“Berkshire Vision has helped me to meet new people that understand the difficulties. I’m doing activities that I wouldn’t have done by myself”

Complications at birth and as a baby have led to Amber having several conditions that affect her sight and hearing. She has severe Strabismus, Hypermetropia and Retinopathy. She is also very sensitive to light and has hearing loss. She lives in Slough and has a love of cats, animation and video gaming.

Amber is in her early 20’s and joined Berkshire Vision during lockdown via the Sensory Consortium; mainly to reduce isolation and meet new people. In her day to day life she has many difficulties including reading small print, which means she struggles with letters, bills and emails. She also needs a guide when she is out and about and becomes very emotionally frustrated as she can’t do things easily by herself.

To try and help herself, Amber has started wearing glasses and using a cane; she still struggles with using a cane but is getting more confident. She is also utilising technology, and while she was at university bought a laptop with the biggest screen possible to help her see her work when magnified.

Since joining Berkshire Vision Amber has been taking part in many of the 18-35 group activities, this has helped her to meet peers who have similar experiences and difficulties as her.  She has also been playing blind football, rock climbing, joined the dual sensory loss group and has taken part in several art activities such a clay workshops and using the at home Touch to See packs.

Amber really enjoys coming to Berkshire Vision activities and says the best thing has been meeting people and getting engaged with all the activities.