Story time for 'emotional' visually impaired mum

A mum and her son cuddle on a sofa, reading a book together. They are both wearing glasses. The book is larger than a standard edition, and is called A Bear Called Paddington.PA Media

Becky Thornber is now able to read to her son, Luke

Ollie Samuels
BBC News, North WestLongridge

A new range of books - printed on larger pages with customisable fonts - has been released by the Guide Dogs charity with the aim of helping more visually impaired parents and their children be able to share bedtime stories.

Becky Thornber, who is severely visually impaired linked to albinism, said she was thrilled to be able to read to her nine-year-old son Luke.

Becky, from Preston in Lancashire, said: "To be honest, I was quite emotional because this was a new experience for me getting books that I can actually read without any difficulty. I was blown away by it."

Her condition is genetic, meaning Luke also has it. He agreed the CustomEyes books "were quite remarkable, I was quite excited".

A boy with red hair and a woman sit on a brown sofa with a labrador at their feet. Both mum and son are wearing glasses, and the woman is holding a book which they are both looking at. They are sitting under a cream throw.PA Media

Becky, her guide dog Biscuit, and Luke are loving story time in their living room

The Thornber family have just received their first set of books.

Becky said being able to read "normally" was "important when you are sharing it with your kids - you can't really have it on your nose!"

She added: "It's just lovely, because we've got rid of all of the screens, it's just literally sitting down and having a cuddle and a laugh, and escaping into another world."

Both Becky and Luke have OCA2, a form of oculocutaneous albinism that severely impacts their eyesight.

Becky explained that while she has some "useful vision... you need everything to be much much bigger, much clearer and you kind of have a field around you of how much you can see".

A boy with red hair reaches up to a book shelf to grab a book. His mum is smiling in the backgroundPA Media

The Thornber family have a selection of CustomEyes books

The CustomEyes book service allows users to choose their font size and page colour across more than 6,000 titles.

The range has expanded to include books for older children and adults for the first time.

Luke said he had enjoyed reading Fire Boy by J.M. Joseph.

"That is basically a book about a boy who has some friends round, they open a parcel [eat the sweets inside] and get superpowers."

Before receiving the books, Becky said she "used to swap tips with my other visually impaired friends" about how best to read to their children.

"Some people would take photographs of the books with standard size fonts and try and zoom in, which I did try, but it's so tricky," she said.

A book open on the first page of the story of Peter Pan. The book is lying on a colourful blanket.

Visually impaired people can customise the books to meet their needs

When she was growing up, Becky said "there was nothing like this... it's lovely how much more accessible the world is getting for people with sight loss - it's just fantastic".

Kerry Bevan, head of support services at Guide Dogs, said: "Bedtime stories are about more than words on a page - they're about connection, imagination and family tradition.

"With CustomEyes now available for adults, no-one with a visual impairment will have to miss out on these special moments."

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