My name is Trish (Patricia). I was born in 1956. Nystagmus was virtually unknown back then. My parents struggled to keep me in mainstream school and I faced many challenges including bullies and unkind kids.
Teachers believed that wearing glasses would fix my vision issues, which showed their ignorance. Life was tough during primary and secondary school and even local GPs didn’t understand my condition. It’s sad that we live in such an uneducated world.
I have never claimed any disability allowance and just got on with life. I have worked all my life, had a successful career as a manager at Tesco and earned CIPD qualifications in Personnel. I married an amazing guy, had two beautiful children and now have four wonderful grandchildren. Thankfully, none of them have my condition as I know how tough life would be for them.
I am happy but sad that I didn’t have the courage to stand up for myself. Maybe things would have been different if I had.
