You're going to get a lot of good answers about how you can help and where to find the resources you need, but I'm going to approach this from another angle, the emotional aspect. That was the part I wasn't ready for, the part that was hardest to overcome.

Human beings want to belong. Being part of a family or of a team is important to our mental health. Feeling like we're necessary matters. We're proud of what we can do. Then blindness takes that away.

Last week people depended on us to inspect their bridges, do their taxes, design the fuel injectors in their freight trains, stock their grocery store shelves, or teach their kids algebra. This week we depend on other people to bring us groceries, take us to the clinic, find the right pill bottle, and set the thermostat. We went from feeling useful to feeling useless, respected to pitied, capable to helpless.

Your mother is going to grieve the loss of her eyesight, but you already know that. What I want you to understand is she's also going to grieve the loss of her self esteem.

How can you help? By making her feel useful. Learn from her wisdom. Ask for her experience. Have her teach you some skill she knows. Help her to understand what she still has to offer because the only thing she's thinking about is how much she can't offer anymore.

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Research rehab training centers. LCB or CCB, for example. She'd benefit from training and as soon as possible.