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England's first blind qualified fitness instructor has told how he used exercise to fight depression after losing his sight suddenly at the age of 26.
James O'Driscoll, 37, who has secured a job at a Croydon gym after years of training, lost his sight to a rare form of optic neuropathy. The hereditary condition, in which cells in the optic nerve die off, affects one in 20 million people.
He said: "I just had a takeaway, went to bed and when I woke up I couldn't see out of my right eye. Over the next six weeks I then lost the sight in my left eyeI lost my job as a road worker, my house was repossessed and I lost my girlfriend. It was the low point of my life."
Mr O'Driscoll said he spent four years coming to terms with his blindness. "It got to a point where I was only going out to buy takeaways and fags and I was lonely. I just woke up and thought, 'I am not doing this any more'." He taught himself to read braille in three months and enrolled at a college for visually impaired people.
He said: "After the first day in class I cried my eyes out. There were all these six and seven-year-olds who were blind but were just getting on with it. I thought I could not justify feeling sorry for myself."
He enrolled on a fitness instructors' course at South Bank University. For the practical side of his CYQ level 2 qualification he had an assistant to describe how his client was exercising to check they were safe. He will continue to use an assistant in his job.
Mr O'Driscoll, who is getting married to Louise Rutter, 31, in Lapland next month, said: "Becoming physically active changed my life, taking me from a place of depression to happiness. Now I'm seeking to give other people the opportunity to experience the life-enhancing benefits of keeping fit."
Reader views (2)
This is a great article but I think it should be noted that James was part of the Coach-ability project. Coach-ability is a coach training programme and employment project for disabled people across all London boroughs.
Coach-ability is project managed by London Sports Forum for Disabled People and funded by the London Development Agency 2012 Opportunities fund.
- Ruth Sackett, London
After reading a succession of despresing stories about rapes in mini cabs, gang attacks on trains and bans on types of housing supposedly not in comformity with asian lifestyles, this life inspiring story really cheered me up.
- Alan, London
