I’m Daniel. I live in the UK and was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa at the age of 8.
A few years ago, I was featured on the BBC’s Saints and Scroungers talking about my experiences and the traumatic bullying I faced at school.
Whilst at mainstream secondary school, when asked if I was blind I would reply, “Not me – I think you’ve got the wrong person” as I didn’t want to admit my eye condition to myself, let alone anyone else.
I got angry with teaching assistants who would follow me around; I felt they were making my disability more obvious and not allowing me to interact with fellow students. I also got embarrassed that my handouts were in large print and would try to hide them. I felt that some teaching staff regarded me as being “trouble” and they didn’t really understand my difficulties.
I really wanted to join the police force and to drive a car – and the realisation that I wouldn’t be able to do this was devastating. I just wanted to be “normal” like my peers, but my aspirations as a young man would not become my reality. I became severely depressed and even took steps to end my life.
Blindness had very negative connotations for me and I felt worthless. Once, I became so angry with the world that I stole my mum’s car – after a number of failed attempts, I managed to get it started and steered it into a nearby car park with mum frantically chasing me! Luckily, no one was hurt.
My condition became my main focus and I started researching it and became fixated on laser eye surgery adverts and contacted several companies, only to be told it would not benefit me. However, the more I researched, the better my knowledge of what it is, and what I could expect, became.
At the age of 18 I enrolled with a college for the blind, full of trepidation; I had never seen a white cane, let alone 200 of them and guide dogs galore! This was a real turning point as I no longer had to hide my condition or be embarrassed.
I had support from experienced counselors and met people who gave me the confidence to realise my own potential and that there was life after blindness. I studied health and social care, sociology and business and went on to university, where I achieved a Foundation Degree in Rehabilitation Studies for People with a Visual Impairment.
I was now a young man on a mission to prove that sight loss did not mean job loss.
I was acutely aware of the lack of knowledge surrounding visual impairment, so in 2014, at the age of 22, I founded Visualise Training and Consultancy to help organisations and individuals become disability confident.
I now work throughout the UK and internationally with clients to empower them with solutions to assist people living with sight loss and/or other disabilities.
It took time, but the acceptance of my condition proved to be one of the most positive forces in my life and enabled me to focus on what I could do, rather than what I couldn’t.
For more of Dan’s story, you can follow him (and his guide dog Zodiac!) on X (formerly Twitter) or connect with him on LinkedIn. To learn more about Visualise Training, follow the company on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).
