I'm not writing this article about myself so I can be the center of attention. I'm writing this article because everything is not what it seems upon first glances.
You never know what someone has going on in their lives until they tell you.
Upon first glance, you might not notice, but I’m actually legally blind out of my right eye. Yes, you read that correctly. I can’t see anything out of my right eye.
Let me make one thing clear -- being legally blind out of my right eye hasn’t stopped me from doing the things that I want to do.
I’m a Sophomore at Adelphi University. I’m majoring in English on the Creative Writing track. I’m also minoring in Adolescent Education and completing Adelphi’s five-year STEP program. I look forward to teaching and making a difference in the lives of people I have yet to meet. I look forward to teaching high school English.
“Can you see me now?”
“Wait… so… you really can’t see anything out of your right eye?”
“How many fingers am I holding up?”
These are some of the questions that I get asked when people discover that I truly cannot see anything out of my right eye.
I have no idea how else to explain it, except with this: you know how when you close your eyes to go to sleep you see blackness? Well, I can see that, but only with my left eye (the eye I can see out of). I cannot see the blackness of sleep with my right eye. There’s no hint of light. I just can’t see anything with my right eye.
It’s as if I truly only have one eye. By now, after 19 years, I’ve learned to just accept it all.
I was born this way. For 19 years, I've only seen the world through one of my eyes. I wouldn't change a thing, though -- seeing out of one eye is who I am.
I’m a klutz, and believe me, I’m aware -- I’m aware of it all...
The walls and doors I’ve walked into.
The furniture and objects I’ve hit because I couldn’t see them.
The wet floor signs I’ve knocked over (I’m notorious for knocking them over whenever there’s one in the room).
-- The people I’ve bumped into (I’m sorry when I do).
I’ve learned to type essays and work with a really LARGE font, simply, so that I can read it.
Around this time last year, I was a Freshman at Adelphi. There weren't many people knew who I was on this campus, and they didn't know that I was legally blind out of one eye either.
While walking back to my dorm from the C-Store on campus, I tripped on the concrete and fell into one of the many bushes on Adelphi's campus. I spilled my Chocolate F'real Shake everywhere (If you haven't tried one yet, I suggest you do. They're great!).
My friends who were walking with me at the time say they saw my legs sticking out on the concrete and they just heard me laughing from inside the bush. Laughing not at the fact that I tripped and fell, but, laughing at the fact that I spilled my F'real shake everywhere.
I got up, cleaned off the dirt on me. I wished I didn't spill my F'real shake everywhere because I wanted to finish it, but I kept walking back to my dorm.
I’ve accepted that I’m not done walking into walls. I’m not done knocking over wet floor signs. Those are things that are constantly still going to happen to me.
However, I won’t let them stop me.
I’ll laugh, shrug my shoulders, let out an “oh well," and keep on walking.
It doesn't matter to me how many times I walk into the dog gate that's in the middle of the kitchen of my home in Queens, NY. I know that I'll pick myself up again and just keep on walking.
I don’t need you to feel sorry for me because I’m blind out of my right eye.
I’m just here to write this article and let you know that there’s a lot going on underneath the surface, not just in my life, but in everyone's. Keep that in mind when you meet someone.
Someone today will probably ask me: “Why is my right eye smaller than the other?”
and I’ll simply show them this article.
