Daily Mail - 13.08.2019

Daily Mail, Tuesday, August 13, 2019 Page 47

C

harlotte CarSoN is

the busy mother of two

little girls, Jess, eight, and

six-year-old Connie, with a

full-time job as a director

of a charity — and responsibility

for walking the family dog.

Charlotte manages all of this while

contending with extremely poor vision.

She started losing her sight at the age of

seven, and it has continued to worsen, to

the point where she can now see just the

outlines of objects. on some days, a heavy,

grey fog obscures most of her vision.

Charlotte has cone-rod dystrophy,

which affects around one in 30,000

people. this causes the deterioration of

cells at the back of the eye in the retina,

which is responsible for sending images

to the brain. the condition results

in reduced clarity of vision, a reduced

ability to perceive colour and an

abnormal sensitivity to light.

‘I’ve learned to be a blind mum,’ says

Charlotte, 41, who is the younger sister

of the BBC’s Middle east editor, Jeremy

Bowen, and Nick Bowen QC.

‘I’m organised and know I can easily

find everything. I use my ears to “see”

what the girls are doing. I often know

when they’re upset long before sighted

people might, as I’m so tuned in to their

tone of voice and breathing. I instinct-

ively know how they’re feeling.

‘I can’t read books, but I can tell my

girls stories and sing songs to them. I

love cooking and I still manage that. My

husband, Quentin, is an active, engaged

dad and my family are very supportive.’

Charlotte’s sight problems were first

spotted by a relative.

‘I’d always been a great reader, but

my uncle noticed my sudden reluctance

to get involved in reading competitions

and urged my parents to get my sight

checked,’ says Charlotte.

at the time, there was very little

support available. ‘I went from being a

sporty, independent little girl to the odd

one out,’ she says.

‘I kept being pulled out of class to go to

hospital appointments. I was scared to

go into the school dining room, as I didn’t

By JOAN

McFADDEN

Resolute: Charlotte today.

Inset, with brother Jeremy

know what I would eat or where

I’d sit because I couldn’t see the

food or my friends.

‘the staff said that I couldn’t

continue there, and I was put into

a special needs unit attached to a

local primary.

‘I hated knowing that the sighted

kids were staring at me using my

magnifiers in a mainstream class.

‘I developed anxiety and school

phobia and was physically sick at

the thought of going there.’

W

heN Charlotte began

losing her sight, a

specialist warned her

mother not to expect

the same from her as she did from

her other children.

‘But Dad was a journalist

[working for the BBC] and Mum a

freelance photographer, and they

were determined to get me all the

support I needed,’ she says.

‘the reality was far harder than

they could have imagined, involving

endless meetings with the local

authority, trips to see specialists,

tribunals, letters to newspapers

and starting parent campaign

groups to promote inclusion.

‘It became their mission to

make sure other parents wouldn’t

have to get help for their visually

impaired child alone, and that was

when they set up look UK, a

charity that supports young

people and families living with a

vision impairment.’

after Charlotte’s father wrote an

article about how her sight loss

changed her from a confident child

to being physically sick at the

thought of school, the headmaster

of edgarley Manor, a junior school

in Somerset, offered Charlotte a

place on a scholarship.

‘I boarded there and, from age 11

to 14, I absolutely thrived,’ says

Charlotte. ‘It was more inclusive,

with just 11 classmates, and I

made amazing friends, though I

always knew I was different.

‘When I moved on to senior

school, however, I didn’t cope well,

and would hide in the loo, rather

than get lost on my way to lessons.

I couldn’t read my timetable or

the signs on the doors. I didn’t feel

confident to ask for help and my

school phobia returned.’

But she then spent three years

at New College Worcester, an

independent school for those who

are blind or partially sighted, and

for the first time lived alongside

other visually impaired people. ‘I

was finally able to come to terms

with my sight loss,’ she says.

eventually, Charlotte went

to work at the BBC and then run

her own disability equality train-

ing business, before becoming

director at look UK in 2014.

She fears she is one of the lucky

ones, though. For there is little

doubt her ability to lead a normal

productive work and family life is

thanks to her family — and the

help of the Government.

She explains: ‘I receive a benefit

called direct payments, so I can

employ a home support worker ten

hours a week, and she’s invaluable.

‘She helps me organise the

house, go to the supermarket

and batch-cook for the freezer.’

to help Charlotte do her job, she

also receives a government grant

called access to Work. ‘that pays

for all the technology I need, as

well as a personal assistant who

drives me around, reads text and

helps with my admin,’ she says.

‘I wouldn’t have had such a

successful working life if I hadn’t

had that grant.

‘It’s vital that we protect this to

help disabled people have a fairer

chance of a fulfilled working life.’

She is referring to caps being

placed on new access to Work

grants in 2015 and, since last

year, for existing claimants.

the cuts come as the number of

people with sight loss is set to rise

from 2 million to 2.7 million by

2030, according to the royal

National Institute of Blind

People (rNIB).

this is due to the UK’s

ageing population, as well

as conditions such as

diabetes and lifestyle factors

including obesity, it says.

D

IaBeteS can damage

the tiny blood vessels

inside the retina, while

studies are now connect-

ing obesity to an increased risk of

eye diseases that cause blindness:

age-related macular degeneration

(aMD), which causes sharp,

central vision to blur, making

activities such as reading difficult;

cataracts, a clouding of the lens

that affects vision; and glaucoma,

a group of diseases that can

damage the optic nerve, resulting

in vision loss and blindness.

the rNIB is lobbying for

the implementation of the

recommendations of an all-party

parliamentary group inquiry into

increasing capacity in eyecare

services for adults and children.

‘local government is having to

make difficult choices,’ says David

Clarke, services director at the

rNIB. ‘however, cuts to services

don’t just come at huge personal

cost to those with sight loss, but,

in the long run, cost a lot more.

‘Currently, only one person in four

with sight loss is in employment.

‘Cuts have had an impact on

services for visually impaired

children, and there has been a

decrease in the number of qualified

teachers of the visually impaired.’

It is more than 30 years since

Charlotte’s family found the impact

of her sight loss made even worse

by a lack of support and informa-

tion, and she is frustrated that

young visually impaired people still

face barriers such as a lack of

access to education.

‘It’s a constant fight to get

recognition and support,’ says

Charlotte. ‘I’ve had to come to

terms with not being able to see

my children perform at ballet

shows or see their drawings —

but I can be a mum in every way,

as well as having a job. I just need

human support to do the things I

can’t, which is why grants and

support networks are essential.’

n look-uk.org

BEST: Grilled prawn,

mushroom and red

pepper kebabs.

BRUSHED with oil and

grilled, prawn and

veggie kebabs make a

low-calorie, nutrient-

rich meal. The mushrooms

supply vitamins B1 and B2,

complementing others such as

niacin and B12 from the prawns.

The red peppers add vitamin C.

GOOD: Reduced-fat

prawn cocktail.

THIS isn’t too

fattening if it

is made with

reduced-fat

mayonnaise or

cocktail sauce. A typical 85g

portion served on chopped

lettuce has about 120 calories

and very little cholesterol-

raising saturated fat.

BAD: Prawn toast.

PRAWNS are high

in lean, filling

protein and a good

source of selenium

for a healthy immune system.

But they make up only 25 to

30 per cent of a portion of

prawn toast, with the other

ingredients being oil, bread

and salt, making the dish far

from waistline-friendly.

BAD, GOOD, BEST

How to get the most out of food

choices. This week: Prawns

Resolute:Charlottetoday.

y

al

d

s

l

s

ors

I’ll never let

blindness

stop me

being a

good mum

TV reporter Jeremy Bowen’s sister

has learned to raise children after

losing her sight — and here she

explains why funding is so crucial

Main picture: DAMIEN McFADDEN