Disabled woman set to scale Ben Nevis

DEAF and blind woman Samantha Cumming will prove that disability is no barrier when she scales the UK’s highest mountain this weekend.

The 26-year-old suffers from Usher syndrome type 2, a rare genetic condition which robs victims of their hearing and sight.

But despite being fitted with hearing aids at three and registered blind at 20, she has refused to let it stop her from achieving her life’s dreams.

And this year, to mark 10 years since she was diagnosed with the degenerative condition, she has already bagged four Munros, been white-water rafting, run a half-marathon and driven a car.

Mrs Cumming, who lives in Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, with husband Mike, said: “When I was diagnosed, I was only 16 and I thought my life was over. I never thought I’d be able to do anything like this. I honestly didn’t think I’d go to university or get married – and I have.

“That’s why I wanted to do these challenges to make people aware of what people can do, despite their disability or condition.”

Mrs Cumming graduated with an honours degree in music from Aberdeen University and now works as a planning assistant for BBC Scotland.

And with the support of her husband, she will climb Ben Nevis on Saturday.

She also plans to surf a wave at Lossiemouth beach later this month.

And by November – which will be exactly 10 years since she was diagnosed – she aims to have climbed a further six Munros, completed two more half-marathons, a bike ride and ran the Dublin marathon.

Mrs Cumming said: “It shows that anything is possible. And I can’t wait to say, ‘I’ve climbed the UK’s highest mountain’.”

Mrs Cumming has no peripheral vision, so what little vision she has, she said, is like “looking through a letter box”.

WE often say of those whose courage seems greater than our own, who face adversity in a manner we can scarcely imagine, that they put us to shame. But shame is the last emotion we should feel. We should rejoice at the strength of the human spirit, and feel inspired to live our own lives with greater vigour.

That viewpoint is shared by Aberdeenshire woman Samantha Cumming, who says that at the age of 16 – when she was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition that robs victims of their hearing and sight – she thought her life was over. Ten years on, she knows that was very far from the case. In that decade she has bagged four Munros, tackled white-water rafting and run a half-marathon, all despite having been fitted with hearing aids at the age of three and registered blind at 20.

Mrs Cumming will this weekend scale Ben Nevis, to show that being deaf and blind does not mean the end of hope. By November she aims to have climbed six more Munros, surfed the waves at Lossiemouth, completed two more half-marathons, taken part in a bicycle ride and run the Dublin marathon, all for charity. We wish her well in her efforts. She may well inspire many others to scale new heights.