Heroines Wear Glasses

Justin Oldham, creator of A.C.: After Collapse, has always been a fan of unique heroes and heroines.  "One of my favorite writers is John Christopher, author of The Tripods book series--and--The Death of Grass.  While first encountering 'The White Mountains' (published 1968), I was struck by the fact that Jean-Paul (a.k.a. Beanpole) wore glasses.  Despite his limitation, he perseveres through 3 books.  That literary factoid stayed lodged in my brain through most of my childhood, in to later adult life where I put it to good use."

Justin remembered, "I lost an eye to glaucoma when I was a teenager.  I went back to reading about Beanpole and his glasses while I recovered from that process.  Throughout grade school, many of the fictional characters I wrote about for classroom assignments were visually impaired.  Some of my teachers were skeptical; could a kid who couldn't see really do those things?  Really?  I thought so.  Anyone who has read about the life of Helen Keller knows that it really is possible to exceed your limitations.  As hard as it is for parents with visually impaired children, its even harder to be the man or woman who grows up to live with partial eyesight.  You're not quite sighted and not quite blind, you don't easily fit in as one or the other."

"As interesting as the whole post-apocalyptic thing is, I have often wondered how anyone survives the event.  Suppose you're like me and you don't see very well?  What are you going to do about it?  Some of us are not the dashing movie-star type with lots of muscles; we have got to work with what we have--or don't have, as the case may be.  Ask anyone who doesn't see very well--and--if they are honest, they'll tell you some amount of patience is needed to understand the world around them.  Disabilities of any kind make you think about the world around you, in a different way.  Learn it and how that unique insight works, you won't be disappointed."

Your Ocular Prosthetic

Justin Oldham was born with Aniridia and Glaucoma.  These conditions cause him to be visually impaired enough to be classified as Legally Blind.  He lost an eye due to Glaucoma when he was a teenager.  Your Ocular Prosthetic is a short book that provides the reader with an introduction to cosmetic eye replacements (i.e., ocular prosthetics).

Eye loss is not quite what you'd think it is, the process can be rapid due to accident--or--gradual when diseases like Glaucoma damage the eye slowly over time.  "It really is not the end of your world," Justin says, "People are surprisingly adaptable, with or without both of their eyes."

Living with Low Vision

No matter how little eyesight anyone has, they are still capable of being happy and quite productive.  Living with Low Vision can be thought of as a compilation of useful reference information about life as visually impaired person.  In this book, Justin Oldham talks about a wide range of professional subjects that include employment, office etiquette, and everyday navigation to and from work.  Terminology and definitions in a glassory provide the reader with important context.

"Many of us lose enough eyesight later in life to make something like this useful," Justin mentioned, "Even if you don't need to make this transition, a book like this can still be just what you need to understand those of us who have partially sighted since birth."  Topics of interest include mobility and orientation skills, voting, and common technology use.

Being Legally Blind

Being Legally Blind: Observations for Parents of Visually Impaired Children is a self-help book written by Justin Oldham.  He draws on a lifetime of experience as a person with glaucoma and other vision impairments that include eye loss.  "There was no such thing," Justin explained, "My parents never had access to material like this.  I've been planning to write this book for most of my life."

Subjects are geared for parents, or friends of people who are visually impaired.  "The idea was to give them a frame of reference," the author considered, "I wanted normally sighted people to understand what it is like to be one of us."  Topics of interest include assistive technologies and bullying.