Taking care of four kids under four years of age may be a daunting task for any mom. More so when the mom is blind. Ebony Uamaki said that blindness never stood in her way of being a mom, she told Honey9.
She admitted that many people had questioned her ability to parent because she is blind. But she said her eyesight had not hindered her parenting ability. For her, children require patience and resilience, which has nothing to do with not being able to see.
No eyesight since birth
The mom had retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and has lost her eyesight since birth. She has only one percent eyesight on her left eye, while on her right eye, she is completely blind. According to Better Health Channel, retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a condition where the light-sensitive cell of the retina gets damaged, causing the loss of vision.
She said that she had lost a big chunk of eyesight over the years, so she had to readapt and do things differently. But doing things differently is like a grieving process, she said. She thinks that because of the challenges she experienced as a kid, she had to learn from an early age that if she wanted to be happy, she had to change her perspective.
The lack of eyesight became a concern among family, friends, and medical practitioners. As a mother at 28 years old, they questioned her parenting ability.
The family doctor encouraged her to terminate the pregnancy when she first got pregnant. The doctor said that she might not be able to cope with the pregnancy, or she would pass her genetic condition to her children.
She said that the greatest challenge was people telling her that being blind is the worst thing imaginable. She said that there is a perception that disabled parents cannot do something.
On my own
When she was pregnant with their daughter, she remembered posting on one forum with about 500,000 members. She asked if there was any blind mom in the group, and no one answered. Since then, it became clear that she had to work it out independently. As per Research net, she had problems like other blind moms are facing.
So when she had her daughter, it was a trial and error thing. She would research, listen to podcasts and forums on how other women did something, and adapt to her situation. When she had her son, she had tried other things, and it was a different ballgame when she had the twins.
Ebony is confident with all four kids on her own at home because she has set up everything. When at home, she says that no one can tell that she is blind because she knows the surroundings well.
Raising compassionate kids
Ebony is proud of how compassionate her kids are. She said her daughter would show her things and make her touch them. Her kids understand the concept of not being able to see. The other day she said she tripped over her son's truck. The son apologized, saying, "I'm so sorry mom I left them there."
Ebony said that losing her sight "helped me be a better parent."
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