Even as somebody who has always had severe short-sight, it came as
a shock when I found out a few years ago that all was not as it seemed with my
vision and, after further in-depth tests, I was confirmed to have a condition
called Cone Dystrophy which causes the cones in the retina to slowly degrade.

This form of macular disease affects the central vision which
provides, among other things, the detail and colour vision. Although a shock,
it did not impact on my daily life, I could still use a computer, read a book
and drive a car.

Scroll forward three years and I have surrendered my driving licence;
I often don’t notice even my closest friends and family when I walk past them
in the street and it’s a lottery that I’ll walk into the gents toilets in the
pub!

I have always enjoyed walking, (which is good as this has now
become my principal mode of transport!) and I have started taking loads of
photos to have something to look back on, some of these I have shared on my
Instagram account Blind
man with a backpack.

The Macular Society are a fantastic organisation providing advice,
support and counselling services to those who suffer with macular disease and
their families. They also fund essential research into finding new treatments
and even a cure for macular disease. I have personally benefitted from many of
these resources in the form of support via their Facebook group, advice from
the Working Age team on assistive technologies and, most recently, their
counselling service.

To this end, I have teamed up with my amazing sister, Kathryn, to
walk the 100km Thames Path challenge  in
September 2021 and to hopefully raise as much money as possible for the Macular
Society.

To find out more about the Macular Society and their work, visit
their website www.macularsociety.org

You can read more about my story here.