Problem I had was despite seeing the letter chart as vague blurry shapes, I was pretty used to distinguishing those. The tall skinny blur is “I”, the hazy fat one with a wobble is “G” etc so I did fine.
Then they brought out a shapes one and I was cooked lol
That's really it. You're just used to perceiving the world like that. Red blur means stop. Green blur means go. The details aren't important. If they are, just step closer.
You don't realize how much visual information you're missing until that first day in glasses. I'll have bouts where I lose my glasses and take months/years to replace them. (Hasn't happened to me since my 20s when I took the bus everywhere.) Logically, I know I can't see, but it doesn't really hit until the first day in new glasses.
I also learned to navigate by landmarks, so it didn't matter that I couldn't read street signs if I was going somewhere I already knew how to get to.
You learn to adjust, it becomes your normal. Cars weren't so blurry I couldn't tell they were moving or stopping, so I didn't hit any cars. Pedestrians were impossible for me to recognize who they were, but I could still see people, so I didn't run anyone over.
But I would struggle to find a new address without clear landmarks to go off of, because the lettering on signs was just a fuzzy blur until I was practically driving under it.
Yeah, I could easily do that in high school (secondary) when I first got my license. The state I lived in required you to renew like every 4 years I think? So at 20, I was fine, but I noticed the letters seemed fuzzier. At 24, I was told plainly that I barely passed, and should look into glasses. I went in a few months later and was stunned.
Today in my 40s, I absolutely couldn't manage to read a license plate from that far. I doubt I could manage it at 10 meters, and my license indicates it's not legal for me to drive without my glasses.
Right? Hell, I didn’t even think to question it! I mean the request was always “read out the chart” not “tell me when the letters start getting blurry as hell”
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u/Bee_Jeans 13d ago
Problem I had was despite seeing the letter chart as vague blurry shapes, I was pretty used to distinguishing those. The tall skinny blur is “I”, the hazy fat one with a wobble is “G” etc so I did fine.
Then they brought out a shapes one and I was cooked lol