About me – Patricia Timmermans

That lady with a guide dog

Photo of me taken by me

I live in Canada where writing is a popular pastime, right up there with hockey and beer.

My favorite of the three is writing, which helps me cope with our long cold winters. After that is hockey, and I don’t like beer, I know, crazy.

I write about life with Cooper my guide dog. It isn’t all smooth sailing in fact we’ve had some moments but those usually make the best stories.

Writing also helps me cope with losing my vision. People sometimes say, “Pat, you’re so brave, I couldn’t do it,” and I don’t have a comment for that. I’m not brave.

The truth is, I don’t have a choice, so I can either stay home and become a recluse or figure it out.

Learning to live with vision loss — the first step

Becoming a client at CNIB (Canadian National Institute for the Blind Foundation) was my first step in learning how to be a blind lady, or I should say, a lady who is blind. My vision loss doesn’t define who I am. It plays a part in shaping my thoughts and attitudes and it’s caused me to create a ‘vision bucket list’, but there’s more about me than my declining vision.

Back to that first step. I signed myself up for Orientation and Mobility lessons…