NOAH AOC

does your visual impairment get in the way of your friendships?

 mine dosen't really but sometimes my friends just point and say "look" and I tell them "whats going on what are you pointing at I can't see it"

I find that I don't make friends very easily because of a lack of confidence and self-esteem that I| pretty much exclusively assign to my albinism.  Sadly.  Then, when I have freinds I tend to wreck that for the same reasons and find myself very isolated.  Hard to explain what I mean, but I think other people tend to find it quite difficult to understand and stuff.  I'm trying to be in contact with more albinos because I think that I'll feel a lot more comfortable around them.  Then, hopefully this will increase my confidence and self-esteem at the moment so that I can then work on my fully sighted friends who I do think find it a bit more difficult to be freinds with me and end up not asking me to do stuff with them because they have to go out of their way sometimes with things like pointing things out, or coming to get me.

Its not all down to my albinism and visual problems.  I am very aware that I have a lot of problems with my personality that are not attributable to my albinism.

Katie

I havve not pro blems  with my friends, but I'd be lying if ignored the way that the new friends act with me.

I have four great friends, they are practically my brothers sometimes they try include me in its "normal programs "how  to go the parties or in others places. I do not go cause I'm albinic .i don't go cause I prefer  any another activity how to study for example and it for me is a normal way and are not related with albinism. I thik that sometimes , we must to respect our skill of being that 's singular  your own way

thanks

I am really shy so I don't make many friends all that easily but the friends i already do have are really supportive of myy condition. I don't have a great self esteem but it'snot horrible either.

~caleah

it doesn't really affect my friendships. i've grown into a very friendly and outgoing-too outgoing at times might I add- person.

I was recently talking about it with some of them recently and they all pretty much said that if it wasn't for the fact that i have to keep objects very close to my face when i'm reading, or that i need a little help for things that are afar, they really wouldnt know i was an albino. which i personally take as a major compliment.

Though to start with it's a bit hard, it's just little things they learn with time like if it's a really sunny day and i'll ask someone for their hand or elbow to walk, they won't mind, or they'll read out loud things that are far for me to read. it's nothing major and true friends won't  mind doing these little things for you.

I used to feel very bad about it untill a while ago but then i learned it's not much i ask for and that "if they can't "deal" with being around me, then they re not worth my friendships". 

 it's actually hard to have friends because no everyone wants to deal with the fact that I can't read things from far and I always ask the closest person to me what does something say.  most of the times though I do ask my friends because they always like helping me out and I always do them favors also so it's a win, win thing for me.  sometimes my friends get annoyed at me because even though it's right there in front of me I still can't read it sometimes, when it comes down to going outside I always have my glasses and a hat on so I can see without the sun blinding me, I can see perfectly but without a hot and glasses i'm almost blind.  anyway my friends are my life and so is my family.  without people that help me and care about me I don't how I would have done if none if them were around.  so here's to them my boys for life, Jay, Ant, Chris, and Manny the crew for life.

For me finding friends was hard when I was younger but since 10th grade I have become great friends with a whole bunch of kids on my rowing team and we hang out all the time and since I can't drive all of them don't mind going out of their way and dropping me off or picking up and they accept for who I am.  For me joining a sports team was the best thing that I did in High School, I will be a senior this year and things really change once people grow up and realize that you are still a person even though you can't see everything that they can.   

Alex:

does your visual impairment get in the way of your friendships?

 mine dosen't really but sometimes my friends just point and say "look" and I tell them "whats going on what are you pointing at I can't see it"

When I was younger I know that my visual impairment did give me problems in making friends my own age. I think that was because it was hard to explain to people that I couldn't see certain things during certain times of the day. I had a friend that had a different visual impairment then I did. Her's was in the way she processed things. I either had friends that were younger then me or I would talk to adults. I had a very few friends that were my age. And, unless I was attending a summer camp that I would go to during the month of June when I was living out in Utah. All the students at this summer camp for the blind and visually impaired at the school for the blind in Utah. But, still most of those friends were younger then me by a year or more.  

Mine doesnt really get in the way. I have tons of friends, but yea, I hate when people point and say "LOOK." It drives me insane. Usually I just pretend I have some idea of what they're talking about.. Most of the time they get the message. I'm a pretty confident person most of the time though, so I think that helps. I'd have to thank my family for that. =]

The hardest thing about having friends is that most of mine aren't albino and have no idea what it's like. I feel isolated quite a lot. Tha'ts why I'm here. Maybe someone with Albinism lives around me. I don't know.

Haha. Yea. I wish people would've realized that sooner. I'll be a senior this year too. I wish we had more sports at my school... All the sports we have wouldnt be good for a girl with horrible eyesite. =] Oh well. I would've loved track but we don't even have that..

I am in band though. That can be tough at times, but it's worth it for all the experiences. I still feel bad bumming a ride a lot of the times. The only friend that lives near me doesnt even have a license. What fun is it being able to get a license and not even getting one. I just don't get it. Oh well.