Tags
Blindness, Children, Disability, Disabled, Family, Mom, Parenting, Reading, Visual impairment, Visually impaired
So as most of my readers know I was born blind. I was actually born 13 weeks premature. Back in 1980 not much was known about premature babies. I wasn’t expected to survive. I spent 13 weeks after I was born in the hospital, with many complications. I had underdeveloped lungs. I had no backs to my eyes. That is how I became blind. I don’t really have any eye condition persay. As a young child however, I was encouraged by my parents to be “normal”. Now I know all disabled kids are “Normal”, but well, some kids are very sheltered. They aren’t allowed to do certain things. They are wrapped in cotton wool and protected. I am glad my parents didn’t wrap me in cotton wool. It thought me to be self sufficient, and independent. Even before I was ever abused, I was self sufficient. I always wanted to do things by myself, it was like I was trying to prove that just because I was blind, didn’t mean I was stupid. My mom taught me how to talk by pressing her lips to mine and repeating words over and over again. And I learned to talk really early on. I was talking by 18 months, with lots of words. Another thing I was encouraged to do was socialise with my non disabled peers. I had many friends as a young child. I went to pre-school, and I exceled in class. I loved it there. I loved climbing, and running around like any normal 3 year old. Being blind never held me back. I learned to read braille in later years and once I did I started reading a lot. I was five years old when I left for the bording school. While I hated it there and was abused badly, and became very withdrawn, I did learn some good things there too. I got my education there for the most part. I don’t think I’d be where I am today if I didn’t get such a good education. I also don’t think I’d be where I am today if my parents didn’t think outside the box. If they didn’t push me to be like everyone else around me.
Carol anne
