Chippy - I know you are trying to get a positive out of your very sad story. To me the positive is that you survived and survived well, with a trade up your sleeve. You can put a good story together and obviously you build homes for people - that is really something. It's something real you can touch, see, people have joy with - it is a wonderful thing.
The reason your memory is so good is because in school you had to rely more on what you could hear and remember, rather than what you read, because your vision was blurry. You also became a lot more alert to how people move and behave because your life at home was so difficult and often dangerous.
The hitting most likely affected your vision and I wouldn't have any hesitation to tell your eye specialist that fact.
Go well!
Taurisk
