“Look into my eyes and what do you see..?”

Eyes are weird things. At least, I think so. My eyes are the weirdest of all. Firstly, there is the colour. Okay, I suppose “hazel,” is not that odd of a colour. But the way my eyes are layered to form hazel is just a little odd. The inner circle is brown, the outer edge is green. When I cry, they become super green, to the point where, if someone were to look at me, they’d say “She has green eyes.” A lot of the time, I have super huge pupils, which result in them looking mainly brown. I must have been in this state when I registered for my I.D. card, because that’s what it says– eye colour: brown. I have no clue why my pupils get so big, although it has resulted in some playful teasing about my “drug dependency” (which does NOT exist, to make that perfectly clear). Especially in grade 10, when I accidentally scraped one of my cornea with a contact lens. This caused the white of my eye to turn red and water (thus, making my one eye green, and the other hazel), and I remember sitting down at my English table, and having the guy across from me ask if I was stoned.

I’m used to my eyes giving me trouble. When I was very young, I had an eye-disease, which I think I’ve mentioned before, but shall not mention now, nor post the Wiki link to, because it’s been a long day, and the photos can be icky. This disease caused my eyes to be misaligned. When I was four, I had surgery (my doctor is also the lady who first used BOTOX as a cosmetic tool! She’s loaded.) to correct this (not once, but twice.). In the surgery, they pop out the eyes, play around with the muscles behind them, then pop them back in. Ew.

Now my eyes are somewhat perfect. Other than the fact that I wear glasses for a totally normal, and unrelated reason. It never occurred to me the significance of this operation until I worked with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind in late 2006. It was here that I learnt about the consequences of not having the surgery before eye muscles are fully developed around age 6. Such diseases can cause one eye to shut down, and one to overcompensate resulting in a much quicker wear-and-tear effect. In effect, had I not had the surgery all those years ago, I may be legally blind today!

Also working at the CNIB, I realized just how much I rely on my vision. I took a crash course in orientation and mobility training in which I learnt some basic life skills. But it was hard. It was frustrating. And what of the films that I adore so much? What of the flowers? I am a big fan of colour.

We- that is to say, this half of the world at least- are now entering summer. The sun is bright, and dangerous. Please please take precautions when enjoying the heat this summer, and invest in some sunglasses. Age-related Macular Degeneration is more and more common. We’re living longer than ever, and not all of our bits and pieces are designed to live with that. You know what they say, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” But, most of us are young, and I daresay it is easier for us to learn to slip on a pair of shades than it will be to re-learn how to live as a visually impaired person at age 80.

Not only are your eyes the window to your soul, they’re also the windows to the world around you. Take care!