Taekwondo expert Joss Ingram has lived with impaired sight for close to 20 years. Photo / Gregor Richardson
Legally blind: taekwondo master.
It might sound like a movie title, but for Joss Ingram it is the reality of 12 years of hard work.
The 50-year-old obtained her fourth dan black belt in Wellington at the weekend.
In doing so, she became New Zealand's first legally blind taekwondo master.
It was a surreal feeling for the Dunedin woman, who sparred with opponents, broke boards and performed various patterns for over two exhausting hours to pass her test.
It was the physical aspect Ingram found most challenging, her limited vision merely an afterthought.
"It's just an everyday life thing for me now, but the taekwondo family have been very wonderful in how they've treated me no different to a fully sighted person."
It is 19 years since Ingram noticed her vision go blurry while working as a receptionist.
Now, her vision is like having scrunched up cling wrap over her eyes.
She became one of the first Kiwis diagnosed with Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy, a rare form of blindness affecting the nerves at the back of the eyes.
It made for a drastic life change, particularly given her youngest child Jak was just a year old.
But she got used to finding ways to get things done.
She began taekwondo in 2008 after taking her children – Hanna and Max, as well as Jak – to lessons at the Green Island club.
She said the club's support had been great, while national body trio Joan Fountain, Sophia Haynes and Michelle Sim were highly influential in her success, too.
While unable to see detail, she can see shapes coming towards her.
It helps that the sport is close combat and her approach is a simple one.
"As soon as they're within a certain range you know you've got to do something."
The sport provided an outlet for her and she now trains seven times a week.
Her children have also had plenty of success in the sport.
Hanna is a second dan black belt, Max is a blue belt red tab and Jak returned to be presented with his black belt on Saturday with Joss, having achieved his junior black belt as a teenager.
While most recently being with the Warrington club, she is in the process of starting her own club in Concord – Dunedin Simjang Taekwondo.
The 19-year-old disappeared without her wallet or mobile phone.