Vincent Chan
UCLA Class of 2014
When I was in my first year of high school, I had received a horrible grade in my class since I sat all the way in the back and could not see the white board from where I was sitting.
During middle school, I had participated in those free eye exams that they do yearly. This year however, I was not able to see the letters clearly and was advised to see an optometrist to receive a more thorough report.
When the mail with this notice was received by my mother, she had asked me if I really needed to wear glasses and began testing me by asking me what I could read and what I could not. This however, seemed very demoralizing to me because I did not want to admit to the fact that I could not read certain words or see numbers due to my near-sightedness.
Even though I knew that I probably needed to see the doctors and wear glasses, I refused to go and refused to tell my mom the truth behind my vision because frankly, I was scared of the optometrist and taking any further demoralizing tests. Just imagine how you would feel when you are asked to read something that appears so clearly to the person asking you but blurry to you... Not so good right?
After dragging this idea of never going to the optometrist into my sophomore year of high school, I decided that enough was enough; I finally mustered up the courage to tell my parents that I wanted to have an eye exam. I received the typical response that I had expected from my parents, concerned and a little bit worried but nevertheless, they took me to the specialist.
Although I had formed many different expectations of how it would be like to visit the optometrist, I could have never been so wrong. My optometrist made me feel very comfortable and my experience wasn't even close to the humiliating and demoralizing feelings I felt when my sister or parents tested me. Now I study biology at UCLA.
Why do I do this you may ask? Because I want to help others not be afraid of the same problem that I have experienced.
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