I had the most awkward conversation with an elderly substitute teacher yesterday…

She saw me trying to read my textbook,which has really tiny print, and asked why am I not wearing glasses. I didn’t explaining the whole albinism thing.  I thought it would be a would be a little too complicated to explain. I honestly can talk about albinism for hours since albinism can affect my life in multiple ways. I told her that glasses never helped me. Then she asked why I wasn’t wearing contacts. I told her that prescriptions do not help my sight. She paused for a minute and then asked why was my sight so bad. My response: I have a genetic condition that causes underdevelopment in the eyes due to lack of pigment. That was the simplest way for me to explain it… It didn’t work. She told me to go to Rainbow, an organic grocery store, and get some medicine that is suppose to improve vision. My response was, “well, my vision is a little more complicated than that”. She just kept insisting on trying this medicine that is a ‘cure all’ for vision. I just said thank you and went back to my desk.

I’ve never experienced anything like this.  I really don’t mind when people are curious about albinism, but it agitates me when they believe they can cure it without understanding the condition.  I understood that she was trying to help. Unfortunately, she didn’t realize that her advice and effort to persuade me would be useless. Are teachers allowed to prescribe medicine during school, anyways?