Impact on work and daily life activities …

Coffe Coup on a table, only cup is clearly visible in short distance

...you might not think of

The Obvious


Just impossible 

Things I cannot do any more due to my eyesight, many of them already are basically impossible for the last few years.

  • Driving a car or riding a bike or running 
  • Work productively in my profession with the tools required in my line of business
  • Identify/recognize people
  • See traffic coming 

Hardly possible 

Things I have (extreme) difficulties to perform due to my eyesight
(many of which cannot be done with help of a smartphone/magnifier)   

  • Read books or magazines
  • Read user manuals, instructions, medication inserts, instructions for food preparation
  • Read letters 
  •  See keys on the phone or identify caller/address book entries 
  •  See the bus number  
  •  Read bills/receipts 
  •  Fill forms (especially paper forms) 
  •  Read street signs 
  •  Read a menu in a restaurant 
  •  Thread-in a needle 

Maybe Not Obvious


Just impossible

  • Understand "visual" instructions like on twist-caps or the like
  • See the end of the street straight ahead 
  • Count items "by the eye" 
  • Put on nail-polish 
  • Put on proper eye-makeup 
  • Making clothes or modifying clothes using a sewing machine 

 Hardly possible 


Things I have (extreme) difficulties to perform due to my eyesight 
(many of which cannot be done with help of a smartphone/magnifier)  

  • Measure liquids in a measuring glass, weighing portions
  • Read/identify "unknown" or "unexpected" word or signs 
  • Change settings of the air conditioning 
  • Remove, e.g., a cactus thorn from my finger 
  • Read any kind of handwriting (including my own) 
  • Read text written in capital letters 
  • Manage online banking (security tokens are a real "killer") 
  • Follow directions like "you see the blue sign over there, then turn right"  
  • Find my taxi driver (with a sign stating my name at the airport or see the taxi logo when he is parking a few meters away) 
  • Shopping for items where I don't know the color/shape or in which shelf they are located 

Jutta Miroiu-Dunker