Blind mum foots it with daughter to pre-school
Getting two young children ready for school is never easy. It is made even more difficult for Christchurch mother Loren Harris, who is blind.
Harris was born with cataracts and developed glaucoma following her surgery at 19. Her left eye is a prosthetic and the right eye has low, deteriorating vision. She has very a limited peripheral field.
Until three years ago, Harris was independent and mobile. She worked, could see ‘‘relatively well’’ and did not need a lot of assistance. When she suddenly lost most of her vision, her life changed drastically.
But nothing can stop Harris getting her daughter Saxton, 2, off to pre-school. On sunny mornings, they walk; if it’s raining, they catch a bus then walk the rest of the way.
Their commute is starkly different from most kids. Ministry of Transport figures show 55 per cent of children are now driven to school – a proportion that has nearly doubled since the late 1980s. The Sunday Star-Times and Neighbourly.co.nz are running the Foot It campaign to support communities, to make it easier for families to get active.
The campaign encourages families to choose one day a week when they and their kids walk, scoot, cycle – even ride a horse if that’s what works. It backs schools to set up walking buses and other solutions, with parents and volunteers helping local kids get to class safely. And councils have been challenged to create and enforce lower speed zones outside every school.
That will help people like Loren Harris and her daughter: they face an hour-long round trip on the bus with her daughter each morning, with a walk at either end. She uses a monocular to read the bus timetables and a cellphone app to track her location.
With a grumpy toddler after a big day at pre-school it could be challenging for both of them. Dealing with people’s comments when Saxton was misbehaving can be hard, especially as walking home after a long day is ’’absolutely not an option’’ for the tired toddler.
The harsh public opinion is one of the most challenging aspects of being legally blind with young children, but Harris does not let it bother her. ’’It’s not like I can choose to go in a car, bussing is my only option.’’
Harris also used to walk her son Noah, 8, to school, but now her husband takes him because it would take too long for her to do both trips. Being a parent with low vision is not more challenging – ’’just different’’.