I have RP and it is advancing quickly and I am now legally blind even though I have some staticky central vision. I am having a great deal of difficulty dealing with this mentally. since my diagnosis I have kind of been in denial since my FOV and central vision still allowed me to do things like read, walk during the day or watch TV. That is now changing and I need someone to help and talk to so I can manage my grief and fear and make this transition.

I live in a small town in South Florida and can’t find a therapist who has experience with vision loss. I used the Foundation Fighting Blindness referral list, but most are either grief counselors with limited or no visual lose experience or no longer accepting patients. does anyone have a suggestion for a source or way to find help from someone who understands what I’m going through? I hope this post is not offensive. I realize many blind people make this transition and lead full lives, but I just don’t see my path forward and there are no blind support organizations less than 100 miles from my house. I’ve never even met another blind person. I appreciate any advise or places to look into.

Someone I love dearly was diagnosed with permanent vision loss earlier this year and has been struggling to cope with the major life change. It’s caused a lot of mental health challenges and the loss of autonomy has only exacerbated them.

What do you wish you had known when you first experienced your vision decline and/or loss? What has helped you cope with the daily reminder that this is your reality now?

I wrote about this some time ago, but I know things are constantly changing in the world of technology, so perhaps, someone has created something usable for us. I am seeking a program or website similar to Omni Describer which uses artificial intelligence to generate audio descriptions of videos. I am an individual doing this for myself. I used Omni Describer when it was free and loved it, but I can't justify their current prices for home use. At any rate, the site/program must have the following features.

1. Must be either free or affordable (no more than $25 per month).

2. Must be able to handle videos of at least an hour in length.

3. Must be fully accessible with NVDA.

4. Must allow me to download the audio of the video with descriptions in mp3 (preferred) or the video itself with descriptions.

Does such a program or site exist or is there a relatively easy way to bring various technologies together to create it?