"Your eyes are so important" - Barbara Kelly
I’m 46 and I’m completely blind. I was born at home and it was a difficult birth. I was breech and unfortunately the membranes burst in the back of my eye. It wasn’t picked up until I was two and my mother noticed that my eyes were constantly streaming.
At first doctors told her she was neurotic and that there was nothing to worry about but finally a health visitor picked up that something wasn't right and I was diagnosed with glaucoma. I had an operation when I was very young and I still remember it, even now, 44 years later.
I had some sight until about five or six years ago but I'm completely blind now.
I think people should have regular eye tests. They might not think they need it but it’s so important. In the UK, where I'm from, if there is a family history of eye conditions like glaucoma, you automatically get a free eye test and that's something that I'd like to see coming in here because family history is such a strong factor.
There is light after blindness though, it's not the end by any means. Even when I had sight, it was poor but I never realised I didn't see the same as everyone else, I just got on with things. I thought everyone could see like me. It wasn’t until my sister asked me if I could see something from the side of my eye that I realised I had no side vision at all.
When you lose your sight you feel angry and that’s normal. It’s healthy to accept the feelings of "why me?" and "that’s not fair", it's all part of the process. But eventually you have to learn to live with it. I don’t like it but I had to accept it. I’ve got a good sense of humour as well, which helps!
It was hard to adjust to total blindness. Although I never had full sight, what I did have was normal for me. Now I can’t see the colour of my clothes and it's other small things like that which takes a bit of getting used to. It really hit me a few years ago when my daughter, who was 16 at the time, was invited to a wedding. She bought a dress, her first grown-up dress and I had a lump in my throat when she came down in it because I couldn’t see her.
I now use a long cane. I used to travel to the UK on my own and I was very brazen at one stage but I’ve lost some of that confidence, although I do manage very well. I don’t see some of the cleaning that needs to be done at home and if my children want a good white top washed, they do it themselves so it doesn’t get mixed in with other things and end up a different colour but the kids haven’t known any different though so they're fine with it.
The one thing I want to stress this week is that if parents have any suspicions about their children’s eyesight they should get it checked out straight away. Regular eye tests are absolutely vital because things like glaucoma can be picked up and monitored very easily. Your eyes are so important but I don’t think people realise that until it’s too late.