“It gives us confidence to know the boys will have the same opportunities as everybody else” – The Baghurst Family’s story

Parenthood comes with many ups and downs. No one has a guidebook to navigate through the journey and every parent will have countless worries along the way. With a child who has a sight condition, sometimes the concerns can be different for each parent. Especially when one of them has the same condition.

Andy and Laura Baghurst are parents to three boys, two of whom were diagnosed with Aniridia shortly after birth, the same condition that Andy grew up with. Books from Living Paintings have been invaluable to the boys, Daniel and Peter, and it’s something Andy can only wonder about.

“I’m so used to being able to see what I can see and so I don’t know what I’ve missed out on. But Daniel and Peter get so much out of the Living Paintings books, and I realise that I missed out on that experience as a child,” says Andy.

Aniridia is Latin for lack of/no iris which means that Andy and two of his sons can’t control the amount of light that goes into their eyes and the back of the eye hasn’t fully developed.

20/20 vision is a term used to express normal visual acuity (the clarity or sharpness of vision) measured at a distance of 20 feet.  “I can see 3/60. So, if a fully sighted person can see something from 60 meters, I can only see from three,” says Andy. “The long term expectation is that Daniel and Peter’s sight will be somewhere between 3/60 – 6/60.”

The couple’s eldest child, Joshua, now seven, is fully sighted and so they didn’t have to parent a child with sight problems until their second child, Daniel, now four, was born.

Mum Laura says, “One of my early concerns with Daniel was how he would access books. Joshua has grown up loving Julie Donaldson and other books and having a great experience with them. It’s great to have Andy’s point of view as he’s lived with the same condition his whole life and he has learned a way of doing things, but I worry as a parent. With a little baby, who hasn’t yet learned how to navigate the world and life’s challenges, you have a whole different perspective.

“We first learned about Living Paintings through our QTVI and I was delighted to find a way where Daniel could access the same books as his brother and have that same lovely experience.”

At four years old, Daniel is now learning to read and can do so with very enlarged, bold fonts. However, when he was younger, normal sized books couldn’t give him the same experience.

“Until you can read, the only way you can access books is by looking at the pictures and Daniel just wouldn’t be able to enjoy them properly. Many of the books that Joshua loved just wouldn’t suit him,” says Andy.

“With Living Paintings, the tactile pictures are bigger and bright, and he can feel his way around them, using his other senses to see the images in his head. It’s made books so much more accessible and enjoyable for us all.”

The very first book that Daniel received from Living Paintings was Spot the Dog and he took to it immediately.

“He would normally have to get so close to be able see the pictures in any book, but he enjoyed being able to feel his way with the Spot book from Living Paintings,” says Andy.

“We now get deliveries every month and Daniel likes to choose. He and his little brother Peter (2) get so excited to get them. They ask if they’ve arrived the second after we’ve placed the order!”

Laura says, “It was really special to get the Julia Donaldson books from Living Paintings as these were books that Joshua loved so much and it’s fantastic that Daniel and Peter can access them too.”

Another way the books have enhanced the reading and story experience for the family is for Andy. With his own sight condition, reading to his sons has always been a bit of a challenge.

“If I’m reading, I need to get really close to the page which means I can’t show the boys the pictures as I’m reading and sometimes, if the lighting isn’t great, I still can’t see the words very well. It could be quite restricting,” says Andy.

“However, since we’ve started getting the Living Paintings books, story time has been so much easier. Even if I can’t quite read the words, I can talk about the raised pictures and feel the buttons and other elements together. It’s a great way to engage with the boys.”

Laura says, “The Living Paintings books have given us the confidence to know that the boys will all be able to develop and have the same opportunities as each other. Nursery and school have always been great with also ordering the books in for Daniel and Peter and I’m sure they will be invaluable now Daniel is learning to read.”