'One day I might be unable to see my children's faces'
BBCBridey Doyle-Roberts might not be able to see her children's faces one day – a reality she described as "devastating".
Ms Doyle-Roberts, from Hopkinstown, Rhondda Cynon Taf, went for an eye test three years ago because she kept bumping into things and was starting to struggle to see at night.
She was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic condition causing progressive vision loss, which will eventually lead to tunnel vision and potentially blindness.
The 41-year-old said the sight loss diagnosis caused a lot of anxiety when she realised how it was affecting her as a mother.
Ms Doyle-Roberts said family life had completely changed since her diagnosis, but added that her children had adapted to her loss of vision.
"I get a lot of support from them. My youngest will look out for me on stairs and other places quite a lot.
"It's just a thing that he's taken on without me asking, which is really sweet."
She said that when she got her diagnosis she had her driving licence taken away.
"It was a shock," Ms Doyle-Roberts said, adding that it was hard to explain to her two sons, Idris and Nye – who were seven at five at the time - why she could not drive them to school the next day.
"I literally remember a day soon after going 'Nye! Where is Nye?' And he was right next to me, but I didn't know.
"They were young so they might have run off. I wouldn't know because I couldn't see them."
The visual artist said she was now considered severely sight impaired.
"It doesn't feel like I'm blind in that sense of what I imagined what blind was before I knew about this."
She has created an art exhibition which aims to convey the frustrations and challenges she deals with from day to day.
Domestic hazards such as lamps and chairs, along with poetry and music aim to convey the frustrations and stress she feels over her sight loss.
She has drawn from her own personal journey in the last three years – since she discovered she was losing her sight.
"It's been a big loss of independence and I've had to slow down, which is not really in my nature," she said.
She added that it had also affected the activities she can do with her sons.
"If I'm taking them out, I try and be back before dark. There are certain things that they only do with their dad, because he drives.
"Simple activities like going to the beach or camping aren't things I can do easily at all."
It has also affected the types of work she can take on as a freelance artist.
The exhibition also conveys the mental challenges of coping, plus the grief she continues to experience over losing her vision.
"You go through denial, then anger about it, then frustration and then depression.
"You're losing a big part of yourself, your identity, your feelings of worth as a parent and as an artist.
"I have to try and tell myself to relax all the time. And I do, then suddenly I'll just turn and walk into something and really hurt myself, and it's a shock.
"It's always a shock, and part of me feels that I'm an adult now, I shouldn't be falling and hurting myself all the time, but that's what happens."
Ms Doyle Roberts' exhibition Spectrum of Sight is at Parc Arts, in Treforest, Rhondda Cynon Taf, until 15 March.