Any Interest in Guide Dogs or Blindness-related Material

[paisleyplace]

Hi Everyone:

I hope I am doing this correctly. It is a suggestion/Request area so I hope I am in the right place.

It seems there is little content available as far as I found so far regarding blindness, causes of blindness, and guide dogs. I would like to know if there is any interest in these types of articles and if so, I am available to write on the subjects since I am both blind and I have a guide dog. I am actually working with my second guide dog now.

In case anyone wonders, I lost my sight in my mid-20s as an adult. I retained a fair amount of usable light perception until about 30. Today I am in my late 30s but not yet 40. Since I plan to stop counting at 39, I will never make it to 40. (grin)

My blindness is the result of an eye disease that went undiagnosed for many years. It is retinitis pigmentosa and works the complete opposite of macular degeneration. In RP, the person loses peripheral vision whereas with MC, the person loses central vision.

The blindness complicated several years ago after doctors learned I had system lupus erythematosus and Sjogren's Disease. SLE and Sjogren's both contribute to deterioration of the retinas but as if that were not enough, the medication to slow the progression of lupus also causes retinal damage; however, the doctors and scientists have no idea how the anti-malarial drugs slow the progression of lupus. They know only that it does but in the process, it damages the retinas due to the high dosage required to slow the disease.

Information I do not learn first hand, which does not leave much, I learn through Q&A sessions with those on a guide dog support group I own and moderate online in addition to another blind support group for families. Additionally, I made a wonderful friend of Barbara Jennings, the wife of Shirl Jennings. These names may not mean much to anyone outside the blind community but the movie titled At First Sight is based on the life of Shirl Jennings and his wife Barbara. Virgil, portrayed by Val Kilmer is portraying the part of Shirl while the female actress, her name escapes me at the moment, portrayed Barbara.

My only regret is that I was unable to meet with Shirl before he passed away a few years ago; however, I thoroughly enjoy the conversations I have with Barbara. She is an extremely sweet and knowledgeable woman anyone would be fortunate to have as a friend. She is a wealth of information when it comes to blindness. I am grateful to know her and call her a friend.

If this post is out of line or in the wrong place, moderators please feel free to delete it. I do not want to add anything to the wrong section. I am still working the bugs out of my computer since my daughter upgraded it to Vista. My screen reader with magnification program is having fits with the new software. Additionally, I am having a bad vision day so what little vision I do retain is worthless even with magnification. Today I have to rely totally on the reader.

Warmest regards to all,

Paisley

[Ed]

Paisley,

You are welcome to write on any topic. Once articles are approved, they become available to our customer base. Sometimes customers will send in specific requests about the types of content they are looking for. Others will simply drop in and purchase articles as they are needed. Articles may sell within a couple of days or may sit around longer. However, as many of the authors will tell you here, they often have articles sell when they least expect it, which is always a nice surprise.

There has been some interest in animal/dog-related content as of late, so you might try an article or two about guide dogs.

Good luck,
Ed