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Mad-Eye Louie's interview
How did all start?
I was born...
Do you already have a diagnosis? How long did it take you to get it?
Yes, I got my diagnosis right after birth.
For what medical specialties have you been treated? What has been the most useful specialty for your?
Ophthalmology
What has been the most useful thing for you so far?
All the support and encouragement I‘ve been getting from people and my medication without which I‘d most probably have gone blind by now.
What have been your biggest difficulties?
Accepting my impairment and the limitations it causes me. I still struggle sometimes to find my place in society.
How has your social and family environment reacted? Have your social or family relationships changed?
I was born this way, so they never knew a non-disabled me.
What things have you stopped doing?
Riding a bycicle since my vision dropped.
What do you think about the future?
I hope for more advancements in assistive technology to increase my freedom. I‘d most appreciate it if medicine found a way to cure my conditions.
In any case, I‘m looking forward to the future because I‘m curious about where it will lead me.
What would you like to do if you didn’t have your condition?
If I didn‘t have my condition, I would have full visual capacity. I think I‘d like to become a doctor or a biologist.
If you had to describe your life in a sentence, what would it be?
If there is the slightest possibility I can do something, I‘ll grab it.
Finally, what advice would you give to a person in a similar situation?
You have every right to feel frustrated, angry or discouraged at times, this is completely normal and understandable. However, overall you have a choice to make: pity yourself for all the things you can‘t do or focus on what you actually can do. This is no easy thing for everyone and sometimes it‘s not entirely clear what your possibilities are, but get out there and try the things you like, talk to people in similar situations and find your own way to navigate life. Often, with a bit of creativity, there are solutions for many problems you encounter.
