Strathpeffer author pays tribute to charity that was there to help
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A STRONG-WILLED Strath-peffer author who lost her sight aged 21 has paid tribute to the Highland charity that got her through the hardest days of her life.
Emily Gray descended into misery after the 2002 diagnosis, but said Sight Action showed her how to be happy again.
The 29-year-old, whose children’s book Priscilla the Pig has just hit the shelves, said the support from the Inverness-based team was transformational.
“They were brilliant, they changed my life,” she said. “I’ve gained confidence to do everything.”
Miss Gray lost her sight when she was just 21 due to problems brought on by Type 1 diabetes.
Looking back on the experience, which forced her to drop her music degree at Edinburgh’s Napier University, Miss Gray, who now has a guide dog called April, said: “I was in limbo. I didn’t do anything. I couldn’t go out by myself. It was not a nice place to be in...I was just existing and no more. All the hopes I had for the future were gone. I just felt like I had lost everything.”
The mum-of-one was referred by a specialist to Sight Action and the charity’s rehabilitation worker Brenda Smart became her strongest ally.
The 57-year-old who is also the organisation’s client service manager was bowled over by Miss Gray’s resolve.
“When I first met her, I thought ‘this is quite a determined young lady’. There were times when she doubted herself, but she put everything into it.”
Mrs Smart said cooking skills were important for Miss Gray.
“I showed her how to weigh out the recipes and all the things that if you’re sighted you do without thinking about it. Even the tidying up a bit, sweeping the floor, vacuuming. I showed her how to do that with a grid so she can tell if she’s got most of it up.
“And when she was pregnant we took out a baby doll and practised putting the baby in the carrier and changing the nappies on the doll. And when Harris was born she was absolutely brilliant. I’m really proud of her.”
Book publisher James Houghton of Olympia Publishing said: “When considering the work, I was not aware Emily was blind. She is a great example of not letting a disability stand in your way.”
During pregnancy, Emily, who writes under the pen name Madeline Rose, mused over her own childhood and settled into writing her first story inspired by her mum’ Heather’s tales of life on a farm in Dingwall using a voiceover computer programme.
It is illustrated by self-taught Nairn artist, Sarah Jane Cumberford.
