​How accessible is Manchester for the blind? An interview with Christopher Fisher

We recently took to the streets of Manchester with Sarah, who suffers from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), to find out just how difficult it is for wheelchair users to navigate around Manchester. We filmed our day out, and what we saw ranged from the surprising to the shocking (you can watch the video here).

But what about other members of the disabled community?

We interviewed Christopher Fisher, who lost his sight in 2008 after contracting a rare virus, to find out about his experiences. Christopher lives in Chorley but spends a lot of time in Manchester, and also acts as an ambassador for the Speed of Sight charity. Read our conversation with Christopher below:

Can you tell us a bit about your disability?

I lost my sight at the end of 2008 and it happened very quickly. I had a virus called toxoplasmosis and it left me completely blind within four weeks. I didn’t know I had the virus at the time. I woke up one morning with blurred eyesight and four weeks later I was completely blind. I had no problems with my eyesight before that.

How did you get the virus?

It's a rare virus that you can pick up from animal faeces, so they think I maybe even have picked it up as a child in the park and it lay dormant for all that time. It ate my retinas away in four weeks.

How did your loss of sight affect your day-to-day life?

Well, straightaway you lose the ability to drive, read, cook, navigate safely, and you can't see your family around you. Everything, absolutely every single part of your life, is affected and I was really taken aback by it all.

I was also thrust into this world of rehabilitation - it was just like being a toddler, having to learn how to do everything again. And you realise there are some things that you'll never be able to do any more.

How helpful was rehabilitation?

It was massively helpful. I got support from a specially trained care worker who taught me the basics of day-to-day living - making a drink, using my blind cane safely and effectively, and so on.

The idea is to promote independence, so it lasted for about six months and then, once I had the basics, I was very proactive and tried to get on with living my life.

How did you feel after the rehabilitation stage?

A year after losing my sight I started to suffer with anxiety. My counsellor said I must have been in shock so, roughly a year after losing my sight, I had massive panic attacks, palpitations, vomiting, nausea and a fear of going outside.

I could be out somewhere and be confronted with a situation and then start feeling sick and have a panic attack. That went on for about four years. It was really debilitating - I never want to experience that again.

What situations brought on your anxiety?

Busy shops, urgently needing the toilet, situations like that. For example, if I needed the toilet, would I be able to get there in time? And this is even with a support worker that I was with at the time. Even though you're with somebody it's just amazing how the mind just goes into this horrible panic and there's nothing you can do about it - the panic just takes over.

How did you overcome your anxiety?

I got counselling from the RNIB, which is called Bereavement Counselling, because going blind is such a severe trauma that it's akin to a bereavement. So I had 12 sessions and was put on a course of anti-anxiety medication so, slowly but surely, the two combined started helping me to cope.

I still suffer with anxiety but it manifests itself as a feeling of dryness or a lump in the throat. I can cope with that now - I just take a couple of deep breaths and tell myself "come on Chris, there’s nothing to be scared of, you've done this a thousand times." Generally it'll pass then.

What are your feelings about accessibility in Manchester?

Well, as far as public transport goes, buses and taxis, I've generally had more good experiences than bad.

But while I’m out and about the main problems are caused by things like pedestrian crossings. Obviously they have an audible tone, which is there for the visually impaired, as well as a tactile knob that spins when the green man lights up, so we know when we can cross. However, a lot of them are either broken or inoperable.

Uneven surfaces and loose paving are also obviously tricky for the blind to navigate.

Temporary road works and footpath diversions are shocking too. We don’t get any real warning of them because we can’t read signs - we only find out when we get there and the pavement is suddenly narrowed and we realise there are temporary fencing and barriers.

Once we get down those narrow paths, everyone else is trying to come the opposite way, which can be very stressful. Obviously it would be really difficult to navigate in such a restricted space if you're in a wheelchair too.

How does that make you feel?

I understand that work needs to be done and there's a massive amount of money being spent in Manchester to develop the area, but you get frustrated. It's not outright anger but it just makes things harder than they need to be. With a little more foresight and a bit more patience these things could be made so much easier.

Do you feel those responsible for work of this kind don’t take into account the effect this has on the disabled?

Yes. I feel like they think they make these plans and, because the disabled or the severely disabled are a very small minority, we're probably not considered at all. Very little, if any, but probably not at all.

Do you feel you have a platform to feed back your frustrations to those responsible so that things can change?

Well, I wouldn't know where to write and to be honest I’d probably feel like I'd be wasting my time.

Normally it takes weeks to get a reply and when you do it’s a generic message of, "I can assure you that every consideration was put into place for the disabled, we take that very seriously." I just don't think they mean a word of it.

In our video, Sara experienced problems with a disabled toilet that was being used to store a motorcycle. Has anything like that ever happened to you?

I've never encountered anything like that, but I’ve encountered very, very messy toilets, with urine splashed on the floor, no toilet paper and things like that. Being blind you only find out that you've not got toilet paper when you've sat down and done what you needed to do. So that calls for an embarrassing shout of "help, I need some toilet paper!" Whereas anyone else could just walk in and see that there’s no toilet paper, locate the dispenser, and so on.

How about the public? How do people affect your ability to move around Manchester easily and comfortably?

In the rat race that everyone exists in, most people are just so focused on getting from A to B as quickly as possible that they don’t give you any quarter at all. I've been knocked off my stick and had doors closed on me.

The public needs to be more aware of disabled people and the blind. It’s strange - often people don't make the connection between the word ‘blind’ and the concept of not being able to see.

Obviously every disability is devastating, but if I were in a wheelchair or an amputee, I would still be able to see what I was doing, be able to drive and so on. I live in a completely different world to other disabled people.

So it’s about raising awareness with the general public that when you see somebody with a cane to give them as much room as you can and make sure obstacles are not strewn across pavements, which is what happened a few weeks ago in Manchester. We were walking past a café and one chair was just left out in the pavement and I walked straight into it.

Speaking of restaurants, more often than not if I’m going into a restaurant either with my partner or somebody else and they can see I’m being guided by someone and have got a cane, I’ll still get given a printed menu. I make light of it but I always think “can you not see that I’m blind and I can’t read that?”

Why do you think people don’t make that connection?

I don't know. They definitely need more awareness training, I think.

I’ll try and laugh it off and say "Oh, I don't need that, I can't read!" but most of the time they don't say, "Oh sorry, would you like me to bring you a braille one?"

Only once out of hundreds of occasions has someone said, "Oh good afternoon sir, would you like me to bring you a braille menu?"

What do you think needs to happen to improve people’s awareness of these issues?

Well I definitely think there should be more training across the board. But it’s more that if you see somebody who's got a disability, don't sympathise but try to empathise with their problem and put yourself in their shoes just for a minute.

You might be rushed off your feet, but just take the time and spend that extra minute to be as helpful as you can and that one minute could make all the difference

We're not asking for a crate of gold bullion! All we want is for people to be aware and think “OK. this guy's blind, he's got a stick, he's being guided by someone, how can I make his experience in this restaurant smooth and one that he'll remember and that’ll encourage him to come back here again?”

What about raising awareness among the public in general?

People need to be unafraid of offering assistance. Whenever someone offers to help me I always gracefully accept it because, whether or not it was crossing the road or getting in and out of a shop, if somebody offers me the help I will take it and be very grateful for it because, ultimately, that makes my getting in and out of somewhere smoother and faster.

I've got places to be like everybody else, so if I have an appointment, if somebody can help me get there faster and easier then that’s great. So don't be afraid to offer help.

It’s also important to remember to give the disabled plenty of room and just be aware that we're people with feelings at the end of the day. It can be a shock and a little scary if you’re blind and someone doesn’t give you space or comes up on you quickly. It can be like someone coming up behind you and saying “boo!”

People also need to have more patience. Sometimes I’ll be walking with my cane alongside the curb and there might be three inches of pavement for me and someone will try and get past in that three inches of space and knock me out the way.

What made you want to take part and talk about your experiences? Why do you think it's important?

I think it's important for two reasons; I want other people with a disability to have a chance to go about their daily life and be able to move around as unhindered and as freely as possible, whether it’s going for lunch, navigating through a busy street or going to the toilet - whatever. And I'd love that to happen, but the only way it can happen is for the people without a disability to be aware and be patient and if they can, help however they are able. We just need more people to step up to the plate, even if they're able-bodied.

I think maybe some people are scared of asking and patronising the disabled, and sometimes people with a disability will say “leave me alone, I can do it." But if that happens, don’t take it personally.

If they decline the offer for help then that’s fine. The important thing is you've asked and you've done an amazing and admirable thing just by asking, and should feel proud.

Should you have any queries about making a clinical negligence or personal injury claim and wish to speak with a member of the team, please contact us on 0161 237 5888.