Legally blind?

[Umbra]

What qualifies one to be considered legally blind? I can see about a foot ahead of me clearly, and after that everything becomes blurry. My eye prescription contacts are -4.50. Just wondering if anyone knew.

[Winter Storm]

Check out this link:
http://ask.yahoo.com/20021031.html

And with a -4.50 perscription, you are nowhere near legally blind.

P.S. Google works wonders.

[Admin]

why do you care to be legally blind?

They get fun of a lot...and I do mean a lot.

[lonestar]

dude, -4.50 is nothing...

I am blind as a fucking bat and my contact lenses are -7.00 (R) and -9.00 (L). I tried to qualify as legally blind so I could take handicap parking spaces, but no dice...You have to really can't see to get that perk!

[wordsmith]

Yeah, I'm -7 in both eyes, can't see anything but fuzziness past the tip of my nose, and even I'm NOWHERE near blind. I can't drive without corrective lenses (I can barely be trusted not to walk into things without them). But that's a far cry from actually blind.

[Umbra]

dude, -4.50 is nothing...

I am blind as a fucking bat and my contact lenses are -7.00 (R) and -9.00 (L). I tried to qualify as legally blind so I could take handicap parking spaces, but no dice...You have to really can't see to get that perk!


Wow, I guess I don't have it that bad after all.

[lonestar]

Well its fully correctable with contacts, so don't feel too bad...but I think I am going to get the laser surgery...not sure yet gotta do some research on it before they fry les yeux.

[wordsmith]

Yeah, all it means is that I can't ever be without my glasses or contacts. And since I've been wearing them since I was eight years old, it's really just part of life, not like a hardship.

[lonestar]

The only really bad problem was for me...I was unable to become a pilot, which I had wanted to do when I was a kid...they let you take flight lessons which I did (though I never got my PPL), but I was not able to get a ticket for military flying. I could have still flown for the airlines, but the cost of private education all the way up to your ATP license and 3000 hours is super expensive...military does it on the cheap.

[Umbra]

Yeah, all it means is that I can't ever be without my glasses or contacts. And since I've been wearing them since I was eight years old, it's really just part of life, not like a hardship.


When did you start wearing contacts? The eye doctors told me I couldn't wear them until I was around fifteen. And I hated glasses, and refused to wear them. I squinted at the blackboard all throughout junior high.

[Kitty]

I keep thinking the title of this thread is "legally blonde" so, maybe I am legally blind!

[SmilesSoSweet]

When did you start wearing contacts? The eye doctors told me I couldn't wear them until I was around fifteen. And I hated glasses, and refused to wear them. I squinted at the blackboard all throughout junior high.

As much as I hated my glasses, I had no choice but to wear them. I do remember one day that I broke my glasses and didn't have a spear. I had to go to school w/o them. I even sat in the front row of all of my classes and I still couldn't see the chalkboard! I got my contacts summer before my junior year of high school, so I was 15.

I'm -6.00 in the left and -5.75 in the right with astigmatism in both eyes. Not fun. I don't want to get lasik surgery yet because I was told that my eyes are still changing and that I should wait until I'm in my thirties. I'm totally okay with that because I can't afford lasik surgery right now anyway.

[and1grad]

The eye doctors told me I couldn't wear them until I was around fifteen. And I hated glasses, and refused to wear them. I squinted at the blackboard all throughout junior high.
HA! That was me also. I HATED glasses and still hate em.

[wordsmith]

Hah, I kind of wish it had just been an option to squint and sort of see. I literally cannot make out anything but fuzzy blobs past the end of my nose unless I have my glasses on. It's so totally not an option to do without. I can't even read without, because I have to hold the page up till it's touching my nose. It wouldn't even have been a POSSIBILITY to squint at the blackboard. But I have also always and forever loved my glasses...love love love them. I was so excited to get them when I was in 3rd grade.

[SmilesSoSweet]

Hah, I kind of wish it had just been an option to squint and sort of see. I literally cannot make out anything but fuzzy blobs past the end of my nose unless I have my glasses on. It's so totally not an option to do without. I can't even read without, because I have to hold the page up till it's touching my nose. It wouldn't even have been a POSSIBILITY to squint at the blackboard. But I have also always and forever loved my glasses...love love love them. I was so excited to get them when I was in 3rd grade.

My vision is the same way. I won't even say I'm near-sighted because I can't see ANYTHING near me clearly! I can only walk around without my glasses in my current home and my parents' house since I was always walking with my glasses off growing up. But anywhere else I have to have my glasses or contacts on.

[spokes]

I tried to qualify as legally blind so I could take handicap parking spaces, but no dice...You have to really can't see to get that perk!

uuumm I sure hope that you are joking about being able to use the "handicapped parking" as a perk. not to mention the fact that it would seem fairly ironic to me that someone would be declared legally blind but yet still alllowed to drive.

[astronaut83]

But I have also always and forever loved my glasses...love love love them. I was so excited to get them when I was in 3rd grade.
I had contacts for awhile in high school and got tired of cleaning them and all that great stuff. Now I feel naked without my glasses. I see it as a part of my personality. :cool:

[wordsmith]

Totally know what you mean. I always feel naked without my glasses. I have contacts that I wear once in a while (actually, I'm out right now, and my prescription has expired with 1-800-Contacts, so I'm putting it off b/c it's expensive to go to the eye doctor). The only reason I even got contacts was when I did a lot of theatre, it was a bad deal to have to wear glasses. Usually if I'm doing something formal, I'll wear my contacts, b/c I don't always like my glasses with an updo or sparkly dangly earrings or formal attire. But 99% of the time, I vastly prefer my glasses. They're totally a part of me and my personality. Contacts have never been truly comfortable for me (I have very dry eyes, I'm always having to futz with them, and my eyes are always puffy and watery because of it, and that's attractive). And, like I said, glasses are far more "me."

[wordsmith]

Glasses frames are an ENORMOUS ripoff, though. Talk about taking it up the ass.

I understand lenses being costly. But the shitty scraps of plastic or wire that they pop them into? Funny how frames, sold as fashion items in non-eyeglass retailers, with clear lenses, can cost as little as $10, but the same stuff in an eyeglass retailer is marked $200. :googly:

[Initial_D]

You get what you pay for. It's all about designer names.

I bought a pair of brown Frederic Beausoleil, which are handcrafted in France, and extremely lightweight. Paid $480 total after get the lenses anti-glare. I wear glasses only on some occassions when i want to look smart and match my outfit but everybody tells me they look really nice.
A couple of years later I wanted to get another exact pair, but I couldn't find it cause I was told that the frame I got was like one of a kind.


Glasses frames are an ENORMOUS ripoff, though. Talk about taking it up the ass.

I understand lenses being costly. But the shitty scraps of plastic or wire that they pop them into? Funny how frames, sold as fashion items in non-eyeglass retailers, with clear lenses, can cost as little as $10, but the same stuff in an eyeglass retailer is marked $200. :googly:

[wordsmith]

Hah. Utter bullshit is utter bullshit. Unless they're made of titanium, glasses frames are glasses frames. Of course, you're paying for labels. But that has nothing to do with qualilty. They'll mangle just the same if you drop them and step on them.

I have middle-range frames (not designer, but a name brand), and they no more needed to be 200 bucks than dollar store sunglasses do.

[lonestar]

My Kenneth Cole frames are nice and not too expensive - under $100 but I don't wear them that much so they aren't worn - I almost never wear my glasses in public because of the "bulgey eye factor" associated with stronger perscriptions...I live on contact lenses...

But I should say that I am attracted to girls with glasses...kind of a thing for me, I guess.

[SmilesSoSweet]

My lenses cost more than my frames. I just got something that was non-name brand. I paid extra to have my lenses thinned out because if I didn't then my lenses wouldn't fit in my frames. I think it was about $250 for the lenses and frames. I also paid more to have get the transition lenses, so that the days I decide to wear my eyeglasses, I already have sunglasses as well. My lenses have the UV protection without the transitions but I still wanted my lenses to get darker because of driving. I just recently replaced my lenses (I didn't want to change the frames, because I like the style) so that set me back about $150. Not too bad.

[Initial_D]

Not true, I grew up poor and I had to have glasses when I was in 7th grade. MediCal would only pay a certain amount for glasses so I could only pick from the cheap collection. I remember that they were heavy and the frame would get discolored from normal wear.

You can get $99 frames at Lenscrafters or places like that, but I can easily afford nice frames so I bought nice frames. I actually never heard of this designer name, I heard of cK, DKNY, but I picked this frame because they looked really good one me, and they felt like I wasn't wearing glasses at all. Three years later they still look great. If I had vision insurance the cost would have been cheaper.

I agree though that some things are faaar overpriced and does not make sense, like a $72 polo shirt from Lacoste (its just a stupid alligator).

Also I agree that glasses can look extremely sexy on a girl, if they are the right kind. modern glasses not big granny glasses.


Hah. Utter bullshit is utter bullshit. Unless they're made of titanium, glasses frames are glasses frames. Of course, you're paying for labels. But that has nothing to do with qualilty. They'll mangle just the same if you drop them and step on them.

I have middle-range frames (not designer, but a name brand), and they no more needed to be 200 bucks than dollar store sunglasses do.

[K-man]

Of course, you're paying for labels. But that has nothing to do with qualilty. They'll mangle just the same if you drop them and step on them.

Isn't that like saying a BMW and Geo Metro is the same because they'll both get wrecked if you crash them? I don't thinks $500 frame is necessarily 10 times better than a $50 frame, but I do notice a significant difference in design/quality between LensCrafter I had in high school vs. a pair of Oakley I have now. It's the only brand of glasses I wear because of it's unique fit and wrap-around design (multi-focus visual correction, just like contacts).

[wordsmith]

Hah, you're talking to a person who totally buys the Geo Metro, need I remind you?

I've been wearing glasses basically solidly for 21 years (I wear contacts so irregularly that a six month supply has lasted me four years), now, and have honestly yet to see a real quality difference in frames across the price range. They're all basically the same degree of flimsy stuff, to me, and are needlessly overpriced.

If Capezio can make a $100 frame that's identical in every way to a $300 Donna Karan frame, why does the Donna Karan frame have to cost $300? It doesn't. I guarantee it's the same third world manufacturing, same plastic, same hinges, same screws.

[blueyes]

I'm having the same grumbles over frames, words...my new vision plan covers almost NO ONE as far as frames go, and I'm pretty sure if I needed new contacts (rigid gas permeables with a serious toric cut to them) my vision overlords would be howling bloody murder: it's $75 per contact. But these babies last fooooorever.

Unless I break them.

And as far as actual Rx goes...pffft - I have (sadly) got everyone beat: my latest Rx is -14.25 (R) and -15.25 (L); I know another QLCer's Rx is somewhere above -20 in both eyes. And sadly, we're both at high risk for retinal tears and detachment.

[SmilesSoSweet]

I'm having the same grumbles over frames, words...my new vision plan covers almost NO ONE as far as frames go, and I'm pretty sure if I needed new contacts (rigid gas permeables with a serious toric cut to them) my vision overlords would be howling bloody murder: it's $75 per contact. But these babies last fooooorever.

Unless I break them.

And as far as actual Rx goes...pffft - I have (sadly) got everyone beat: my latest Rx is -14.25 (R) and -15.25 (L); I know another QLCer's Rx is somewhere above -20 in both eyes. And sadly, we're both at high risk for retinal tears and detachment.

Wow, you have vision insurance? Lucky.

[blueyes]

Yeah, but it's apparently THE crappiest EVER...so don't get too too jealous. :frustrate It pays for one visit a year and some portion of either glasses or contacts, but not in full. I'm just praying I find some place that covers frames - or I get some magical exemption from the vision overlords for the frames at my doctor's office.

[SmilesSoSweet]

Yeah, but it's apparently THE crappiest EVER...so don't get too too jealous. :frustrate It pays for one visit a year and some portion of either glasses or contacts, but not in full. I'm just praying I find some place that covers frames - or I get some magical exemption from the vision overlords for the frames at my doctor's office.

I'd take that over no vision insurance. I end up going to one of those places at the mall. And pay in cash for the exam, contacts and updated lenses for my frames. While I was shelling out the $350 some customer there was complaining that her insurance company wouldn't pay for the $40 she owed the eye place!