Aidan McCorry
My name is Aidan McCorry. I'm 54 year old. I'm the Director for Corporate Services and Planning at an organisation called APEX Scotland. I'm registered as blind, and this was the result of an accident I had at work where I tripped and fell and banged my head, and I think optic nerve damage resulted.
APEX is an agency that deals with ex-offenders, and we encourage ex-offenders to secure jobs, employment or further training. I'm Director of Corporate Services and Planning, and what that means is that I have responsibility for a lot of the corporate activities within the organisation, like HR, Health and Safety, quality, accreditation, and all those types of things. So what I needto do is to communicate effectively, not only within the organisation to my own staff, but also externally as well.
The equipment I have principally involves a magnification machine which sits on my desk, which allows me to read existing documents, and a large screen computer which has special software on it which enlarges the type face. I'm able to function effectively with that. That allows me to do all the emailing and communication and writing letters and all that kind of stuff.Essentially the equipment I have makes me on par, if you like, with my colleagues.
The transition going back into work was hard. However, I had undertaken a course while I was off work with the RNIB, and I was given access to a whole range of equipment that allowed me to experiment with what was and was not possible, so I had quite a lot of confidencebeforegoingback, but it was always going to be difficult because of course you're trying to anticipate how other people are going to react and all the rest of it. We had arranged for the RNIB to come in and do a bit of training with the staff here so that they could understand what to expect and how to respond and all that kind of stuff. So there's quite a lot of planning that went into it in advance.
I think in terms ofgiving advice to people who are contemplatingreturning to work after an accident or having suffered sight loss: take steps to prepare your self; make sure that the RNIB are involved, not just with yourself but also with the employer and I think that is paving the way for a successful transition back to work.