I have the best job in the world, I teach and work with children with vision impairments. I work with babies through to 25 year olds. I don’t just work in nurseries and schools but in their homes and with their families. I am lucky enough to work with some amazing families including super siblings, who all want to support their child/sibling with VI to live their best life. Sometimes this can seem tough!

Having a vision impairment has obvious implications to school and learning, but it has a huge impact on home life, as well as access to and enjoyment of activities.  Often the young people I work with are the only person with a vision impairment at their school and they haven’t met another young person with VI. This can feel very isolating and have a huge impact on their self-esteem and confidence. At school, children will often refuse adaptations to work because they ‘don’t want to stand out’, they just ‘want to fit in’ and be ‘like everyone else’ (recent quotes from pupils).

Club Wilber, an arm of the Wilberforce Trust, run regular activities for families living with VI.  These are for the whole family, not just the child with VI.  In the past they’ve visited Cadbury World, had parties, story sessions and had a speedboat experience on Wet Wheels, a specially adapted, accessible boat. They are currently running a Fitbit challenge to encourage our youngsters to get active, something that can be tricky with reduced vision. 

These fun activities provide vital opportunities for young people with vision impairment to make friends with other young people living with VI. It provides a support network for parents/carers to chat about everything that comes with parenting a child with VI. Sighted siblings, who are often young carers, get the chance to meet other siblings and share experiences.  All of this supports the families I work with to know they’re not alone. It helps my pupils develop a positive identity as a young person, not just living with VI, but thriving and succeeding. 

In the coming year Club Wilber have so many amazing plans but these can only happen if they can continue to raise funds. Covid has had a massive effect on their fundraising in the last year. I’m doing my bit by running, swimming and cycling and hope my sweaty efforts and the accompanying photos will encourage you to give what you can.

The 3 month plan:

Run the distance of a marathon each month (125.58km total)

Swim the distance of the channel (35.41km)

Bike 150km 

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