www.iva.co.uk

I know this isn't a health site but I need a whinge. I needed new specs so I popped over to the opticians yesterday and had a bit of a shock. It appears I may be going blind in my right eye, this on top of losing my hearing in my right ear. Does anyone know if this affects your ability to drive or can you continue on one good eye? If I have to lose the car then the wife will have to lose her part time job which may affect the IVA proposal in a big way as she will not be able to claim benefits for six months I think. Its true what they say ... when one door closes another one slams in your face[:(]

I'm so sorry to hear that Ray - is there nothing the doctors can do?

Regarding driving, I'm not sure but someone I used to know was blind in one eye and still drove, although this was years ago. Did your optician give you any advice? It might be worth having a look on the RNIB website - www.rnib.org.uk.

BTW, whinge away, there's always someone here to listen even if we don't know the answers x

Ray that's awful, I hope something can be done for you. I'm not sure about the driving thing, sorry. Thinking of you, Viki X

So sorry to hear your news Ray. Is it a cataract you have? If so, my hubbie had one last year and it was removed and his sight is brilliant in that eye. I take it the optician has referred you to either your doctor or the hospital

My hubbie,who is a retired bobby, says he think you will have to inform DVLA and they will say yes or no to the driving.

Hope everything works out for u hun xx

sorry to hear about your health, hope something can be done to fix it for you, as to your wife claiming jsa, she wont automatically lose her benefits, her case will go to a decision maker and if a sanction on her benfit is imposed it will be between 1 to 26 wks depending on her individual circumstances, if there is no public transport available and no one else to give her a lift she will probably receive a small sanction if any and she will receive money whilst her claim is being looked at.
hope this eases a little bit of worry for you.

I wear glasses this corrects my left eye but I only really have periferal vision im my right eye (doesn't focus properly), doesn't affect my ability to drive though, my sight has been like this since birth and I've been driving for 15years.

My nan is in her 80's and only has vision in one eye , has done for ages , but was cleared to drive when she had to renew her licence. Evidently the fact she is an awful driver is nowt to do with her eyes[;)]

We have somebody at work with a glass eye and he still drives. In fact it is part of his job to drive around.

I hope you start to get some good news soon.

Thinking of you

Marie

My husbands uncle has a glass eye and he drives, he's a builder. I do hope you get sorted soon Ray, thinking of you x

Thanks for all the info helpful peeps and peepettes. Especially the info about all the blind drivers lol ... and to Rockbottom for the info on JSA. There are no buses at 4.30am and no one out our way works near Mrs Scollen. I've contacted DVLA via email so should hear summat soon. I cheated and used a false name just in case lol

as with all sorry to hear of your health problems. Hope things improve for you,its amazing what can be done these days.
And I also knew someone who was blind in one eye and he drove...a great big campervan too...[:D]

Sorry to hear of your news Ray ... I hope all turns out ok.

As one who has never had to wear glasses before at my last optician's appointment they gave me a prescription. I've had my new specs for six months now and at first it was a case of they didn't make much difference but over the last three months my eyes have got really bad ... my vision is blurry and my arms are not long enough to read the small print.

Is this normal? Can your eyes go wonky in such a short space of time?

Debbie

I didn't think they went bad quite so quickly, but I think I would go back to the optician for advice. Have you tried reading without your glasses on? You may find you are able to. Before I had varifocal lenses I used to be able to read no problem with my glasses off, but needed them for distance.

I have tried not to use the new specs too often as I didn't want to get used to them all the time I could see ok ... but I'm needing to use them most of the time for reading.

Debbie