07/30/2026
Getting Used to a New Home with Vision Loss
We moved in October, and as a person with vision loss, getting used to a new home takes a different kind of time.
Sure my stuff is the same, but everything else feels different and that can be disorientating. Stairs are wood, not carpet, so how I curl my toes to find the edge feels different, where did that bottle opener get put? Oh yah, we aren’t putting cups there anymore….what cupboard are they in now? How did it go walk in to the counter corner, again? And the biggie….he light.
Our last two homes were a townhouse and an apartment, so I never really thought about how much natural light could affect me. I mean, windows are windows, right?
Then October turned into winter, and the snow arrived.
In our old homes, I only saw the snow if I was standing at the window. In this house, it felt like I couldn't escape it. Snow reflected from the front of the house, the back of the house, and every window in between. Our bay window overlooks a field, and with all that snow and light reflecting through the windows, it often felt like someone was shining a flashlight in my eyes all day long. This is as annoying as it sounds then on top of that it obstructed my useable vision.
I love natural light... but this was different and often mentally and physically painful.
There were days I wanted to tape black garbage bags over the windows just to get a break, but I don’t live here alone, so that wasn't really an option.
Instead, I had to do something I've done many times before but am always surprised that I still going through another faze of it.
I had to embrace my blindness all over again.
As someone with no central vision, I have learned to be in tune to my peripheral vision, but in this case I had to rely less on the useable vision I have and more on my other senses. I had accepted that some days would simply be more visually draining than others, and that it's okay to nap. At the time I saw that as failure but once I reminded my self that I needed to recharge differently than most, well…..lets just say thats an old habit I missed.
Other things I found myself doing lots of was shuffling my feet more. Curling my toes around stairs, walking with my hands out more than normal….things that I use to hate having to do cause it made me feel blind.
By the time winter ended, something funny happened.
I now feel more connected to my home, and faster, than anyone else living in it.
Getting your home to be your sanctuary is a difficult process when you have a vision impairment anyways, moving and trying to do that is a huge challenge. But, when you come out the other side and feel peace….well, you have peace!
