And I'm off the starting blocks!

I have now had my first consultation with my ROVI. A ROVI (Rehabilitation Officer Visual Impairment) assesses your mobility, both inside and outside the house, and considers solutions that could enhance someone’s quality of life. The ROVI helps you come up with technology and coping mechanisms to enable you to maximise your independence. For me, this was quite a big deal as I was aware this person would have to work quite closely with me, so the chemistry and relationship was really important.

My ROVI is a lady called Jo. Jo is an ex-armourer in the RAF, and she has been a ROVI for 12 years, working with countless other people in my situation. I instantly loved Jo; she was confident, capable, intelligent and had incredible people skills. I was a bit worried that the ROVI might be a bit over-caring, if you know what I mean, and this might create an involuntary, angry reaction from me as I’m not great when I feel like someone's being a bit condescending. However, I didn’t need to worry at all. Jo’s experience somehow enabled her to get the balance exactly right.

To start with, Jo came into my house, of course wearing a mask, and I made her a cup of tea. As she observed my environment at home and how I did things, she was actually able to make some great suggestions on a few interventions that could help me. For example, we have a really annoying induction hob. It apparently looks amazing in our kitchen and is easy to clean, but it’s touch-enabled and doesn’t have an app, which means it’s off limits for me. This means, when I want to boil an egg, I either need to get one of the kids to turn on the hob, or get the camping stove out, which is a bit of a pain! Jo was able to suggest a pen where you can draw rubber circles around touch screen icons. Well, the product is on order so we’ll see what it’s like when it gets here.

Jo also measured me up for my white stick, which was an education. Stupidly, I didn’t realise they were tailored to the user. A white stick needs to be the length from your feet, if your standing, to your sternum. So, that’s the second product on order.

As we chatted and shared information on our lives, Jo also showed me how to hold a white stick when I’m indoors to avoid bashing into things. I know my house well, but this will be really useful in other indoor environments. You hold the stick diagonally across you, using the ball at the end to be inline with your left foot, feeling around the left-side edges whilst you walk. We then went outside and practiced walking around the outer limits of my driveway. Jo showed me how to hold the white stick in front of me and tap to the left and right, arcing the stick in between the taps, going no higher than six inches each time. Jo warned me that I might get a sore arm after a while and certainly, after half an hour, I was starting to feel it. It was amazing to me how much you can navigate using a stick and how quickly you can learn to navigate your environment. Of course, you can feel when you’re touching grass, concrete or gravel, and these textures signal to you where you are on the driveway.

Whilst we were drinking our tea, Jo explained to me that it’s a big commitment to learn how to use a white stick. She said I needed to allow a minimum of an hour a week with her, but probably more like two as we get deeper into the training. Jo said it would probably take about six months for me to be able to navigate up to our local shops, make a purchase and walk back on my own.

I have booked my first training session now, which is on 6th April, and my confidence is certainly much higher having met my awesome ROVI. Also, having had a bit of a play walking round the driveway, I am really excited to embrace learning this new skill.