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But all of this has been a challenge of which I had to work quite hard to achieve. In Ireland, very little is known or understood about deafblindness. Deafblindness is like a ‘piggy in the middle’ situation. There lacks a representative body of deafblind people, providing information and support services, training for vocational or independent living skills and other related services. It is my greatest hope that this will begin to become a reality in Ireland very soon. Because to date, people with acquired blindness and myself have to rely on ourselves to adjust to this significant change in life.

It is too easy to suggest to someone with deafblindness to follow the trend of the established career choices of our previous deafblind generations. There is nothing wrong with those careers. But I firmly believe that deafblind people have so much to teach others. For people with acquired deafblindness, this important transition in life equips us to embrace all the hurdles life brings us. Personally I feel much stronger to cope with loss and to embrace change. My life experiences enable me as a coaching psychologist to help others to enhance their lives. Everyone has the potential to be what they want to be, despite their disabilities or any other limiting factors. My life experiences provide so much benefit for my clients as they work towards enhancing the quality of their own lives. My clients do not see my disability, they see my ability.

We can easily become weighed down by the negativity of our problems rather than lightening our load by seeing the possibility and positivity of solutions. It may not be the solution we desperately want, like a cure or treatment for our failing sight and hearing. But there are other solutions if we allow ourselves to think and act on them. This is what quality of life is about for me. I disable my disability by enabling my ability to achieve my own potential.