Imagine this, if you will: You suffer from an impairment or disability that, in some way, makes life slightly bit more difficult and annoying. This is something that you can not help but think about, at least, once per day, and, in general, it's not a matter that you like or are that thrilled about. So, when people remind you of it, bring it up, or ask you about it, you explain it, and don't want to talk about it much more than that. Now, take that situation, and make it a disability that is not readily visible on your physical appearance, something which is below the surface, so nobody is really aware of it unless, through some act that makes it blatant, you indicate it to him, or you directly mention it. Friends, sometimes, bring it up, usually in a tone of disbelief, as though you have forgotten about it, or they can't grasp exactly what you mean when you tell them what is wrong with you. Even when you tell them what's wrong, some people even present you with a solution, in a tone like you would to a child or a retard, that you know wouldn't help, so you point that out, and they don't believe that it would not change anything. Sounds annoying, yes?
My vision is abnormal. Don't ask me why, but through whatever reasons: genetics, an act done young, incomplete development, I don't know, my eyes are incapable of being corrected to a level beyond 20/40. So, you say to yourself, damn, that's not that bad, you just wear thick glasses or something. Riight... No. What the medical terminology 20/40 means is that what the person sees at 20 feet, the average person can see at 40 feet, twice twenty. I have never had 20/20 vision, so I don't know what's it like to see like everyone else, but the world seems ecstatic to throw that in my face every turn and step I take, though. People point things out I can't see in the distance, I'm trying to find someone and I just can't... It's a pain.
Also, on top of that, I am colour-blind. When a human is colour-blind, it does not mean they see in grayscale, contrary to what popular belief is, it means that he lacks the ability to identify certain colours and differentiate them from similar tones. Some common cases are blue and green, red and brown, purple and blue. If you happen to be familiar with the colour wheel, you'll notice it usually had to do with one colour and another that is made up of that first colour and another: blue and green, which is blue combined with yellow. I have it with several sets, and, usually, in dim or insufficient lights, I might think a shirt I have on is green, but I notice it is blue in the sunlight or higher lamplight. Again, nothing I can really do about that, I live with it, and it is irritating. Especially so when friends, or people, in general, can never seem to comprehend why or how I can't tell that something is olive green, not yellow.
Due to factors I don't really understand, partially having to do with my light blue eyes, partially due to constant dilation, I believe, I am overly sensitive to large amounts of light. When I walk from the outside into a darkened room, for instance, it takes me, at minimum, thirty seconds to focus enough to see where I am. Grocery stores, hospitals, offices, and areas which, typically, are set up with flood or flourescent lighting, are just way too bright for me, and I don a pair of sunglasses to compensate. Now that I no longer wear glasses, because I had laser surgery in an attempt to get rid of, for one and primarily, my thick prescription glasses, and, to a lesser and more idealistic degree, hopefully improve my vision, a bit, I wear sunglasses, a lot... In fact, most of the time, in places where most normal people take them off. I do it not because I'm simply trying to "look cool," but because it cuts down on the light, which helps me see more clearly. On that same note, amber-tinted lenses seem to be the best for my eyes, I guess, because of the placement of red on the colour spectrum. When I am able to have the time to focus in the dark, also, I am capable of seeing more than what most people can, too. A recent example would be that, while watching a play, (A most excellent one, actually) the stage darkened per a fade out, and I was still able to see the players on the stage... That struck me as a bit odd, which I pointed out to my friend sitting next to me. To quote him, all in all, I have some weird vision.
Nothing, and I mean nothing, irks me more than someone telling me I need glasses. Someone sees me squinting to read something, they loudly and enthusiastically advice me to do so, I tell them I used to, but I had surgery, then they have the god damned gall to tell me, "Well, it didn't work, I guess!" Ugh... Sure, maybe their intentions are good, but they're, essentially, doing the equivalent to walking up to a man in a wheelchair, slapping him on the knee, and saying, "Gee, you need to get you some new legs!" Of course, they don't know that's what they're doing because I don't wear a sign around my neck that says "Visually Impaired," but... Well, when I explain it to someone, and they still tell me I need glasses, or, occasionally, say something to the effect of "Wow, your eyes really aren't all that good," my only thought is to overcome the urge to gouge their eyes out of their skulls and spend every day for the remainder of my life reminding them that they have no way of seeing.
Embittered? Hell, yeah, I am. I don't drive, at the age of nineteen, because of my vision. Not because of the distance I am able to see, it's legal to drive with 20/40, but because of the amount of time it takes me to focus my eyes on the dashboard after staring out the windshield. I doubt anyone would be comfortable driving when it takes them thirty to fourty seconds to read the speedometer. Also, I have a hard time catching, mostly because there is very little chance for me to follow an object moving at high speeds. So, yeah... It's a... Pain, for lack of other words, my vocabulary slowly degrading the later in the night it becomes, and the more aggravated I get thinking about it.
In conclusion... The next time you feel the urge to give your expert advise as someone entirely unfamiliar with the intricacies of optometry to a man or woman you see having trouble reading a sign... Shove it up your ass, because you don't know if you may be pissing another person in my same shoes off.

Adios.

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