Thank you to Sara, who after recently starting up an Instagram page (Girl in the Fog) raising awareness of her eye conditions, was kind enough to share her story...
My name is Sara, I’m Italian and I currently live in Germany with my husband and our cat. I’m a teacher, I love travelling, taking photos, reading books, running and I’m visually impaired/legally blind.
I was born with a corneal anomaly called: "bilateral corneal opacity“ in both eyes. Since the doctors thought I had almost no vision in my right eye whereas my left eye, being more developed, had a higher chance of being cured, they thought of performing an operation. When I was only 40 days old I had a corneal transplant in my left eye, which eventually failed; then, at the age of 2 I had my eye removed and I have been wearing a prosthetic eye ever since. I soon developed glaucoma in my right eye which also has nystagmus.
Being visually impaired has always been something extremely normal to me because I have seen in this way since I can remember; that’s why I’m extremely used to both the prosthetic and the low vision and most of the time I don’t even remember that I’m visually impaired.
Being brought up by my family as anyone else, despite my extreme low vision, has been the key to a life full of experiences and adventures. As I never really felt different, I have learned to live my life not preventing myself from doing anything, not even moving alone in a foreign country to carry out my studies. I might have a different approach to things but I really think that anyone can do everything in their own way.
Recently, I started a page on Instagram called “girl in the fog” in which I openly talk about my condition and I try to raise awareness on vision impairment and prosthetic eyes, but I also show that everyone can have a wonderful life despite their conditions and challenges.
I spent most of my life doing things that I wasn’t supposed to do according to my diagnosis. I tried and tried ‘till I eventually found a way to cope with things. I’m not saying that living with low vision is a walk in the park... low days and challenges are part of my daily routine; however I believe that with a positive mindset and maybe with a “personal” approach to things we really can turn situations around and find our own way to do everything.
My motto has always been that everyone can do anything in their own way. I’m aware that I need to adapt to environments and places, and I trained my memory quite a lot to remember streets and places, or even simply where I put my phone so that I won’t spend so much time looking for it, but I have decided to wake up in the morning focusing on what I have and what I can do and not constantly thinking about my struggles or my limits, because this would make me feel worthless.
Although it took me a while to be completely comfortable with who I am, I really feel good in my shoes and I consider myself happy with a fulfilling life.
I still have many dreams and goals to achieve, despite my struggles, despite my vision, despite my limits. I know that I can, and I will!
Please take a look at Sara's fab Instagram page; Girl in the Fog: https://www.instagram.com/_girlinthefog_/
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