With its now 80-year history, it is only natural to imagine that BVA would have forged ongoing relationships with scores of national organizations throughout those years. Such has certainly been the case. Our National Headquarters receives regular newsletters, magazines, and other informative media from both sister Veterans Service Organizations and from organizations of and for the blind.

One such publication, Your Eyes Today, is received monthly from the Prevention of Blindness Society of Metropolitan Washington. Despite being relatively small and based only locally, the Society announces periodic webinars and in-person events within the publication. A recent brief but insightful blurb by Your Eyes Today editor Tara Aziz, Senior Coordinator of Low Vision Programs at the Society, addresses a topic often confronting BVA members, Living with Vision Loss: When Help Isn’t Needed. The helpful blurb is reprinted here:

How often have you been at a restaurant, unsure of what’s on the table, hesitant to ask the person beside you? How often do you see someone but can’t recognize their face, uncertain whether to ask who they are? Do you feel comfortable asking your partner, friend, or neighbor for help when you need it, or do you wish they wouldn’t insist so much, struggling to find the right words to say that you don’t need it this time?

Living with vision impairment means navigating a world where small moments can become challenges. Many of us would be standing in a crowded café, unable to read the menu on the wall, debating whether to ask for help or take a guess. The embarrassment, the frustration, all builds up!

And then there are the well-meaning people who want to assist, assuming that we need help without asking. It’s hard to tell them, “I appreciate it, but I’ve got this.” Because sometimes, independence is just as important as assistance.

Vision impairment isn’t just about what we can’t see, it’s about choices, the courage to ask, and the balance between accepting help and standing on our own.