WITH World Braille Day commemorated by the United Nations on 4 January, the Northglen News sat down to chat with Sunningdale resident, Joanne Garrett to find out more about life with a visual impairment.
Garrett said she had been legally blind for more than 20 years after she was diagnosed with Retinitis pigmentosa.
“It’s a hereditary eye disease which causes one to lose their peripheral vision. Eventually I will go completely blind,” she said.
The condition did not only mean that Garrett was losing her sight, but her independence as well.
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“The first thing you have to give up is driving. You lose your freedom, you have to walk and ask friends for help. Slowly over time, as I was loosing more sight, I was walking into poles, trees and people and falling off pavements. I sprained my wrist very badly on one occasion,” she said.
Garrett’s guide dog, which was trained by the SA Guide Dog Association, has changed her life.
“You bond so well with your dog. They pick up on what you want- it’s like they are reading your mind, it’s unbelievable,” she said.
With Covid-19 protocols in place, there are often queues outside shops which present a challenge to Garrett.
“Guide dogs are trained to find the door, not the end of the queue. So we find the door now and then I ask who is at the end of the queue. Then I listen for the voices,” she said.
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While Garrett is still able to use her cellphone with the help of technology designed to assist the Blind, she wants to learn braille before she looses her vison completely.
“With Braille, I would be able to write something down and keep it. Cellphones can get stolen and you can loose them or they can crash. It would be a good thing to be able to put things down on paper,” she added.
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