Maternal instinct kicks in: parenting with visual impairments

A visually-impaired mum doesn't need to see her child's features to know when she is ill 

Jade McCormack, who is visually impaired, with her two-year-old daughter Sadhbh Lily near their home in Balbriggan, Co Dublin.  Photograph Moya Nolan

Before having her now two-year-old daughter, Sadhbh, Jade McCormack worried she wouldn’t be able to tell if her child was unwell or off form.

The Balbriggan-based mum-of-one has been visually impaired since birth, due to optic nerve damage. “I've some bit of vision, mainly shadows, the odd colour – it wouldn’t be enough to read a full page of print.”