Forest Lake woman with vision impairment mugged on her way to a bus stop

A Brisbane woman with a vision impairment that requires her to use a white cane has been left shaken and bruised after she was robbed on the way to catch a bus.

Natalie has a vision impairment and was robbed at Forest Lake.

A vision-impaired woman who uses a white cane has told how she was robbed as she walked to her local bus stop after grocery shopping.

Forest Lake woman Natalie, 23, said she had been walking to the bus stop on Forest Lake Boulevard around 5.30pm when she felt like she felt like she “hit a brick wall”.

“I felt arms around me and the next thing I’m on the ground,” she said.

“But I didn’t realise that this guy had ripped my bag open and stolen what was in it.”

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Natalie said it was only later that she realised her bag had been unzipped, and that her money and medication were gone.

She said it would’ve been obvious to the thief that she was vision-impaired.

“My vision fluctuates. Some days I can only see 80 per cent and sometimes it’s 20 per cent,” she said.

“I walk with a long cane and I wear a ‘low vision’ tag. My cane kind of glows in the dark. It’s reflective, and not only that, you hear it. It kind of sounds like a ping pong ball.”

Despite her impairment, Natalie said she was very aware of some of the characteristics of the thief.

Natalie was wearing a low vision tag and using a cane when she was robbed.

“People underestimate how aware vision-impaired people are of what’s around them. Even though I never saw my attacker, I know that they are male of athletic build and they were wearing a school jacket,” she said.

“I also remember smelling their deodorant so I knew it was a male. And judging by the angle they grabbed me at, they were probably around the six foot mark.”

Natalie said she didn’t scream or yell because she thought she’d just bumped into someone.

“I’m vision-impaired - it happens. At first I brushed it off,” she said.

But soon after, she discovered her bag had been unzipped and her money and medication were gone.

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She’s also sure the incident with the male who bumped into her was deliberate.

“I would’ve heard if my things had fallen on the ground. And I got hit with too much force,” she said.

“When I zip up my bag, it’s zipped up fully. There’s no way it could’ve been open like that.”

Natalie said she suffered bruising in the clash, and she hadn’t reported it to police because she didn’t think much could be done.

But she told friends and family who then posted about the theft on social media to warn other vulnerable members of the public.

“If they were that desperate for money, all they had to do was ask. I probably would’ve given it to them,” she said.