Teaching and netball prove no obstacle for Mikayla Camp, winner of VisAbility’s Fred and Lorna Craggs award

A life-changing loss of sight has not stopped Albany’s Mikayla Camp, who has won an award which recognises young West Australians who are blind or vision-impaired and have demonstrated excellence in a chosen field.

At the 2025 VisAbility Awards, she took home the regional Fred and Lorna Craggs award for excellence, which was presented to her by WA Disabilities Services Minister Hannah Beazley at a ceremony in Perth last week.

Ms Camp, 18, started losing her sight when she was just 14 and diagnosed with Leber hereditary optic neuropathy, a rare condition which causes irreversible vision loss.

A high-performing student and keen netballer, the condition turned her world upside down, but with the help of two special teachers and her own determination she embraced accessible technology and re-engaged with her studies.

She graduated from Albany Senior High School and earned a Certificate III in sport and recreation, before adding a similar education assistant qualification at the city’s TAFE campus.

Now she is using her lived experience to help students aged from kindy to Year 6 at the Spencer Park Education and Support Centre.

She has also returned to netball, playing in defence for Narrikup in Albany Netball Association’s A2 competition.

Now legally blind, but with some peripheral vision, she said young people with low or no sight should keep pursuing their passions and dream big.

“If you stand up for yourself and surround yourself with the right people, you can achieve anything you set your mind to,” she said.

VisAbility chief executive Anna Presser said Ms Camp’s story was an inspiring example.

“Just a few years ago she was navigating the shock of losing her sight,” she said.

“Now she is a highly respected athlete, a valued education support worker and a role model for the students she assists.

“Vision loss is life changing but it doesn’t need to stop you from achieving your dreams.”

VisAbility traces its foundations to the Ladies Braille Society in 1913 and went through several iterations before its current name was adopted in 2012.

The awards were established in 1979 from a gift in a will.

Fred and Lorna Craggs were long time supporters of VisAbility when it was the Association for the Blind of WA.