#3 I Have Low Vision Button

When Millie gets dressed she wears a 2-inch round button with the words “I HAVE LOW VISION” to alert others to her vision problem. Also, its message in large red letters reminds friends to identify themselves. Millie got her button from her Sight Loss Support Group, but you can buy one from the Independent Living Aids catalog for $1.95 with free shipping. Check blog #2 for the catalog website and phone number.

This button often reminds salesclerks to offer help. It’s a reminder to staff in restaurants to offer help. Unless you saw Millie walking with her white cane, you wouldn’t know she was blind. Strangers offer her help all the time and Millie thinks her button identifies her need. It often saves explanations of why help is sometimes needed.

Millie is legally blind, but has peripheral vision, what she calls her “getting around” vision. When her macular degeneration started, Millie had the dry kind. Her central vision was at first blurry, but gradually darkened to the point that she couldn’t see through the darkness in the center.