a bird party!
@@sarahmwmi I think Chip would just be showing off the whole time if we had a bird party! 😂
Honestly school Was the worst for me I was so against any help because I was really embarrassed I couldn’t see the bored at all so most of the time I just didn’t do anything I could barely read any of the work sheets so didn’t do them I also had terrible depth perception and refused to use any aids or have anyone help me get around and I hated o&m so I just fell over or crashed into things a lot also I didn’t really make any friends till I was like 12 I used to have to do a few classes in the special education unit and they kind of just had everyone of all abilities lumped together I remember being like 6 and having sand thrown at me by this really aggressive boy with severe autism I don’t really think I learned very much tbh towards high school I was a bit more open to extra help I ended up making friends with some people from the special education program that were a bit more capable but still really didn’t want to participate in any sort of activities for blind people or do o&m it also didn’t help that there was only 1 o&m instructor in my town and she didn’t really like me I was invited to a camp for blind people to help them. Learn skills and use different mobility aids including guide dogs but I didn’t go which I really regret as far as sports at school I never went I either just had to watch or go to the special education place 1 teacher made a yoga/dance class for some of the other people who couldn’t do sport but unfortunately she left after just 1 year I really enjoyed drama class but when I got to year 11 I was told it was a university level subject and the teacher said I wouldn’t be able to do it so shortly after that I figured there really wasn’t much point in me going to school so ended up leaving I was never really bullied about being blind though people just kind of avoided me and if they did bully me it was more just about the fact I was disabled in general rather then specifically being blind
I did join disability cheerleading and horse back riding and made friends through that so that was good I also tried dance class but was always to embarrassed to ask for help so I only did it for about a year
Hey Kylee, I'm so sorry that your school years were so difficult! I used to feel so awkward asking for help too as I had such bad social anxiety! It's such a shame when school support just isn't up to standard or noticing when a child is having difficulties.
It's great that you made some friends despite everything! Cheerleading sounds fun, and I have also had riding lessons which I enjoyed!
The great thing now is the internet! With platforms like TH-cam, you can connect with people of all abilities and interests (like us both being visually impaired and loving parrots!)
@@BirdNerdSophie unfortunately school just isn’t for everyone disabled or not but yeah I definitely think school would have been easier had there been more knowledgeable people around to help I feel like things are improving though I found out that the school I went to now has 3 blind students and there is a teacher specifically trained to work with blind people
I really loved horse riding I feel like if I hadn’t got so into birds I would’ve probably gotten more into horses and riding but there both so expensive even just basic riding lessons are so expensive but it definitely was a lot of fun
And the internet is honestly the best there’s so much more opportunities to connect with like minded people I still feel like I would’ve had a hard time making friends at school even if I wasn’t blind because I have pretty unique interests most 16 year olds just weren’t keen on the idea of going bird toy shopping then going home and hanging out with the birds
@@kyleeciseau5673 that's great that at least current students can get the help that they need!
Oh yes horse riding lessons are super expensive, I used to get them for free as I worked on a farm, but now they would be too much! I prefer just being out riding and hacking to lessons anyway.
Haha well going bird toy shopping and then going home to play with the birds sounds like the perfect day to me, lol!
Oh interesting! Does being visually impaired mean that u can't read certain colors since u said u couldn't read the red and green ones? And spitting in your face is like 😑😑 I would like punch his face but I would go to detention or something so I normally tell the teacher
I actually never experienced any bullying before. I have not gone to school for like 5 or 6 years because I am homeschooled. Quite useful when having 2 parrots hahaha. I have only been to school in kindergarten, my entire elementary is homeschooled.
Woah, foot ball and dancing and karate! Cool!
Anyway great video! Very interesting to know about u and what visually impaired people go through! 😃👍👍
No I can see colours just fine! It’s when they use light colours on a white board, it’s hard to work out!
That’s cool that you are home schooled! I bet it’s nice to spend more time with the birds!
I might of tokd you that i had a squint years ago and they had to operate on my eye but that is nothing compared to what you have gone through!
Edit :
Writing this on the bus so a lot of mistakes lol :)
Oh no, I didn't know - did the operation help?
Haha I can barely write a coherent comment when I'm sitting still, let alone when I'm on the bus 😂
It definitely helped , for one i can see without having to look at my nose all the time
Also had it when i was five so don't remember mutch
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