Press Release issued: 15 March 2013.
A Dundee academic will stress the need for greater emotional support for people diagnosed with sight loss at a high-profile gathering in the city's West Park Centre today.
Mhairi Thurston will tell delegates at the Scottish Liberal Democrats conference that very little help is in place to help people come to terms with losing their vision. Speaking at a fringe meeting organised by sight loss charity RNIB Scotland, she will present her latest research findings about the benefits of providing effective emotional support for those affected.
Mhairi was unexpectedly diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa after a routine eye-check at the age of 40. The condition affects the light-sensitive cells on the retina at the back of the eye, causing tunnel vision and sometimes total sight loss. "Although my physical needs were catered for, in terms of offers of low vision aids and rehabilitation, it felt as if my emotional needs were overlooked," she says.
"Many compare the impact of losing their sight to bereavement. Every day in Scotland, ten people begin to lose their sight, but only a tiny percentage will be offered emotional counselling, despite the devastating impact it can have on people's lives. In fact, one RNIB survey found that, after first diagnosis, 23 per cent of people losing their sight still weren't even certain of the name of the condition that caused it.
"That's why RNIB Scotland is calling for more support services to be put in place across Scotland, like the service it operates across Tayside from Ninewells Hospital."
Since losing her vision, Mhairi, a former teacher, has pursued a career as an academic at the University of Abertay Dundee. Her specialist field of research is the social and emotional effects of sight loss.
John Legg, director of RNIB Scotland, said: "When people lose their sight, they lose more than their ability to see, they can lose much of their life as they once knew it. It's left to organisations like us to plug this gap. But at the moment we can only help one in three people facing this enormous life change."