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I'm a single blind mom of two girls
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People have been mean. They're very judgmental. Do your kids do everything for you
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Do you need a caregiver? My mother can do everything that I can do
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She can clean up. She can cook. When you are a blind parent, naturally, you know that the stigma is on us
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If anything happens to our kid, everybody's making a big deal out of it. Oh, well, she doesn't know how to take care of her kids
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You mentioned that someone called CPS on you. Do you want to tell us about that
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My name is Adrian. I was born with a condition called complete bilateral cryptophthalmos
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Everything up here stopped developing. Like the eyeballs, eyelashes, eyebrows, none of that
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I'm one out of two million, so it's very rare. Are there any particular tasks that are difficult for you to do in the kitchen
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I don't like to fry on an open stove, so I have an air fryer right here
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It's safer. You don't have grease flying everywhere. Describe to us what it's like to have a blind mom
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it's really no different it's just like some things like she'll need more help than usual
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but like usually when we were younger she did everything herself i've been a single parent
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by myself i'm the type of person that i figure my own stuff out or i try every possibility before
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you know going for help where there's a will there's i'm sure there's a way when you guys
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were younger did you make all the food did you help her out so when I was five I asked to learn
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how to cook so from there she taught me how to cook different stuff can I help you in the kitchen
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I was like well I really don't want you nowhere near a stove but as long as I'm in the kitchen
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yeah I guess you can help my mother can do everything that I can do she can't drive she
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can clean up, she can cook, she can do things like that. I can't really compare her to anything
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else because she is the only mother I've had. At 19 years old, you felt pregnant. Tell us about that
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and how you felt I came home for Christmas to visit my mother She was just screaming and she like what are you going to do with the baby I said I going to raise it Like what do you mean My dad wasn too happy He was like well you can see to do this and this and that
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When I had the baby, my middle brother, he asked me the question, why don't you let mama raise the baby
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I said, why don't you just leave? I carried this child for nine months
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And you mean to ask me, why don't I let mama keep the baby and raise it
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I was just like, dude, please get out of my face. Eventually, you know, people kind of just took it as it is what it is
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My mom, God rest her soul, she helped out a lot. But sometimes I had to tell her to back off
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I'm like, you can't take over my job. I'm sorry, that's not just going to work
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And she understood that. We've gotten into it, but she understood, hey, I need to do this for myself
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And then after your daughter arrived for like those first couple years, was it difficult
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Um, it wasn't difficult. I know that it changed, baby. I mean, yeah, parents get pooped on and peed on, and she did
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Especially for blind parents who people underestimate a lot. Like, society just doesn't give us that credit that we deserve
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She was saying sentences by the time she was 16, 17 months old. She was putting on her shoes on the right feet by the time she was 15 months
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Because I was teaching her that stuff early. Just kind of had to go for it
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And trial and error will happen when it comes to your kids. You just got to decide which way are you going to, you know, do this to make it work
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So that's what I did. Do you feel as if you missed out on anything with your daughters growing up
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Just being able to see what they look like, I mean, it's not really a big thing to me
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because I pay attention to audio cues. You know, I knew their cries, the hungry cries, the bored cries, the I don't feel good cry
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or I'm just fighting my sleep, but sleepy cry. It was easy for me
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As children, was it, like, difficult growing up with your mom? It was really a struggle, actually
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Like, sometimes people stare or give, like, weird looks. If you're curious, that's fine, but being like dirty licks and stuff, yeah, we try to
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stop that. When you are a blind parent, naturally you know we're a part of a minority
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You know that the stigma is on us This world is not nice Even though I can see I do know what it like because people have been mean They very judgmental As blind parents we have to be
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more protective than the sighted parents because if we get any calls or if anything happens to our
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kid, everybody's making a big deal out of it. Oh, well, she doesn't know how to take care of her kid. Let's call CPS or, you know, make a hotline call. You mentioned that someone called CPS on you
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Do you want to tell us about that? It's just nosy neighbors. It's just people who are uneducated decide that they want to call
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And my kids have never been taken away. Because I'm doing what I'm supposed to do
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I told them, if you can raise my kids better, go ahead
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They left. I still got my children. What's up, y'all? This is your girl, Sapphire
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So I need to do my facial care. When and why did you decide to start posting some videos online about your parenting
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My main purpose was to raise awareness about my eye condition because I don't know anyone that has it
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First of all, thank all of y'all. Y'all are helping and causing doors to open for me that I never thought possible
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You know, why not put my story out there? Maybe one day I'll come across somebody who's like me
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Keep rocking with me. Keep helping me grow up. I love y'all. But you better have thick skin when you do this social media thing
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because if you don't, honey, they will break you. Do your kids do everything for you
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Do you need a caregiver? That's not safe. You shouldn't be walking around your house like that
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Do you live with someone? What? People kind of get the wrong idea
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Oh, I bet your kids take care of you, huh? Take care of who? No, you got that wrong
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Who took care of them then? There are people who know my capability
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who know my ability, And then there's the people who just assume
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Maybe from an outside perspective, it kind of seems like that because I help my mom
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but it don't be like, we take care of her. We don't do that. I don't have to walk her places
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I don have to take her places She can go by herself How do you guys feel when you hear like see that judgment that your mom received I obviously say something because that my mother and I always on her
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side. But like, she takes her like, she doesn't even care. Like, she doesn't care what people say
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I know you have eyes and can't see. I just can't prove it. Actually, somebody left that in my inbox
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told us something. I know she can see, but I just can't prove it. I don't have a pic. I literally
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cursed them out literally. I said I am not in the mood. Get off my page with that mess
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Yeah. This one says how did you know she was cute if she couldn't see her? Huh? I have nothing
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to say to it honestly because I mean clearly she ain't she hasn't seen us before. They're my babies
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I mean I they're gonna be cute regardless. Also there's an app that describes baby pictures and
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things that it describes them. Sometimes I do clock back at them and I just be like
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y'all need to go research. Stop assuming. Go educate yourselves. How about you open the book
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before you start judging by the cover? Read the chapters. You might like what you find
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If you had a message to anybody who has misjudged you and your family, what would that message be
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Honestly, like we're like any other family. We're no different. We have the same issues as you
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I feel like having a visually impaired parent has really taught me a lot of stuff
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Honestly, I really love you. I love you too, Mom. She knows that
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I just want people to know, with any disability, it's not about the difference
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It's about how you're making that difference work. You just have to live the best way you know how
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and life is only what you make it, No matter what the challenge is, don't give up because guess what
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If I can do it and others like me can do it, y'all can do it
