Journey with Juvenile Macular Degeneration to Rehabilitation Counselor

by Steve
(Aberdeen, South Dakota)

I have had an interesting journey. At age sixteen I was seen by my local eye doctor.

I was not informed about my diagnosis but he did tell my parents that it appeared I had juvenile macular degeneration.

At that time I believe he called it Best's Macualar Degeneration. My vision at that time was still 20/20 in both eyes. I grew up in South Dakota however after a couple years of college a friend and I decided to head to California.

It was at that time I started to notice some vision problems. I went to the optometrist and she referred me to the Stanford Medical Research Center. It was then that I was informed that I had Stargardt's macular degeneration.

Unfortunately they did not have a very good bed side manner and I can recall how they introduced my new eye condition to me. He stated that I won't go totally blind but I would eventually lose my driver's license and not be able to read print. I left the office thinking I would be losing my vision the next day.

I quit my job and came back to South Dakota. I eventually finished college and have been working as a Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor for the Blind and Visually impaired for the past twenty seven years.

I would like to note that I have been fortunate in the fact my vision progressed very slowly.

I have worked with many other individuals who were diagnosed with Juvenile Macular Degeneeration but I have not seen any that have progressed as slowly as mine.

It took almost thirty years before I became legally blind and even at that level of vision I function very well.

I still hunt, fish, play basketball, and ski. I use ZoomTextZoom Text and the Clarity CCTV at work.

So I guess I just want to say if you let it get you down it will and if you continue to keep a good attitude you can pursue many things in life. Utilize the resources available to you.

Contact your State agencies to know what services you can access.