Timeless Inspiration from Partially Sighted People to Start the Year Right

The image shows 2023 made up of words in fireworks.

The end of the year is a time for reflection and setting goals for the year to come. In our post-pandemic world, things can feel a little different, and those typical goal-setting sessions can feel somewhat trivial. The pandemic showed us all how fragile our lives are and how quickly our plans can be upended. But dealing with surprises and adversity is something that visually impaired people are uniquely equipped for. Living with a visual impairment requires adaptability and a positive can-do attitude in the face of new challenges. 

In this month's blog, we're going to add fuel to that attitude while indulging our desire to reflect and find inspiration. Whatever your plans may be for the new year, we hope you can find something motivating from the words and examples of visually impaired people over the years. 

Hellen Keller once said that "the chief handicap of the blind is not blindness, but the attitude of seeing people towards them." This sentiment is always something to be motivated by. It is so encouraging how much is changing in how visual impairment is represented and treated in society, but more great examples of visually impaired people who smash the mould and break conventions are always needed to keep this momentum going! Progress has been made not only because researchers and technological innovators have become more interested in visual impairment, but also because of the ever-increasing visibility of achievements by visually impaired people.

Going after such achievements as a visually impaired person can build your character to a huge extent, as attested to by Daniel Kish. Kish was born with Retinoblastoma, a form of cancer that attacks the retinas, which meant he had to have both eyes removed. He rose to prominence for his use and promotion of echolocation. This is a technique that involves generating a sound, in his case a click of the tongue, then forming a picture of one's surroundings by listening to the echoes that reverberate from the surrounding objects. For Daniel, blindness is an advantage because: "When you actually adapt to blindness, you pretty much eradicate fear from your life in a way that most sighted people haven't."

Nobody embodies this fearlessness more than Erik Weihenmayer, who lost his sight at 13 years old due to Retinoschisis. In 2001, Erik became the first and only blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest. In 2008, he became 1 of 119 people to complete the seven summits, an achievement which involves climbing the highest mountain in each of the seven continents. If that wasn't enough, you can read about his journey kayaking through the Grand Canyon in his book No Barriers. For Weihenmayer, living with a visual impairment is difficult, but this difficulty is essential to a meaningful life, he writes: "Adversity alone has the unique power to inspire exceptional clarity, purge any vestiges of lethargy, refocus your priorities, hone your character, and unleash your most potent forces."

These brilliant people teach us some of the things we need to keep in mind whether we're visually impaired or not. Some of these things may be more relevant for VI people but the underlying message is the same for all of us and summarised perfectly by the first legally blind Olympian, Marla Runyan, who said: "I kind of believed that if I worked hard enough, I could overcome anything. There was always this concept that if I just had the right tools and time, I was going to figure anything out and I would be able to overcome it."