“I was referred to Berkshire Vision and then my life began to change for the better.”
Eleanor has been diabetic most of her life and in her 60’s she started to lose her sight due to Diabetic Retinopathy. She had previously been a mental health nurse but had to retire early due to her sight loss. She really struggled with the fact that she could no longer work or drive, and that she has lost her independence.
“When you lose your sight, a lot of your independence leaves you and you have to rely on other people to help you out. This went against the grain for me as I am fiercely independent and have spent my professional life helping others.”
After Eleanor retried she decided to do some volunteering and started fostering dogs from Battersea Dogs Home. She did this for five years and absolutely loved it, but had to give it up as her sight got worse and she could no longer take the dogs out for a walk. Her sight loss caused problems with distortion and balance and she started having falls.
After a bad fall she fractured her pelvis, and as a consequence her confidence suffered terribly.
A visit to the eye clinic resulted in the news that Eleanor did not want to hear. It was time for her to get registered as sight impaired. Eleanor did not want to do this as she did not want to accept that she had a problem, but knew that she had to.
“But then something really good happened – I was referred to Berkshire Vision and my life began to change for the better.”
Berkshire Vision Sight Loss Support Officer, Chris, helped Eleanor to comes to terms with her sight loss by listening to her worries and referring her to the Sensory Needs team, so she could make her home more accessible. Chris helped Eleanor with apps for her iPad and phone and Eleanor started to attend Berkshire Vision events.
“Berkshire vision is a god send – you realise there are loads of people out there with similar problems and they have managed to comes to terms with it by going to activities and doing things slightly differently. It’s makes life seem worthwhile again
The best things Berkshire Vision do is allow people to be themselves and live with their disability and I really am so grateful”
Eleanor really enjoys attending Berkshire Vision activities and meeting people with similar problems. She particularly enjoys the Touch to See packs as she always enjoyed arts and crafts, but felt that she couldn’t do this anymore. The Touch to See packs have given her back the ability to be creative again.
A highlight for Eleanor is learning about digital art. She attended a Berkshire Vision art class with blind artist Emma Major and who showed her digital art. Emma inspired her to give is a try and Eleanor now is really enjoying digital painting, with some of her work displayed at a Berkshire Vision Art Exhibition in 2022.