Call to action: Come help make a big splash for a big impact!

Hi Blog world,

 

Grab your swimsuit, goggles, and sun block and jump into a pool! Wednesday, November 1st, is Nystagmus Awareness Day This day is to help educate the public about the Nystagmus, about how it affects people, and what we can achieve with help from the community, medical professionals, and our peers from the online support groups.

 

For those of you that don’t know Nystagmus is a condition where a person’s eyes move continuously, sometimes they move in a vertical, horizontal, or in a circular pattern, and sometimes there can be a combined form of movements. A person can either be born with Nystagmus (called Congenital), or some people can be impacted later in life (called Acquired). Because of these movements our world is blurry, and for some people who have Acquired Nystagmus our world can appear to be moving.

 

There are many different causes of Nystagmus, some of us are born with it because it runs in our family through genetics, for others it’s a result of another condition that they have such as, Optic Nerve Hypoplasia, or Albinism, for some of us there is no known cause. For those that have Acquired Nystagmus sometimes people get it because of vertigo, a head injury or a brain tumor.

Whatever the cause I want the public to know that this condition doesn’t stop us from dreaming big! We hold all different kinds of jobs from journalists to teachers.  There are all different kinds of devices that can help us achieve our dreams, from screen readers to discounted bus passes.

However, we can’t achieve these dreams without help from the public:

–  Be understand that Nystagmus can affect us on a daily basis and there are ways that we can accommodate ourselves-for most of us our quality of vision changes throughout the day, please be patience when we are having a hard time seeing something.

-One of the myths about Nystagmus that I hear on a daily basis is that we can’t do things because of our vision –I would like to burst that myth right now. This myth is completely false! There is nothing we can’t do! except the majority of us can’t drive, and there are ways to get around it such as, carpooling, or taking the bus. There are many success stories on the online forms of children and adults achieving success on a daily basis.

–  Lastly, a big part of the Nystagmus Awareness Day is to raise funds. With these funds the medical community is working hard to improve the quality of life of people with Nystagmus and to help find a cure.

 

To learn more about Nystagmus, the Nystagmus Network charity or to make a donation:  http://nystagmusnetwork.org/

 

To learn more about Nystagmus, the American Nystagmus Network, or to make a donation: http://nystagmus.org/new/

 

If you can’t make it to the pool to make a splash then consider ordering one or both of these wristbands:

 

Click here to order wrist bands from the Nystagmus Family Foundation

Click here to order wrist bands from the American Nystagmus Network

 

Thank you for helping the Nystagmus Network, American Nystagmus Network and the Nystagmus community make a big splash on this very special day!

Blog soon,

Amanda Gene