Resilient Torie.

Introducing Torie
from the UK. I love her sense of humour, such a trait of resilience.

As I have been blind from birth, I haven't been bothered about it that much. There were some times though where I would just want to see. I remember one day we were out for a walk with our dog, and I said something like "I wish i could see". When asked why, i wanted to see the ground and that. I was only about 5 at the time, but i don't think I actually knew what being blind was all about.

One day shortly after this, my brother said something about me being disabled. I didn't know what that was, so I said that he was disabled too!

I think it was around my teenage years when i found out what being blind was actually about. There was one time when I was about 13 or 14, when I was being bullied. After getting upset one day over something the bullies had said (i didn't tell anyone at the time i was being bullied), my mum and dad sat me down. What had actually happened was that i had been doing maths, and didn't understand something. My maths teacher gave me some sticks to symbolise what she meant. I felt so bad, because i think someone had said about me using them. My mum had said at the time that i hadn't come to terms with my visual impairment, but i didn't really know what she meant. Looking back, i now know that she meant that it was okay to use the sticks for what i was doing, and that it was the only way i could understand it, since it was a visual thing.

After that, i slowly but surely started to see the funny side of blindness. I became more confident, and started having a bit of fun and not taking myself so seriously.

I think it is important to have humour and laugh at certain situations. Yeah it might not be good at the time, but i think that having humour has made me cope better.

Sure there are some days where you still get really frustrated, and days where you feel sorry, but i really would hate it if i just sat in the corner and wanted everything done for me. I get extremely annoyed at people who want to just sit in the corner all day. I know it's hard, but i still think that people can do a bit for themselves. Naybe i'm wrong though.

I feel though that it is important to have people you can talk to about visual impairment, who have gone through the same thing.

It's also important to be positive as much as you can, and to try and not let it get to you.

Well i'm Torie, and i live in the UK. I have just finished a computer course at college. I volunteer three times a week at a charity teaching JAWS to blind and partially sighted people.

I enjoy reading, socialising, and playing with assistive technology!

Share your story of Resiliency. Email me at becky.resilient@gmail.com.