I had an exciting opportunity last week to talk about building confidence at Wiltshire Sight's centenary event on 12th September 2018 at the Corn Exchange, Devizes. I was invited as one of the three speakers, all discussing topics related to sight loss.
I developed the talk with the aim of getting participants to think about what confidence is and how they can boost their own confidence. This could be linked to the impact of an impairment such as sight loss or mobility. The questions I posed could also be related to an aspect of life that someone may find challenging such as attending social events or experiencing a lack of confidence when you lose your job. It was an enthusiastic session, with all participants sharing their thoughts about confidence.
The participants worked in small groups a couple of times during the session and these are the answers they gave to my questions:
Confidence is.....
- Ability to integrate with life, particularly others.
- Know what you want to do and overcoming the 'I can't do'.
- Comfort in your environment, giving it a go.
- Feeling good about yourself.
- Giving yourself permission to be yourself.
- Ability to talk positively about challenges such as sight loss.
How to develop confidence.....
- Recognition of problems e.g. using a badge to indicate sight loss when out.
- Make an effort, explain to others.
- Improving skills and knowledge.
- Not being afraid to have a go.
- Realising others are also lacking in confidence.
After participants shared their thoughts about confidence, I shared my experiences about how my confidence has been affected by my sight and hearing loss and also my mobility impairment. All of my impairments have caused me to feel a bit different to my peers. This has been tough to deal with when also adjusting to the impact of these impairments when they worsen. However, as I get older it becomes easier to adapt to them and use all the knowledge and resources I've gained over the years to get back to a positive outlook. During the talk I spoke about how I have been able to overcome these challenges and gain confidence, the main contributors to this were my long cane, my Dogs for the Disabled (now Dogs For Good) assistance dog, Rowan, who was probably the biggest influence over ten years ago and all the support received from family, friends and lots of people in the eye health world.
One important thought that came out of the session is that everyone experiences lack of confidence to some extent at some time, even though they may appear to be very confident.
 |
| Photo shows the flip chart notes of the feedback from the group work. The details of these notes are included in the blog text above this photo. There are also representations of items that have helped my confidence journey including: my long cane, bumpons, my Apple wireless keyboard with a large print silicone overlay, a magazine article about my partnership with my assistance dog by Dogs for the Disabled (now called Dogs For Good) and a copy of the special edition Royal Mail stamps that my assistance dog, Rowan appeared on. |
The feedback from the session was very positive with people saying that they had really enjoyed it and that I had inspired them and given them a confidence boost. I really enjoyed delivering a talk again - it always gives me a buzz to do this work. It also makes me feel happy to be using my experiences in a very positive way.
I was able to chat to other professionals at the event and also learn about new assistive aids that are available. In particular, the selection of wearable magnification and smart glasses is widening. I tried Orcam - text to speech glasses - a while ago and I was amazed at what they can do. Last week I tried Oxsight Prism which are some glasses that seem to condense what you are seeing so that if you have loss of peripheral vision, these glasses will assist you in seeing more. I have tunnel vision so it was very interesting to try them out. They did enable me to see more, and changing the colours can be useful. However, I would be a bit self-conscious wearing them out and about but that is personal preference. All the smart glasses are rather expensive but this is to be expected with new technology. I'm sure that as they grow in popularity and are not so new to the market they will reduce in price.
Other interesting advancements are that the handheld optical magnifiers can now be charged with a wireless charging base, similar to mobile phones, instead of using batteries. This makes them a little lighter and means you don't have to fiddle around with trying to get the batteries in the correct way. They are obviously more expensive than the battery ones for the initial purchase but then you will save money by no longer needing to buy batteries for them.
Overall, it was a very interesting and enjoyable day and I'm grateful for Leanne Hubbard's and Maggie Hemmings' invitation to be a speaker all those months ago. If you are interested in me delivering a similar talk, or wish to discuss any other accessibility services I offer, please do contact me via email: melissa@sansumandco.co.uk.
