By Amy Reast
A blind dad puts braille on his baby’s story books so he can read them to her – because he promised not to let his blindness “get in the way of being a good parent”.
Anthony Ferraro, 28, was born blind but grew up being told he could still do anything he wanted to.
So when he and his wife, Kelly, 35, had their first child, NAME, five months ago, Anthony was determined to bond with his little girl as any other parent would.
One thing he wanted to be able to do was read his daughter bedtime stories – so he and Kelly found a way to make that happen.
Now, whenever their little girl is bought a new book, they use a special machine to add a braille overlay.
It means Anthony is able to have the same bonding experience with his daughter as any other new dad would.
He feels “the only disability in life is a bad attitude” and says he’ll “never let excuses get in the way of things” when it comes to his parenting.
Anthony, a content creator and motivational speaker, from Spring Lake, New Jersey, US, said: “Being a dad has been incredible, the whole journey.
“Being a blind dad, finding ways to bond with my daughter aren’t so obvious.
“But if I can braille things, I can read it just like normal.
“I feel it’s a really important bonding moment between us and I feel so grateful I can have that with her.
“I always told myself that no matter what, I won’t let my blindness get in the way of being the best dad I can be.”
Anthony is the only person in his family to be born blind, due to him having a rare degenerative eye condition.
But he said his parents didn’t “coddle” him and encouraged him to have a get-up-and-go attitude.
Anthony began learning braille in his first years of school – while his classmates learnt to read and write, he learnt the equivalent in braille.
Growing up, he went to a school for the blind and decided to go for his goals, no matter what they were.
He spent years of his life playing judo to an international level and was even training for the Paralympics before an injury last year put his gold medal goals on hold.
But he always wanted to be a dad – and in WHAT MONTH of 2023, wife Kelly gave birth to their daughter.
Anthony said: “I always told myself no matter what, I want to be a dad and have a family.”
Alongside adding braille to her reading books so they can bond during story time, Anthony says he’s taught his daughter to communicate with noises to attract his attention.
He said: “She knows she has to make noise for me to look at her.
“She has learnt to use more ‘coos’ with me than with my wife, and she is very vocal.
“But even when she is quiet, I can’t see the smile on her face, but I can feel it.”
Anthony said he has learnt to change his little girl’s nappies even without being able to see them – it just takes “a few more wipes” than for someone with full vision.
He says once his daughter starts to walk, he’ll put little bells on her ankles so he can still play with her.
He also plans to put bells inside of her toys and balls so they can play together in the garden.
Anthony added: “I have blind friends that are scared to have kids in case their kid is blind.
“But I always told myself that’s not a reason not to have children.
“Anything could always happen to any child, but if my kid ends up blind who would be a better teacher for them than me?”
“I told myself if my child wasn’t born blind then they can drive me around when they turn 17 – and my daughter isn’t blind.”
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