Last week was my favourite week of the year people...no not Christmas. Guess again?! No, not international David Gandy appreciation week....It was National Eye Health Week! Finally, we get a week to preach about looking after your eyes so you don't end up with squiffy ones like mine. However jokes aside, this is a terrific week to raise awareness of how easily one can lose their sight but also how easily preventable it is. I was three years old when my big browns started going mental - just going to show how unpredictable the buggers can be. So, let's be one step ahead and where better to do this than on the brilliant Everybody section for HuffPost UK.
Firstly, I want to commend the amazing team at RNIB and Channel 4 for their terrific adverts, literally showing you what it is to have certain eye conditions. Innovative use of advertising and simple photography of said advert take you into the world of varying eye conditions. Go Google them now! Sight loss and eye examines do not scream, 'fun, sexy cool', but pop a black blob over the Paco Rabanne advert with the shirtless guy in it, then you're onto something, which is exactly what the RNIB did. It simply uses everyday effects of sight loss with a sense of fun, which in my experience as a comedian, is far more effective to convey a point. It even jolted my flatmate to get her eyes checked! I can't even convince her to change washing powder-she uses bio for god's sake! So good work RNIB and Channel 4!
Adverts like these are simply encouraging people to get things checked because we can prevent but we can't always cure. Now how am I an expert on regular appointments being effective? Because my dear Mum ingrained it into me growing up and I am the positive results! We never missed an eye drop, hospital appointment and always followed the doctor's orders. It was annoying as fuck! In fact that is the crux of what it is to have a disability, annoying. Yeah, the big stuff like sight loss and surgeries plays a role but you adapt to these and live your life accordingly. It's the niggly little things that grate you down. My favourite comedian Adam Hills actually agreed with me on this in an episode of The Last Leg. He said it's irritating little things a disability can throw up that define what it is to have one. For me, now and growing up, I would get annoyed at the eye ointment I put in overnight resulting in an oil slick over my face the next morning. It's a lucky man that wakes up next to me! Or when I bump into door frames or poke myself in my blind eye with mascara. Or the endless hospital check-ups, which has robbed me of years of my life. They're two reason I can see as much as I do now. The NHS's amazing care and advances in medical treatments. The second, all the annoying little things Mum made sure I did, because it was those eye drops, check ups and test that prevented my sight becoming worse. Now if you can prevent sight loss with one check up then I envy you and more importantly there is no reason not go because I am proof it is beneficial. Yes, it's annoying but a small price to pay to stay in good health. So when I get frustrated and tired at those boring and unsexy things I have to do, I remind myself it is prevention rather than cure.
So if your eyes are not performing at their best, then get them checked. Or go anyway for a laugh and a bit of attention from an optician! Chances are there fine, so why take the risk? Don't be that dickhead. That dickhead who put it off and off until it was too late and now there is a big blob over the hot shirtless Paco Rabanne model. Be the legend who gets their eyes checked and if something is amiss, you nipped it in the bud before it gets really serious and then you can stare at all the male model you want!
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Georgie Morell is a comedian and writer. Her upcoming solo shows are back in London.
Georgie Morell: A Poke in the Eye is at The Phoenix Artist Club, London. 17th October 7pm. http://ift.tt/2geOyzm event tix
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