# Legally blind?!?!? How can I possibly be legally blind?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 30, 2008, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legally-blind-how-can-i-possibly-be-legally-blind/458273 "2008-07-30T20:21:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legally-blind-how-can-i-possibly-be-legally-blind/458273/1 "2008-07-30T20:21:13Z")
I have glasses that I hardly ever wear. I put them on to drive because it says on my license that I have to. About half the time I put them on to watch TV. I’ll usually wear them if I go to a movie. That’s about it. Yesterday I was getting an eye check for the first time in about 6 or 7 years. The Dr. came in and asked if I wore glasses/contacts. I said I did, but that I only wore them for the above stuff and besides, my Rx wasn’t very strong, etc. So the Dr. puts my glasses under his special glasses machine and tells me that actually, without my glasses I’m legally blind. He then puts up the eye chart to prove it. Yes, I could pick out the ‘E’ - and that was it. The line below that was a total mystery. He suggested that perhaps I should wear my glasses more often. Holy crap is my office dusty! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legally-blind-how-can-i-possibly-be-legally-blind/458273/2 "2008-07-30T20:28:54Z")
Poor choice of terminology on the doc’s part. “Legally blind” only applies with correction in place. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Captain\_Lance\_Murdoch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Lance_Murdoch)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legally-blind-how-can-i-possibly-be-legally-blind/458273/3 "2008-07-30T20:57:05Z")
Right. It means you can’t be corrected to better than 20/400. Nevertheless, with your level of vision it’s pretty mandatory to use your glasses. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legally-blind-how-can-i-possibly-be-legally-blind/458273/4 "2008-07-30T21:14:02Z")
[QUOTE=alice\_in\_wonderland] …tells me that actually, **without my glasses** I’m legally blind… [/QUOTE] (bolding mine) Most nearsighted people that I know are as well. Without their glasses on. As noted above, ‘legally blind’ is the term for post-correction. Doctor gave you a whoosh, but then again, you couldn’t see it coming… ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legally-blind-how-can-i-possibly-be-legally-blind/458273/5 "2008-07-30T21:21:01Z")
so, you are saying life is just a blur? the big e disappeared for me in 6th grade. i can’t imagine walking around without corrective measures. the few times i did, i would trip/stumble on many things mostly curbs. and one time going to the eye dr for a new pair of contacts during a bad allergy day (contacts don’t like it when you rub your eyes) i tripped over a guide dog. came really close to asking if i could borrow him. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legally-blind-how-can-i-possibly-be-legally-blind/458273/6 "2008-07-30T21:22:26Z")
That reminds me of the time I tried to enlist in the Air Force. I knew my eyesight was bad, and I always wore my glasses. When I got to the eye exam part of the physical I couldn’t make out a thing on the eye chart without my glasses. They sat me down and had me look into some sort of machine with a built-in eye chart. The first screen they showed me was a blur, as was the second, but I could just about make out the second row on the third chart. Then they examined my glasses (I was told later that it wasn’t unusual for people to fake having bad vision and they were verifying that my prescription matched the test results. When I looked at my paperwork afterwards, it showed my uncorrected vision as 20/900+. That was 35 years ago; I can’t remember what my current prescription is offhand, but I remember being glad when they developed plastic lenses that didn’t have to be as thick and heavy as glass ones, since my glasses left grooves in my cheeks. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legally-blind-how-can-i-possibly-be-legally-blind/458273/7 "2008-07-30T21:52:16Z")
Yah, he did say that it was _without_ glasses. I have no idea what my Rx was but the new glasses were really frikin’ expensive - and no, not because they had really cute foofoo frames - because they have to hand grind the lenses, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legally-blind-how-can-i-possibly-be-legally-blind/458273/8 "2008-07-30T22:29:55Z")
Needing glasses and not wearing them sounds so weird to me - I put mine on when I get up, and take them off (in the same place) when I go to sleep. I can’t hear people talking properly without them on. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legally-blind-how-can-i-possibly-be-legally-blind/458273/9 "2008-07-30T22:32:13Z")
On the bright side, at least you can see the E properly. I can’t even do that much. ☹ I usually laugh hysterically when the eye doc flashes up the very largest letter he has in his arsenal (which is usually just one big E that takes up the whole chart), then asks me to read it with my glasses off. On a good day, I can make out a hazy greyish shape… and on a bad day, I can’t even see that much (in fact, I just get a muddy blur where the chart should be). ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legally-blind-how-can-i-possibly-be-legally-blind/458273/10 "2008-07-30T22:47:02Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] Needing glasses and not wearing them sounds so weird to me - I put mine on when I get up, and take them off (in the same place) when I go to sleep. I can’t hear people talking properly without them on. 🙂 [/QUOTE] I’m the same way. As a kid, when I first got glasses, I didn’t need to wear them all the time. Just to see the board. They got a bit worse though, and now I wear them (or contacts. I \<3 contacts.) all the time. Where did you go for your glasses Alice? I went to Pearl Vision and managed to get my frames at half off and still paid about 250 or so for them. And I didn’t pick out expensive frames either (cute ones, but not expensive). ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legally-blind-how-can-i-possibly-be-legally-blind/458273/11 "2008-07-30T23:29:17Z")
Don’t wear your glasses often? I see. So, how _you_ doin? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2008, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legally-blind-how-can-i-possibly-be-legally-blind/458273/12 "2008-07-30T23:31:07Z")
[QUOTE=rocking chair] one time going to the eye dr for a new pair of contacts during a bad allergy day (contacts don’t like it when you rub your eyes) i tripped over a guide dog. [/QUOTE] That may be a better story than my wiping my hand on my pants after shaking hands with a sweaty jogging Bill Clinton. 🙂 Dopers, be the judge! ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legally-blind-how-can-i-possibly-be-legally-blind/458273/13 "2008-07-31T00:23:59Z")
[QUOTE=alice\_in\_wonderland] . . . without my glasses I’m legally blind. [/QUOTE] Well, that explains your fashion taste. 😉 (Muffin ducks and runs.) ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legally-blind-how-can-i-possibly-be-legally-blind/458273/14 "2008-07-31T00:34:19Z")
[QUOTE=Mahna Mahna] On the bright side, at least you can see the E properly. I can’t even do that much. ☹ [/QUOTE] I saw the same optometrist from the time I got my first pair of glasses at age 7 in 1973 until he retired about 10 years ago. By then I was married and my husband was seeing him too. During the last few years of his practice, he had two cartoons displayed at the reception desk, both of which I had sent him: **Herman:** Guy looking at an eye chart, saying, “I assume there’s an E on there somewhere.” My name added in, pointing to the guy. **Wizard of Id:** Optometrist asks guy to read the smallest type that he can see on the chart. Guy says, “Copyright Acme Eye Chart Company, All Rights Reserved.” Hubby’s name added in, pointing to the guy. Which was about our vision levels at the time. Mr. S had actually pulled the copyright line trick during an eye exam once. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legally-blind-how-can-i-possibly-be-legally-blind/458273/15 "2008-07-31T01:05:23Z")
I never took my glasses off unless I was showering or sleeping. Now since having laser eye surgery in February, I can’t imagine life with them. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legally-blind-how-can-i-possibly-be-legally-blind/458273/16 "2008-07-31T01:05:53Z")
I happen to be going to the ophthalmologist tomorrow. When they flash the big E for me, I think I’ll just say “Four.” ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legally-blind-how-can-i-possibly-be-legally-blind/458273/17 "2008-07-31T01:24:46Z")
I wish I could see the “E” with out my glasses. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legally-blind-how-can-i-possibly-be-legally-blind/458273/18 "2008-07-31T01:31:52Z")
[QUOTE=alice\_in\_wonderland] He then puts up the eye chart to prove it. Yes, I could pick out the ‘E’ - and that was it. The line below that was a total mystery. [/QUOTE] Hehe, I can’t even read that. If I ever go to a new doc who wants me to do an eye test without my contacts, she’ll tell me to read the lowest row that I can. I always start by saying “E.” When she says, “OK, how about the next one,” I respond by telling her that I was kidding, and couldn’t really read the E, but the top of the chart always starts with E. The E for me is just the vaguest of black blurs. The rest of it appears as blank white for me. Welcome to the club! ETA: Yes, I know I’m the most hilarious person to ever walk into an optometrist’s office. But I wonder how many people actually can’t read the giant E on top. I certainly wondered what the point of it was before I went blind. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legally-blind-how-can-i-possibly-be-legally-blind/458273/19 "2008-07-31T01:35:53Z")
[QUOTE=postcards] I happen to be going to the ophthalmologist tomorrow. When they flash the big E for me, I think I’ll just say “Four.” [/QUOTE] Or better yet, tell them “purple.” Then they’ll give you glasses AND a referral to a psychiatrist. Or you could describe a scene that isn’t there. For bonus points, pretend it’s from a porn and get all offended. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2008, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legally-blind-how-can-i-possibly-be-legally-blind/458273/20 "2008-07-31T01:43:35Z")
[QUOTE=BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed] Hehe, I can’t even read that. If I ever go to a new doc who wants me to do an eye test without my contacts, she’ll tell me to read the lowest row that I can. I always start by saying “E.” When she says, “OK, how about the next one,” I respond by telling her that I was kidding, and couldn’t really read the E, but the top of the chart always starts with E. [/quote] Yah, I kind of knew the top one was an E too. I mean, it’s _ALWAYS_ E, isn’t it? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legally-blind-how-can-i-possibly-be-legally-blind/458273.md?page=2)