Matthew Layton presents Studio 1 - Vision Australia Radio’s weekly look at life from a low vision and blind point of view.

On this week’s show…

This week’s show is the first of a two parter about being a parent to children with a vision impairment.

My guests this week are Kitt and Ailis Conrad.

Three years ago, Kitt was born with congenital glaucoma.

She had her first operation on her eyes when she was just nine days old.

Think about that for just a moment.

Put yourself in mum Ailis’s shoes.

Ten days before, you had been full of the nerves and anticipation of any expectant parent.

And as we all know, as cliched as it may sound, you don’t know what it’s like being a parent until you’re a parent.

Your emotional cistern is so full, it’s rattling its lid, but, practically speaking, you’ve done everything you can to be prepared

Nursery painted, go bag packed, you’d have been waiting for the searing pain of the contractions that tell you it’s time to head for the hospital because your precious first child is about to arrive.

At that point you’d probably heard the word glaucoma and knew that that it wasn’t a good thing, but in the unlikely event that it had come up in conversation that day... 

Well that’s for old people isn’t it.

You definitely didn’t know how to pronounce the “y” in nystagmus.

Now, today, somehow your precious nine-day-old baby is being put under - full general anaesthetic - so that a surgeon can perform surgical procedures on her eyes.

(Please note gentle listener that I wanted to use the words “cut open” in that last sentence, but I’m going easy on you. Fate wasn’t so kind to Ailis)

Ailis is an incredible woman who has been through a lot.

But as you’re about to hear, she never set out to be incredible. She was an anaesthetic technician with twelve years on the job looking to start a family.

What’s even more incredible about her is that, with the little bit of time and energy she’s got while three year old Ailis is at kindy, she puts herself forward to talk to people like me, so I can make her go through it all again in the hope that it might help someone who finds themself in a similar situation.


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CALL or TEXT: 04 500 78834
EMAIL: studio1@visionaustralia.org  
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/varadionetwork  and 
http://twitter.com/whingeingpom 
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[PHOTO CAPTION: Three year old Kitt Conrad, future musical megastar, looking very cute in an outfit that rather wonderfully sets off her snazzy turquoise glasses playing her guitar.]
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RESOURCES

Glaucoma Australia - www.glaucoma.org.au

Tammey Candeloro - Counselling 4 You WA - 0423 93 15 74


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Vision Australia gratefully acknowledges the support of the Community Broadcasting Foundation for Studio 1.

Matthew Layton presents Studio 1 - Vision Australia Radio’s weekly look at life from a low vision and blind point of view.

On this week’s show…

This week’s show is the first of a two parter about being a parent to children with a vision impairment.

My guests this week are Kitt and Ailis Conrad.

Three years ago, Kitt was born with congenital glaucoma.

She had her first operation on her eyes when she was just nine days old.

Think about that for just a moment.

Put yourself in mum Ailis’s shoes.

Ten days before, you had been full of the nerves and anticipation of any expectant parent.

And as we all know, as cliched as it may sound, you don’t know what it’s like being a parent until you’re a parent.

Your emotional cistern is so full, it’s rattling its lid, but, practically speaking, you’ve done everything you can to be prepared

Nursery painted, go bag packed, you’d have been waiting for the searing pain of the contractions that tell you it’s time to head for the hospital because your precious first child is about to arrive.

At that point you’d probably heard the word glaucoma and knew that that it wasn’t a good thing, but in the unlikely event that it had come up in conversation that day... 

Well that’s for old people isn’t it.

You definitely didn’t know how to pronounce the “y” in nystagmus.

Now, today, somehow your precious nine-day-old baby is being put under - full general anaesthetic - so that a surgeon can perform surgical procedures on her eyes.

(Please note gentle listener that I wanted to use the words “cut open” in that last sentence, but I’m going easy on you. Fate wasn’t so kind to Ailis)

Ailis is an incredible woman who has been through a lot.

But as you’re about to hear, she never set out to be incredible. She was an anaesthetic technician with twelve years on the job looking to start a family.

What’s even more incredible about her is that, with the little bit of time and energy she’s got while three year old Ailis is at kindy, she puts herself forward to talk to people like me, so I can make her go through it all again in the hope that it might help someone who finds themself in a similar situation.


--
CALL or TEXT: 04 500 78834
EMAIL: studio1@visionaustralia.org  
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/varadionetwork  and 
http://twitter.com/whingeingpom 
--
[PHOTO CAPTION: Three year old Kitt Conrad, future musical megastar, looking very cute in an outfit that rather wonderfully sets off her snazzy turquoise glasses playing her guitar.]
--
RESOURCES

Glaucoma Australia - www.glaucoma.org.au

Tammey Candeloro - Counselling 4 You WA - 0423 93 15 74


--
Vision Australia gratefully acknowledges the support of the Community Broadcasting Foundation for Studio 1.

Sam Rickard and Lizzie Eastham present Studio 1 - a weekly look at life from a low vision and blind point of view.

Please get in touch with the show. Your experience and insight may help someone else who is going through a similar thing.

Email: studio1@visionaustralia.org :: twitter: https://x.com/varadionetwork  :: Facebok: https://www.facebook.com/VARadioNetwork

Sam Rickard and Lizzie Eastham present Studio 1 - a weekly look at life from a low vision and blind point of view.
Please get in touch with the show. Your experience and insight may help someone else who is going through a similar thing.
Email: studio1@visionaustralia.org :: twitter: <a href="https://x.com/varadionetwork">https://x.com/varadionetwork</a>  :: Facebok: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/VARadioNetwork">https://www.facebook.com/VARadioNetwork</a>

A weekly look at life from a low vision and blind point of view.#blind

Studio 1

Vision Australia Radio’s Studio 1 takes a look at life in Australia from a low vision and blind point of view. Each week the show focuses on a different topic from a visually impaired perspective. Our aim is to get the voices, stories, passions and opinions of as many people living with a visual impairment onto the radio as possible. If there’s a subject you think we should cover, please let us know, email: studio1@visionaustralia.com

Vision Australia Radio’s Studio 1 takes a look at life in Australia from a low vision and blind point of view. Each week the show focuses on a different topic from a visually impaired perspective. Our aim is to get the voices, stories, passions and opinions of as many people living with a visual impairment onto the radio as possible. If there’s a subject you think we should cover, please let us know, email: <a href="mailto:studio1@visionaustralia.com">studio1@visionaustralia.com</a>

Matthew Layton presents Studio 1 - Vision Australia Radio’s weekly look at life from a low vision and blind point of view.
On this week’s show…
This week’s show is the first of a two parter about being a parent to children with a vision impairment.
My gu...

Parenting - Part 1of 2 - Kitt and Ailis

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/fa7924ac-d4fd-4bff-b1b4-ac7f006dda87/clips/5d95e46a-bc57-40f2-b744-ad4300781bd1/transcript