I'm legally blind and have been since birth. I only have vision on my right eye. My visual acuity is low (around 20/180) and my field of vision very narrow (less than 20deg). Still, it doesn't really stop me from doing much. I program-and I also design.
A couple of years ago I developed narrow-angle glaucoma, in addition to my other problems. After several laser surgeries failed to resolve the problem, I had a more invasive surgical procedure done. Afterwards, I was completely blind for 48hrs. Aside from the fact that it was terrifying, because at that point we didn't know how much of my vision would come back, I found that I was able to adjust fairly quickly. In just a few hours, I was able to get around the house, get dressed, shower, brush teeth, etc. unassisted. Eating was a little more difficult. It's hard to fork food you can't see. I stuck to sandwiches. I didn't attempt reading (I don't know Braille) or using the computer.
I'm sure this was made easier by the fact that I'm very familiar with my house and by the fact that my vision was already poor, so I'm more used to doing more things by feel/sound/memory, especially at night.
Which, I guess, answers your question, but to finish off the story:
After a couple of days, my vision started to slowly come back, though it was very blurry for a long time. I was able to start using the computer, via a combination of the screen reader, enlarging, and inverting the colors on the display. All I could see at that point were shapes, and, after about a week, in order to read text, it had to be about 128pt and high contrast.
Fortunately, most of my vision returned. The first couple of months were slow going, but after that, it got to the point where I could pretty much function as I did before. It took around 6 months to recover completely, though. I did end up losing some contrast sensitivity and as a result, I can no longer read printed text. There's just not enough contrast. I mean, I can see the words, reading for more than just a few minutes gives me a headache. So now I read books on an iPad and with the backlit screen (a backlit display helps a ton) and zoom capabilities, I can read without headaches.
A couple of years ago I developed narrow-angle glaucoma, in addition to my other problems. After several laser surgeries failed to resolve the problem, I had a more invasive surgical procedure done. Afterwards, I was completely blind for 48hrs. Aside from the fact that it was terrifying, because at that point we didn't know how much of my vision would come back, I found that I was able to adjust fairly quickly. In just a few hours, I was able to get around the house, get dressed, shower, brush teeth, etc. unassisted. Eating was a little more difficult. It's hard to fork food you can't see. I stuck to sandwiches. I didn't attempt reading (I don't know Braille) or using the computer.
I'm sure this was made easier by the fact that I'm very familiar with my house and by the fact that my vision was already poor, so I'm more used to doing more things by feel/sound/memory, especially at night.
Which, I guess, answers your question, but to finish off the story:
After a couple of days, my vision started to slowly come back, though it was very blurry for a long time. I was able to start using the computer, via a combination of the screen reader, enlarging, and inverting the colors on the display. All I could see at that point were shapes, and, after about a week, in order to read text, it had to be about 128pt and high contrast.
Fortunately, most of my vision returned. The first couple of months were slow going, but after that, it got to the point where I could pretty much function as I did before. It took around 6 months to recover completely, though. I did end up losing some contrast sensitivity and as a result, I can no longer read printed text. There's just not enough contrast. I mean, I can see the words, reading for more than just a few minutes gives me a headache. So now I read books on an iPad and with the backlit screen (a backlit display helps a ton) and zoom capabilities, I can read without headaches.