Low vision group guiding light for woman losing sight

Tuesday, 27 October 2020

Sue Fraser got her confidence back after joining the Blind Low Vision NZ when her sight began to fade.

Sue Fraser may be losing her sight but she hasn’t lost her sense of humour about the challenges she faces.

She laughed as she recounted the times she had worn a dress inside-out leaving the house, had mistaken her red lip liner for her eyebrow pencil and got into a stranger’s car.

The latter episode happened during a trip to the chemist. Her husband parked and waited for her, and a similar looking car parked close by.

“I just literally got out of the shop, oh there he is, in I get and this man says, ‘Oh’. And I said, ‘I think I better move myself out of this vehicle and find my husband’. I was so embarrassed.”

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Fraser will soon have an extra pair of eyes to help her, with the prospect of being matched with a guide dog before Christmas.

She hasn’t always felt so positive about her disability.

Sue Fraser hopes to get more of her confidence back getting out and about, waiting to be matched with her own guide dog. (file pic)

At 22, Fraser had the herpes virus, getting ulcers on her eyes which damaged the cornea.

”I was an air steward and it broke out while I was flying.”

Since then, her sight has slowly degenerated while she’s had “years and years and years” of ointments, eye drops, dry eyes, and in more recent times, corneal grafts and cataracts surgery.

She was able to “carry on as normal” until about five years ago when the organisation now known as Blind Low Vision NZ, formerly the Blind Foundation, helped her.

One of the nurses at Nelson Hospital’s eye department suggested Fraser contact the group.

“But I couldn’t contact [them] because of the name, I was in absolute fear of going blind; and at that stage, I wasn’t in a good mental and physical state.

“After months of struggling along, I had the confidence to ring up. It was the best thing I ever did.”

She said local support got her out tandem bike riding, getting her confidence back with cooking, and hooking her up with the technology so she could enjoy books once again.

She wears a badge to let people know she is vision impaired, sometimes uses a walking cane and has learned some tricks to help her along the way, including using a felt pen for writing and enlarging text on devices.

But she said being matched with a guide dog would give her “so much more confidence in a social situation”.

She said a dog would act as “a light for me” in activities like going to cafes on her own.

It would also make her more visible to others, in situations that are currently difficult, like crossing the road.

Blind Low Vision matches guide dogs to their handlers’ particular needs and lifestyles, down to details like how fast a person walks.