A Timperley mum who has the same eye condition as Strictly finalist Chris McCausland has spoken of her condition
Sarah Brandt’s life was turned upside down when she was told at 25 that she had retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and could one day lose her sight completely. The hereditary condition causes the cells in the retina to slowly break down leading to progressive sight loss.
Both Sarah’s grandmother and father experienced vision loss. Her father was eventually diagnosed with RP but never told it could be passed down to his children. It was not until her mid-twenties, that Sarah the youngest of four, began ‘battling with night blindness and tripping over things’.
Following her RP diagnosis, Sarah’s biggest fear was having to stop driving and being left with no choice but to quit her job in marketing and sales. Ten years later her fear was realised when her ophthalmologist told her it was no longer safe for her to drive, a moment Sarah describes as a ‘massive blow’.
At 42, Sarah made the decision to move with her family from South Africa back to England – due in part to the UK’s more accessible public transport system. Once back and living in Timperley, the mum-of-one began cane training, applied for a guide dog, and started using the ‘invaluable’ services offered by local sight loss charity Henshaws.
Suddenly a world of opportunities opened up to her and she applied for the job of executive assistant to the CEO of Henshaws Sally Daniels – a position previously only held by sighted employees. Sarah got the job and gets the bus and tram to work with guide dog Pepsi.
Sarah, now 50, has just four per cent of her vision remaining and is registered blind. She says the biggest challenge she faces is public misconception.
“People think being blind means you can’t see anything and don’t understand that I still have a bit of vision. It’s like I’m looking through a straw. I’ve only got a little bit of vision in the middle which is not 100 percent clear. Every now and again I can make eye contact with someone, say on the tram, but often it’s a fluke and I just happened to be at the right angle,” she says.
Figures show that 93 per cent of blind and partially sighted people can see something, while only 7 per cent see nothing at all.
Sarah says having Chris McCausland, who was registered blind after losing his sight to RP in his 20s and 30s, on Strictly is good for raising awareness but there is still a long way to go.
“I think it’s really important for people to see those with disabilities integrated into society and that they’re just normal people that have something that doesn’t work. One little thing doesn’t define them,” she says.
