Woman who went blind when pregnant gets work after three years job hunting

When Tauranga mum Melody Steyn finally got a job after three years of hunting, her 10-year-old son asked if they were going to give her eyes.

But Steyn, who went blind when pregnant 11 years ago, has proven she doesn’t need them to get the job done.

After her three-year struggle, and hundreds of applications to get back into work, she says employers need to value more people with disabilities.

“Companies say that they are inclusive, but are they? I measure it by actions, how they value employees and see potential in what people can do, not fearing what they can’t.”

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Even her son Matthew picked up on why she was always rejected, hence the question when she eventually found a job.

Steyn was upfront in her applications that she was totally blind.

“But I’m a blind ninja. If I can change nappies blind, I can do anything. I’m very independent and have lots of skills.”

She applied for manual jobs but was declined without interviews.

“I thought kiwifruit work would be perfect, but they said no for health and safety reasons. I went for kitchen work, and they too said it wasn’t safe, even though I cook every day at home.”

In more than 100 applications, Steyn was only offered three interviews.

Finally, in January, she was offered a job as a co-ordinator for a company which advocates for at-risk adults, and liaises with police and other agencies. The company values her life experience as many of its clients have brain injuries or intellectual disabilities.

Six weeks into the role, she’s thriving.

“My new colleagues were so welcoming that on Zoom calls I noticed they were describing what they were wearing. After a few days, I said, ‘hey if we carry on like this it sounds like we are on a different type of call’. It’s really sweet. I do need their support sometimes – like finding the door on the first day – but I don’t need special treatment or molly coddling.”

It’s not without challenges. Despite receiving adaptive equipment funded by the Blind Foundation, some computer tasks are frustrating – but Steyn works it out.

Then there’s adjusting to life as a working mum. She selects her work outfits by their texture and had her eyeliner tattooed

Steyn has never seen her two children, Matthew, 10 and Isaac, 4, as she went blind before she found out she was pregnant with Matthew.

“I have an image in my head what they look like. If miraculously my sight came back I might think – who are these kids?”

The hardest part of her blindness is not “little frustrations”, like hunting for the door, but missing precious moments.

“When they smiled for the first time, or when Matthew recently won a school race. I longed to see the happiness on his face. Sometimes I sob that I will never see their faces. But in other ways we’re more connected – even if they are far away from me, I can hear them. Very handy when once Matthew got lost out shopping – everyone was panicking, but I knew exactly where he was as I could hear his little noises”

Steyn’s blindness came on suddenly when, at 27, she suffered a severe haemorrhage in her left eye, and her optic nerve couldn’t be saved. Within days, she started to see dark spots on her right eye, so doctors rushed her to surgery.

When she woke up everything was dark. Doctors said there was nothing more they could do.

“It didn’t sink in.”

After picking her up from the hospital, her partner Danie said he was taking her for a hamburger.

“He led me up the stairs in a building. I thought it must be a restaurant, but I couldn’t smell food.”

It was the registrars’ office.

Enlisting the help of two people queueing for passports, they had a surprise wedding.

The very next day during a routine check up, she found out she was pregnant.

“Went blind, got married, fell pregnant – a lot happened in those three days.”

Doctors now think the eye haemorrhage could have been triggered by pregnancy, and diabetes she’d had as a child, even though she’d always been healthy and had no prior symptoms.

Looking after a baby is challenging for any new parent. For Steyn, not only could she not see, but her husband was away at work three weeks a month. Her child was also diagnosed with autism.

“Those first years were the hardest in my life. I was terrified I couldn’t keep my baby safe without seeing him. I used to interrupt his naps 20 times to listen to him breathe.”

Over time, her confidence grew. She learned to walk with a cane, so she could take children to parks and kindergarten. She’s a keen surfer and now does guided running. In April, she’s participating in a sports festival for adults with disabilities.

The kids are unfazed now she’s a working mum.

“When Matthew asked me if my new job would give me eyes, I explained again, ‘no mummy can’t see, even at work’. He cried, saying he was sad for me. I told him I was so proud to be both his mum and earning money. That seemed to cheer him up, as his next question was, ‘can I have a present then?’”