The eyetest

Today was the day- eye test day.

I have been putting it off for a good while, unsure if or how it would be possible in a wheelchair, but the deterioration in my sight and the increased sensitivity to light meant I knew I needed to go.

On entering the Specsavers branch for my eyetest, my husband and girls were stopped from coming with me. My husband is my carer and we can't really leave our girls unsupervised outside anywhere. So I had to go in alone. There were no squares left on the floor for me to wait in the waiting area, so I was directed to park in the centre of the shop, facing the doors. 

I haven't had a panic attack for almost eight years, but sitting there in my powerchair, in the centre of the opticians, facing the doors, with the staff discussing what to do with the wheelchair and how to get the wheelchair in for the pretest tests I could feel the same familiar rumblings in my body. This was so scary I texted my husband to let him know. I know it was made worse because I was also there alone.

I always struggle to be alone in a room with a man I don't know and do everything I can to avoid it. But the optician at this branch was male. He was talkiong with other menbers of staff about how to move the machines around in the pretest area so the wheelchair could fit in. I assumed they also wanted me in the wheelchair, but they seemed to have forgotten that: 

1. Everyone in the building could hear them, including me and 

2. There is a person in the wheelchair who is there as a customer.

As my family were turned away to wait in the car park, we were told I would be around 30minutes. 

I was taken in for the pretests fairly promptly and it was simple enough for me to undo my seatbelt and stretch over for one machine for air to be puffed into each eye, then to the other side for the second one where I was meant to be looking at a light but there weasn't one until the fourth attempt. My neck has been hurting as a result of the stretching, but it was a risk worth taking.

After that I was directed to return to the, now empty, waiting area. I watched as people turned up for their eyetests on time and were told there were too many people in the building for them to be allowed in. Understandably some weren't happy with that and being told to wait outside. It was definately a case of those who shout loudest get seen first. 

The part that most confused me was the set up of the store. They had social distancing markers, laid out as squares, all over the building. They had hand sanitiser on entry and people (other than exemptions) had to wear a face mask. But they paid no attention to the fact that people from the same household would be inside the same square. I really needed my husband with me, but he wasn't allowed (I am fairly sure I could have kicked up a stink about not being allowed a carer with me but just wanted an eyetest done quickly). Yet there was a family of two parents and a daughter when I was looking for new frames, a couple in the waiting area and three more families of three during my (long) time there.

In order to have my eye test, they had to remove the chair from the optician's room. Presumably that is why, instead of being just 30minutes, I was 1hours and 45minutes in that building. 

Yes, you read that correctly. I was in there for 105minutes. The whole time there were two autistic girls waiting for mne in the car park with my husband. Can you imagine?

I eventually got in for my eye test and reversed into place. The man who did my test had full PPE on and perhaps this covered his personality and chair-side manner. I was already on edge because I was in a room with a man I didn't know, on my own. The fact that he only spoke to me to ask blunt questions, only to not listen to my answers fully made it even more awkward for me. 

I have had lots and lots of eye tests in my life. I know the drill. There is the letter line to read, cover each eye, one at a time to see what size you can read. Then the same with their ridiculous metal glasses on with those little lenses. Does it look clearer with or without this, or the same? This is done a few times on each eye. Then there is usually a red and green light to look at and see which is clearer, a circle of black dots and a central dot and they see if that is clear. They look inside your eyes with a bright light and a magnifier and then that's pretty much it over.

Today I didn't have the red/green lights, didn't have the circle of black dots and was very rushed throughout. The outcome was that apparently, for the first time in my entire life, the prescription has decreased slightly. I am very suspicious of that finding. At one point he asked me to read a line with my weakest eye. It was just a huge blur on the screen but when i told him that, his response was 'but you can read it with your glasses on'. Why would anyone lie about being able to see something? The thing he was asking me to read literally looked like a child had scribbled on the screen. Yes, I could read it with my glasses on, but surely that means he has made an error somewhere in the metal glasses and lensess on my face. We shall see.

His advice on the issues I have with light sensitivity (migraines brought on by any amount of bright light, wearing MigraLens overglasses most of the time, using screens over my computer screen) is to have tinted lenses. When I asked if they filter light, he said no. So I fail to see how they would help me.

His advice on the fact that I find reading difficult because the words get blurry and movearound on the page was to take regular breaks. I told him i am reading large print books to prevent the issue but suppose he didn't hear that part.

When it came to picking a frame out I struggled massively. It is the worst part for me. You take off your glasses that you can see through, to try on a pair you can't see through and then have to make a decision on which ones to purchase based on other people's opinions and the blurred face you can vaguely see in the mirror. 

I decided to ring my husband and ask him to come in to help me. Partly to help me choose, but also because I needed him to pay for them and to reach those higher up for me. They only just let him come in to help me, telling him he would havew to loeave if other people came in. If that had happened we would have both left.How do they expect someone in a wheelchair to be able to reach glasses down to try on unaided? I had a tray precariously balanced on my lap to put any glasses in that I tried on (so they could be cleaned before being returned to the shelf). Plus I had the prescription paper and my phone on my lap, along with my lanyard stating I am exempt from wearing a face mask. How was I meant to find a hand to get any frames?

I did manage to try on a couple whilstthetray was empty, and take a selfie before then looking at the blurred selfie with my glasses on in order to make any decisions.

I didn't purchase either of those in these photos. In typical adult shopping style I ended up buying the first ones I had seen whilst waiting for the family to vacate the two squares by the ladies glasses. Hubby said they looked ok too so that'll do me. They ordered the right lenses in for me (I can't have the newly thinned and lightweight ones because I feel like I'm either very drunk or stuck in a fishbowl) so have to order the older version of thinned lenses. Of course, in those lenses I couldn't have any tinting anyway. 

I have a week or so to wait to see if they got the prescription correct, if the glasses fit and if the lenses are the right type. 

By the time we got back to the car the girls were so fed up, asking how long I'd been in there for I decided we should all have an ice lolly from the frozen food store nearby on our way home. That, and the promise of a BBQ for tea seemed to lighten the mood all round.

I don't understand how it took so long for me today. Surely there is no reason why an eye test should take 105minutes from start to finish? If they all took that long then only four people would have their eyes tested a day by an optician there. That would be awful business.

My two girls had their eyes tested this morning at a smaller local opticians. They were both in and out in the time it took me today. I wish their premises were larger so I could also go there, but sadly, as with many of the businesses around here, it just isn't accessible for me.

I suppose the lesson is- if you are a wheelchair user, strike half a day out for an eye test.