Rosie loves to read, and she especially enjoys memoirs because it’s like a movie about someone’s life. While her recent changes in vision don’t allow her to read print, she’s pivoted to listening to audiobooks to get her memoir fix. With Cleveland Sight Center (CSC) and adaptations like audiobooks by her side, Rosie’s ready to take on this next chapter of her life.

Rosie was referred to Cleveland Sight Center when her vision loss reached a point when glasses weren’t enough to aid her in completing her everyday activities, like reading.

“I’m so glad I took the doctor’s advice and went,” Rosie said.

She admits she probably should have visited CSC sooner, but at first, Rosie had to work through the frustrations of dealing with her vision loss, and didn’t think she was “blind” enough. She soon learned that CSC serves people with a range of vision loss, and there’s no such thing as being “blind enough” to receive services.

“I thought I would have to be almost totally blind before I took advantage of some place like Cleveland Sight Center,” Rosie said. “But no, that's the furthest thing from the truth.”

When Rosie first came to CSC, she had a low vision assessment in our Clinic, where she met CSC’s Occupational Therapist, Erin. Rosie and Erin talked about the tasks that she struggled with due to her vision, like finding the right keys for different parts of her apartment building and pressing the correct buttons on her microwave and oven. Hearing this, Erin made an appointment to come to Rosie’s apartment to show her different strategies and tools to make life easier.

Erin helped her by putting bump dots (little tactile markers) on her kitchen appliances and keys so she could differentiate between them. She also taught her a few strategies to make Rosie’s iPhone more accessible and easier to use.

“[All of these neat little tools] really opened my eyes, even down to the bump dots,” said Rosie.

Rosie is the perfect example of how implementing tools and adaptations in your daily life can truly make a difference.

“I'm just grateful for Erin and Cleveland Sight Center, they've helped me out a lot. Even though my sight won't improve, they have given me some of the tools to deal with it.”

Rosie is comforted knowing CSC is there for her in every chapter of her vision loss.

“I'm glad that there's a place that I can go to, that I can call and know that they'll help me through it. You don't know what you're going to be up against in the future.”

CSC is here to support Rosie during each chapter of her life, even the ones that aren’t written yet.