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Kate Crofts: I'm Kate Crofts and I began to lose my sight
when I was seven years old. My mum took me to Moorfields to have diagnosed what was going
on and as we came out of the hospital I looked up at my mum and said, mummy, are they ever
going to make me see again? My mum choked back her tears and said, we'll talk about
it later, darling because she knew that no, they weren't going to make me see properly
again and that I would continue to lose the rest of my sight until I was totally blind
at some point.
As my family and I discovered sight loss doesn't just affect older people. In the UK there
are more than 25,000 blind and partially sighted children.
Penny and Dave Scott's daughter Maddy was born with congenital cataracts and nystagmus
in both eyes.
Penny Scott: She was 10 weeks old when she had her first
operation to remove the lens from one of her eyes. That was hard seeing her lying in a
little gown and then they took her away and the waiting was really, really hard for us.
Dave Scott: Then you start thinking about the long-term
prospects of everything and the effects on her life, that was tough.
Penny Scott: Maddy did develop glaucoma, such a young age
to have it and she's going to have to live with that for the whole of her life. She's
got quite minimal peripheral vision and her long distance is really impaired.
Dave Scott: The future for Maddy with the glaucoma we're
on a steady downhill part of the journey which we've got to monitor very, very seriously
and keep under control.
Kate Crofts: When mum and I did eventually sit down together
at home and she explained to me that I was going to lose my sight, she didn't really
know, and neither did I, what it would mean for us. So we needed guidance and help and
support which my mum sought in abundance and researched. And RNIB was one of those organisations.
Penny Scott: I contacted the RNIB helpline to find out
any information really and they were great. Just to have that friendly voice on the other
end of the line, knowing what we were going through and the support that we needed was
invaluable to us. As Maddy's developed they supply us with enlarged reading books and
that obviously brings Maddy a lot of joy. She's reading RNIB books every day.
Kate Crofts: RNIB helped my mother and I understand what
options we had for schooling because as my sight got worse it became apparent that I
perhaps needed specialist education.
Kate Crofts: It seems a long time since RNIB guided me
through the maze of school, college, and getting my first job and RNIB are still supporting
thousands of children and teenagers through their education. Like Patrick *** who recently
graduated from RNIB College Loughborough.
Patrick ***: I've got tunnel vision and I've got cerebral
palsy down my left side. When I started RNIB Loughborough I was 16 years old. I weren't
quite confident enough to go to mainstream college. I think I changed, I became more
confident and more sociable by the end of my two years.
Kate Crofts: Patrick is now confident enough to study sport
at mainstream college and has gone on to win gold medals at table tennis.
Patrick ***: When I win I feel obviously proud from where
I've come from when I was 10 to now is huge.
Penny Scott: Maddy loves music.
Dave Scott: Maddy loves all sorts of music or shows.
Penny Scott: When Maddy went to her first RNIB music workshop
she was only just eight years old and she came back home and she was singing all the
songs for the next week. I think Maddy will be doing quite a few workshops in the future
as well.
Maddy Scott: I like music because it gives me a chance
to relax. I also like the achievements I can make when I'm playing the music.
Penny Scott: I think it's helped Madeleine going to the
RNIB music workshops because she has met children there that are far more visually impaired
than her. You can see that she's thinking about that and knowing that that is a possibility
for her in the future. But at the same time she's also seeing these other children not
letting anything stop them doing the things that they love.
Kate Crofts: Once I knew I was going to lose my sight quite
quickly, I was determined I wanted to see my first child with the sight I had then.
So I had my daughter, Phoebe, when I was perhaps younger than I might have otherwise planned
to have a first child. Oscar, her younger brother I didn't see and I did find I needed
greater support to care for Oscar.
It takes a huge amount of confidence to step outside your house with your two small infants
when you've recently lost sight. RNIB was able to help me signpost services that I didn't
know existed and I did gain the confidence to be able to take my children out alone but
it took some time.
I can't know who I would have been without my sight loss but I do know that RNIB enabled
me to feel confident that I could do things in life that might otherwise have felt daunting.
Penny Scott: Maddy knows that she's going to be okay whatever
happens with her vision. She will have the support from RNIB that will help her through
her life and I think she's going to live a really fulfilling life and do all the things
she wants to do.
Maddy Scott: If people help and raise money for the RNIB
I think they would help me and a lot of other blind and visually impaired children.
Penny Scott: They phoned me up, the RNIB and said that
they thought you were so lovely they've asked if you would go to the Royal Gala dinner and
present a bouquet of flowers to the Queen. Are you excited about that?
Maddy Scott: Yes!