One man’s journey of sight loss, photography, the arts, charity, sailing, life, love and guide dogs
Well hello and welcome to my very first blog for Action for Blind People. I hope to bring some enjoyable and valuable insights into my life as I go about living it.
I am registered blind, in my early 40s, live with my lovely wife, Sara, and guide dog, Kerrie and have always had a visual impairment, as I was born with retinopathy of prematurity, so hope to bring a different perspective on living with sight loss.
My lack of vision has certainly provided a few obstacles along my path, but has not stopped me from doing the things I have wanted to do in life. I guess I must be pretty resourceful because I have always found my way around these obstacles. My parents had the philosophy that if you put your mind to it, you can make it happen and that philosophy has kept me in very good stead.
After being told at school to go and tune pianos, I decided to rebel and did Business Studies at the RNC in Hereford instead. It just made sense. I figured that a tone deaf piano tuner would probably not have many clients.
Whilst I was at the RNC, I got into photography and was fortunate to have been provided with an abundance of encouragement and much needed support from the inimitable John Everett, who was Head of Art at the time. John was a real advocate for people, with whatever level of eyesight, to get involved in the arts.
Although John was very persuasive, he was also a bit of a maverick and so It took me a couple of years before following his advice to continue my studies in photography, but I am glad that I finally did. This led me to Falmouth and then to Cheltenham and I ended up with a degree in photography.
On graduation, I moved to London, which was the place to be if I wanted to have a career as a freelance photographer. I landed on my feet and quickly got a few good commissions and a couple of exhibitions, which then led to my taking a full time role at the BBC working on radio programmes.
I was here. I had done it. I had gone against the tide and it had paid off. Two of my photographs were in the photo library of the National Portrait Gallery. Imagine that.
It was at the Beeb that I first heard about VocalEyes and their great work opening up the arts to blind and partially sighted people through audio description. Their dedication and commitment to making the arts more accessible was a pull that I could not resist, so am now part of this wonderful organisation.
And as both Action and the RNIB gave me plenty of help and support when I arrived in London all those years ago, I am also pleased to be able to return the many favours and help to ensure that Action is able to continue supporting blind and partially sighted people through my role as a Trustee.
Although all of this does keep me pretty busy, one of my great pleasures is sailing and, so far, I have represented Great Britain at four World Blind Sailing Championships.
And that’s where I begin this blogging journey. I hope you will enjoy coming along with me.
About Toby
Toby Davey was born with retinopophy of prematurity some 40 years ago and is registered blind.
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Comments
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Well done Toby. I am registered blind an I.T. Tutor, a singer, have a guidedog, own a yacht and are still searching for something eles.
Posted by Victor Leslie Molyneux, 15 October 2011 (7 months ago)
