At only 19, Kate Taylor went blind within a matter of months. But with her whole life before her, the Ballarat woman was not going to let a debilitating obstacle stand in her way. Now 14 years on, the young mother and journalist is taking each new challenge with the same spirit. William Vallely hears her story. Pictures by Lachlan Bence.
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WORKING as a bench clerk at the Ballarat Law Courts, Kate Taylor put her eyes through the ringer, continually squinting and focusing on minute letters and numbers.
However, one day in 2001, Ms Taylor could not read the screen.
Moving closer to the screen did not provide any clarity for the 19-year-old, who underwent a CT scan that same evening.
"The doctor's thought it may have been a tumour because it all happened so suddenly," she said.
Three months later, Ms Taylor lost sight in both eyes.
Leber hereditary optic neuropathy, an inherited form of vision loss, was in Ms Taylor's genetics, but had never manifest itself this aggressively.
"Mum has to wear glasses, but that's about it," she said.
The disease, which can only be passed on through maternal bloodlines, is caused by a gene mutation that kills off the optic nerve.
Ms Taylor's professor traced her bloodlines back eight generations and found her gene mutation was the worst within the family.
"It's typical, I have to do everything better than everyone else. If someone has glasses, fine, I'll go blind," she quipped.
The transition from full sight to near complete vision loss was so rapid for Ms Taylor, she wasn't afforded time to stew on her affliction.
"It was surreal, it happened so quickly there was absolutely no time to stop and think about it," she said.
Unfortunately for Ms Taylor, the complex court computer system was incompatible with assistive technology for the visually impaired.
"They had to bring in someone to take over my job."
Coincidentally, that person was Ms Taylor's future husband, James.
"I hated him at first because he took my job."
Ms Taylor spent two months learning braille - a reading tool for the visually impaired which has a series of raised dots that can be read by touch - but was unimpressed.
"It's archaic and bulky," she said.
Rather than wallowing over her new situation, a resilient Ms Taylor, now 20, began building towards a career she had always dreamt of - journalism.
"I had a job doing transcriptions of police interviews, but that was way too basic for me. I was bored. I needed more mental stimulation, I needed to be thinking," said Ms Taylor, who had completed one year of an arts degree majoring in journalism.
In 2006, the City of Ballarat offered Ms Taylor a traineeship in marketing and communications, where she developed a love for and appreciation of the craft of writing.
A voice feedback program on her computer allowed Ms Taylor to correct her own mistakes and she was able to compose speeches for mayors amongst other things.
"I was writing speeches for mayors and trying to engage as many people as possible - it was amazing," she said.
However, the traineeship did not translate into a full-time job, and Ms Taylor was again left to fend for herself.
A number of unsuccessful job interviews left her frustrated.
"I can't definitely say I didn't get jobs because I was blind, but it would always underline my application," she said.
"When you lose your sight, people suddenly have a really low expectation of you, and that's the most challenging part.
"People seem to be impressed by the fact that you have managed to get out of bed in the morning.
"I still make grammatical errors, I still put commas in the wrong place. I can pick up on these things and yet some people are so reluctant to criticise because I'm blind."
Eight years ago, the Moorabool News gave a resilient Ms Taylor a chance, and perhaps more importantly, treated her equally.
"My editor (Helen Tatchell) was demanding. She challenged me, gave me deadlines and critiqued my work. It was awesome, that was what I wanted, that was what I needed."
Highlighting issues with homelessness in Bacchus Marsh and the impact of the drug ice in the Moorabool Shire have been two of Ms Taylor's proudest achievements.
Despite her challenges with perception, Ms Taylor has developed a bit of casual work into a successful freelance career, contributing to a number of local publications.
"My level of journalism gets slightly into more forensic details at points. I can't see stuff to pick up on so I have to analyse the words," she said.
Moving to a larger newsroom would be impractical and not in keeping with Ms Taylor's values.
"I love the community news and working as a freelancer is better because it's my work that is in demand."
In 2010, Kate and James tied the knot - the pair first met when Ms Taylor had sight.
"I suppose forever in my mind I'll picture him as a 22-year-old, which is good for him because he's an old man now," she said.
Two years later they began trying for a baby, when Ms Taylor was confronted with her next challenge - IVF.
She described juggling vials and needles, mixing substances and injecting herself for three years before finally having success.
"It was full on, but definitely worth it. It's the hardest thing I've ever done."
Ms Taylor's daughter Bella recently celebrated her first birthday.
"It seems like a big thing to not actually see your daughter, but it's not," said Ms Taylor, who explained she could still distinguish between light and dark.
"If I get really close to something I can kind of get an idea of what it looks like so I squish my face up against her cheek so I can get a good idea of the shape of her face."
Seeing her daughter was not the main priority for the doting mother, who gets regular descriptions of Bella from her family.
"I get to give her cuddles all the time and that's what I want," she said.
When asked if she had any concerns for her daughter, given the disease was passed along maternal bloodlines, Ms Taylor, now 32, gave a typically inspiring response.
"If my Mum was told I could lose my sight and she had decided not to have me, I would be pretty mad.
"If Bella had any sight issues, I'm probably pretty well placed to help her."