When I opened my eyes, I knew this was more than just an ordinary hangover
was 16 when I first went to sea. Having joined the merchant navy after school, I got a round-the-world cruise as my first trip – we went to South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and sailed down the Panama Canal. For a teenager who’d grown up in Glasgow during the 1950s and 60s, it was a real adventure, and over the next 15 years I enjoyed a happy, carefree life as a ship’s steward, working long hours but playing hard during my time off.
As I was helped off the ship, I tried not to panic, assuming I was suffering a temporary affliction. It would take a long time for me to give up that hope, even after I was flown back to the UK. I was examined first in Southampton, where I lived, and then later by a specialist in Glasgow. He told me he was sorry, then said I would be blind for the rest of my life.
Sign up to our Inside Saturday newsletter for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the making of the magazine’s biggest features, as well as a curated list of our weekly highlights. The turning point came when I went on a camping holiday with other visually impaired people – it made such a difference to be able to talk to people who understood my situation. In 1989, I had started a two-year course at a Royal National Institute of Blind People college in Loughborough, learning new skills. Halfway through the course I got my first guide dog, Otis, which changed everything.
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