Do we see eye to eye?

Hello my name is Carmin Smith I'm 40 and I am interested in educating the youth which makes me excited to share my story with you. Currently I am considered "legally blind " but I feel I am only visionly impaired. So I was diagnosed at the age of eighteen with a hereditary disorder Retinitis Pigmentosa. Retinitis Pigmentosa(RP) is in simple words three retnal (eye) cells that get messed up until you can no longer see but to be specific most paitents in the earliest time of having Retinitis Pigmentosa first you notice compromised pereprial vision and dim light vision due to the decline of the rod photoreceptors. The progressive rod degeneration is later followed by abnormalities to the adjacent retinal pigment epithelium(RPE) and the deterioration of cone photo-receptors cells.

I was an eighteen year old going into a new beginning both medically and educationally. I was a freshman in college and we had gotten in a minor car crash. After telling my parents I went to my regular eye doctor. When I failed to follow the eye doctors finger with my eyes also known as the finger test ;he suggested that I go to a rhomatologist where my father went as well (that is the hereditary part)  .He diagnosed me Retinitis Pigmentosa!  

I am affected on a everyday basis because in the suburbs no buses or trains to get around and I can't drive so it is an issue,identifcation of a person has been a struggle it can take five minutes to recognize exactly who I am speaking with or is trying to interact, everyone gets tired but when I do my vision starts to deteriorate, it is hard to navigate from place to place without a cane or someone to guide me or  else I can bump into walls or other objects and I have developed night vision where I can basically see nothing at all.  It is annoying but I make it threw.
    There are sometimes emotional downfalls that I receive because every second of the day I am reminded of my diagnosis that I am impaired things I can not do and the danger if I tried some of the few things but I am lucky there is so much I can do. I wake up living the dream of working as a defense attorney. Medically actually I do not have much on my plate aside from using my cane sometimes and past treatments such as Omega 3 and Vitamin A, I do not have much on my plate.

I have never been labeled or felt discrimanated aside from an old boss of mine but it is okay he did not know really. I live a very happy life this may be a part of my life but it is not everything.