Dunedin mum determined to fight loss of sight

Faced with deteriorating vision, Kris Bennett says this summer may be the last she sees, but she is determined blindness will not change her life as "a manager, a mother and an independent woman".

Mother to Matthew (8) and the manager of 14 staff, she said it was having to give up her driver's licence that made her realise her life as an independent woman would change forever.

As the result of an illness four years ago, Ms Bennett's vision began to deteriorate and after consulting a specialist she was diagnosed with a progressive eye condition.

Declared legally blind two years ago and with her optic nerves continuing to die, she feared that as her family's sole breadwinner she might no longer be able to work.

"I didn't know how I would cope not being able to read and write," she said.

Her employer, Otago Polytechnic, reassured her it was her brain that was valued and the polytechnic would do everything it could to have her continue in her role as manager of the Centre of Assessment of Prior Learning (CAPL).

With the help of the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind and Workbridge, she was supplied with specialist equipment and advice to help her continue her job.

"I found life has gone on, because of all this fantastic support around me."

A frequent business traveller around New Zealand and overseas, the experience was initially frightening so she began to use a cane to help her navigate and identify her as being blind to other commuters.

"The cane offers me several metres of clear space."

While overseas, she still takes in her love of architecture and art, "but it just takes me a very long time to see everything".

Ms Bennett said she needed to move her eyes twice to see what an image looked like, but with the optic nerves dying, her already restricted field of vision would narrow further.

"This may be the last summer I ever see."

Regardless of what happens with her sight, Ms Bennett said she would continue to treat "each day like Christmas".

Colours were already beginning to fade and one of the hardest things would be when she was no longer able to see her son's face, she said.