Waking Hours

I don’t let my blindness deter me

The alarm is my phone. From the moment I wake up, I’m using technology. Years ago, I used to have a Braille alarm clock that you wound up. Now, my phone can tell me the time if I press the power button. I also have a Braille watch, and I open the face and read the time.

I like to start work at 7.45am. I do my best work early in the morning, before the phone starts ringing and people start coming in. I am head of technology and innovation at the National Council for the Blind Ireland (NCBI).

I live with my fiancee, Nadine. She is 34. We’ve been together for 11 years. She was sighted earlier in her life and lost her sight in her 20s, whereas I’ve been blind since birth. She is not awake as early as me. As I’m going around, I try not to make too much noise.

I think blind people’s senses are more acute because they have to use them more, but I don’t think that my hearing is any better than anybody else’s. Some blind people sleep through lots of noise.

Then I shower and shave. I use an electric razor, but I do know blind people who use open razors and blades, and they don’t cut themselves. Nadine and I have to have some kind of system. I wouldn’t say that all blind people are tidy. I’m certainly not tidy, but I generally know where I have left something. What if I used Nadine’s shower gel by mistake? Well, I suppose I’d just smell a bit better for the day.

For breakfast, I have tea, toast and a banana. I’ve been blind all my life, so I’ve developed skills. I put my finger into the top of the cup, and when the water hits my finger, that’s it.

There are very few adaptations in my home. There are some tactile marks on the washing machine, so we know where to put a wash on, and a tactile mark for the microwave, but that’s about it.

I view myself as not having a disability. I know that that’s a very big statement to make. But because I’ve never seen, this is what the world is; and I see myself as an ordinary person, but of course I know I’m not. I’m not extraordinary. I live my life, and I have horrible days and good days, just like everybody else.

I walk to work. It takes about 25 minutes, and I use a white cane. I don’t listen to the radio on the way in — I like to hear the sounds around me. They are important.

At this stage, I’m familiar with the route. I always hate bin days, and when people park on footpaths. There are going to be times when you walk into things. I jokingly say that I have one big one a year, and it’s usually my fault — when I’m walking too fast, not concentrating, and I whack into a pole.

In the NCBI, in technology and innovation, we support our service users. That might be somebody who is blind or visually impaired. There is speech-based technology — where the computer will speak to them — or magnification, where the text on the screen is enlarged. Most of the people we work with have some degree of vision.

We also support Braille technology. A Braille terminal allows me to read information from my computer and it has a Braille display, so I can type in Braille as well. Braille is still crucially important.

We see a lot of people who are visually impaired and they never learned to read through Braille. It’s really sad. Through no fault of their own, they just used speech devices. So we’ve created a generation of illiterate blind people. They are in low-paid employment and have huge difficulty writing. But it’s never too late to learn Braille, and we run courses here.

For people with sight loss, technology is a huge equaliser. I can read my emails, the newspapers, and I can use my phone. Mainstream technology has built speech and magnification.

Last week, I fixed my sister’s iPhone, and she is fully sighted. I can do everything that you can do with a computer nowadays. Online shopping has been a huge thing for blind people.

Before, when I voted, a returning officer had to help me. At the last general election, the woman helping me said, ‘I voted the very same way myself ’. We both had a laugh about it, but I remember thinking that it was just so awkward for both of us.

This [Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy] referendum is the first time in Ireland that blind people will be able to vote with a tactile ballot template. It’s really exciting.

I would not be where I am today without the tenacity and determination of my parents, who never treated me any differently as a child. I have two sisters, twins, who are three years younger than me. I learned how to ride a bike in the yard at home.

My parents had a fruit farm and we were all expected to work on it during the summer. I have very happy memories of that. I went to school in Grace Park Road — it used to be called St. Joseph’s — and that was one of the most important parts of my life. Without that, I wouldn’t have got the education that I got. I even learned to play the piano there.

When I go home in the evening, Nadine cooks the dinner and I do the wash up. Then we might watch something on Netflix. We get on very well, and we love travelling and music.

Looks matter, even if you’re blind. We’re like everyone else. I’ve asked men if she is good-looking. I want to know that people’s heads will turn when they see me with that person.

We would like to have kids some day. There are loads of blind parents who have fully-sighted kids, and they get on really well. We’d ask for help and peer support when we needed it. It’s a possibility.

“I view myself as not having a disability. I’ve never seen, so this is what the world is”