Meet our #WarriorOfTheWeek, Lyndsey! ????
Spotlight on: Lyndsey Wray ???? @ThatLyndsey_OffDuty
“I’m Lyndsey, I’m 48 years old & live in the UK. I’ve always had some VS related issues, including sparkles on plain bright backgrounds like blue skies, but I just thought everyone saw those!
Over the last 20 or so years, other symptoms have appeared & increased including: Classic visual snow. Floaters. Palinopsia. Photophobia. Spontaneous photopsia & blue field entoptic phenomenon. It never gets dark, even when I close my eyes. Sometimes it just gets brighter & busier!
I try to minimise excess light, glare & contrast as possible: I don’t drive. I work for myself. On both my laptop & phone, I have screen filter apps that knock out blue light & high contrast & add a peachy tint. For my laptop or reading, I have glasses with grade 2 (medium) tint. My prescription distance glasses are light reactive, & I’ve had some (very expensive) prescription sunglasses that have a grade 4 (very dark) polaroid tint, with additional anti-glare coating on both sides of the lens. I wear a cap with a visor a lot!
I’ve never really been scared about having VS symptoms. I had a lot of anxiety growing up & was severely agoraphobic. As a recovering agoraphobic, I need to keep pushing myself to get out & do things, so I just can’t allow my vision issues to hold me back. I do find it very distracting & limiting, & it’s taken me a long time to feel ok about advocating for myself because it is such an invisible disability.
I’m looking forward to the future: I’m about to move to one of the UK’s most beautiful areas, the Lake District, & I recently passed my basic Domestic Electrical Installer exams. I’m looking forward to starting a new career over the next year or two. I’m also really reassured by the work being done by organisations like the VSI. It gives me hope one day there might be a cure &, in the meantime, it helps bring us all together to support & learn from each other. Keep smiling!”
