IFELTASIGHTBETTER AFTERWRITINGBOOK
Being blind didn‘t stop a determined author from telling her story – and the experience gave her a new lease of life
BY MARIA CROCE WHEN Lynn Gordon went through a difficult time with her family, she started writing down her thoughts to help her cope.
Now, she’s turned her life story into a book – using special technology to write the words as she is registered blind.
Lynn has retinitis pigmentosa (RP). It’s a rare genetic disorder that leads to the breaking down and loss of cells in the retina.
The condition has affected other members of her family – including her late mum, grandmother and two sisters.
But Lynn, 61, who lives in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, with husband Stewart, 71, hasn’t let her loss of sight hold her back.
And she will use some of the proceeds from sales of the book to raise funds for The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.
She typed the words for the book using voiceover technology, and they were then read back to her. But it was a painstaking process that took three years and she had to check each letter typed.
But she’s delighted she has been able to achieve her dream of publishing Bit by Bit with the help of Scots business Indie Authors World.
Lynn said: “RP results in total sight loss. I can see daylight if it’s good light but nothing at all in the dark. I see shadows in the daylight, as is the case for my two sisters.
“RP usually results in peripheral vision disappearing first so you’re left with tunnel vision, like you’re looking through a straw. But our central vision disappeared first. We could only look out the perimeter of our eyes. Then, as we got older, our peripheral vision started to go.” Lynn refused to let it get her down. She said: “It’s made us think positively and be strong. And when I have a problem, I’ve got to beat it.
“It’s not the end of the world. There are far bigger hurdles to overcome than having poor eyesight.
“I’ve always had a great appreciation of what is around me. I love the north of Scotland and the Highlands. I can still see things that I’ve already experienced as clear as a bell in my mind.”
When she suffered a family fallout, Lynn started writing down her thoughts to help her cope – then decided she wanted to turn her story into a book.
She also faced a difficult time after her mum Alice was diagnosed with dementia in 2006 – just weeks after she learned her dad Derek had terminal cancer. Her dad passed away just weeks later and her mum’s condition deteriorated over the years until she died in 2015.
She said: “The book was cathartic and I’ve been brutally honest with the way I felt about things and the difficulties we overcame.
“I thought I’d never recover from what happened with the family and that I’d never be able to smile again. But writing the book helped me through it and helped me smile again.”
She hopes the book might also help others coping with a relative facing dementia. Lynn said: “I’d like to think it would inspire others. If three blind girls managed to get through it, so will they.”