Tony Giles – Blind Independent Traveller

I was born, Anthony Eric Giles, in the seaside town of Weston-Super-Mare, in September 1978.

I was about 9 months old when it was discovered that something was not quite right with my vision. It was eventually realised through an ophthalmologist that I had a rare genetic visual impairment.

I have had Cone Dystrophy from birth and Photo Phobia. This means I have no colour nerves in the back of my eye, greatly exposing my optic nerve to light. Hence, my Photo Phobia (light sensitivity).

I spent my first few years of life living in darkness whenever possible. I eventually got dark glasses, which I wore indoors and outside until about the age of 17 or 18.

I played in the street with my non-disabled friends, learning to listen for traffic. My street was a cul-de-sac and I knew the traffic could come only one way.

I went to a day school for the disabled in Bristol from the age of five. This was a journey of 20 miles in a taxi – I was often car sick.

By using my light sensitivity, I learnt to read and write. I could see large black lines on white paper. I learnt the alphabet and numeracy. I also could play snooker by detecting the different balls through shade. I had my rods, the nerve cells to help me see black and white and shade. However, by the age of 9 or 10, this light vision was beginning to lessen.

My eye condition has never changed, but my pain threshold got stronger, and my light sensitivity lessened as print got smaller and more complex. I stopped using my lenses as it got harder to view objects.

By the age of 10, I had stopped learning and needed a new medium to continue my education.

When I was about six years old, I went partially deaf in both ears. This appears to be from a related genetic condition. I was given analogue hearing aids. My hearing has got progressively worse over the years. At present, I am about 75-80% deaf without my hearing aids. I now wear digital aids, which are fantastic.

In the Spring of 1989, I was sent to the boarding school for the blind and visually impaired in Coventry. I was aged 10 and a half; it changed my life and eventually gave me my independence.

I spent six years at Exhall Grange School in Coventry. I was given mobility training, whereby I learnt how to use a long cane, public transport, and find locations. I was given the best training. I also learnt Braille; the blind method of reading and writing through a series of six dots in two vertical lines of three. These six dots in different combinations create the entire alphabet and numbers. I used it up to A-Level mathematics.

I engaged in all subjects, from pottery to swimming, chemistry to athletics, as well as the usual academic subjects.

I took my GCSE exams in the Summer of 1995, passing most subjects with a C grade and gaining a B in Information Technology. I failed my English and Maths.

I next went to the Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford to undertake my A-Levels. Academic studies to enable me to enter university if I chose.

I had wanted to become a physiotherapist, but was informed that having a dual disability would prevent me from pursuing this career.

At boarding school in Coventry, I had been exposed to many children with other disabilities. This gave me a sense that being blind and partially deaf was not the worst disability in life. Some of my friends had walking difficulties, speech impairments, asthma, seizures and a variety of other disabilities. I counted myself lucky. My best friend had Muscular Dystrophy, a muscle wasting disease and was slowly dying. This had a significant impact on me. He died just as I began my courses at RNC Hereford, October 1995. My Dad had died of old age only two months previously and I found myself in a strange place, without friends, alone and full of grief. I eventually turned towards alcohol and studies to help me.

I re-took my GCSE English and maths, passing them successfully second time round. I also took A-Level history in my first and second year. I took A-level maths and biology in my second and third year. I passed all three A-Level subjects, gaining a C in history and D’s in biology and mathematics.

I wanted to do Modern British History as a degree but could not find a suitable course. Somebody suggested American Studies to me and after researching the subject, I decided to apply.

I was accepted onto a course at my second choice university in Northampton and went off to study and learn about life for three years in the East Midlands.

I knew something of America before I began my degree, having been on a school trip to Boston, Massachusetts as a 16 year old in 1995. I also visited New York and Washington DC with a disabled friend in August 1998 just before I began my university course.

I got the chance to study in South Carolina through my American Studies Degree and went to Coastal Carolina University, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in January 2000. I spent four months in the South, learning about American culture and life before going travelling around California with a fellow student from Australia. I also visited New Orleans and Hawaii during that trip.

I attended University College Northampton from 1998 to 2001 gaining a 2:1 Degree with Honours in American Studies.

I did not attend a university for the blind: none exists. I went to class with other students, most who were none-disabled. I was given money from my Local Education Authority to purchase equipment with speech in order for me to write my essays and read handouts and books. Academic texts are extremely difficult to obtain in Braille, and to bulky to read.

I can touch type without speech, but having software that reads everything I type and the entire screen if I command it makes studying much easier. I employed fellow students to help me research books, find quotations and correct my spelling and grammar.

I have a scanner with speech, which allows me to read any typed text including my post. This vital piece of equipment enabled me to function at university at the same level as sighted students. I had to scan the books myself and then listen to the entire text. This took twice as long as a student reading with sight, but it made me more determined to learn.

Between October 2001 and March 2002 I travelled around part of the southern hemisphere. I backpacked unaided around Australia, New Zealand, part of southern Vietnam and visited Thailand.

It was during this trip that I was diagnosed with high blood pressure and kidney disease. It is a condition that has gradually deteriorated over the last six years. I am at present down to 10% kidney function and will need kidney hemodialysis and eventually a transplant.

It is still unknown why I have this condition, it could be genetic, but the doctors are still unsure.

At the end of my trip in 2002, I stopped drinking alcohol altogether and with help from some close friends got clean. I was on the verge of becoming a full alcoholic. I have been clean for 6 years.

In October 2002 I began my masters degree in Transatlantic Studies (History of US Foreign Policy) at University of Birmingham. I passed the course a year later and graduated in December 2003.

In January 2004 I began an epic backpacking solo world journey; visiting parts of South and North America, Mexico and Cuba, and most of Southern Africa. This journey took over 12 months and took me to the most southern part of the South American Continent amongst other adventures. I also undertook my first solo hike in the Rocky Mountains, Canada and put my feet in the Arctic Ocean.

In February 2005, I rented my first flat in Erdington, Birmingham and began writing my first travel book.

Between June and October 2005 I visited several European countries most notably Italy and Germany. Between 2006 and 2008 I revisited the US and Canada, travelling to the remaining US States and Canadian Provinces. I have now travelled to all 50 US States and visited all 10 of Canada’s Provinces.

In mid-February 2008 I crossed the Arctic Circle travelling by boat in Norway.

To date, I have visited 41 countries, totally blind and partially deaf.

I have bungee jumped 12 times and sky dived 3 times.

At present I live in Teignmouth, Devon by the sea.

My family consists of my Mum and Step-Dad and one Sister eight years older and one Brother six years older. I have two small nieces from my Brother, one aged 4 and the other 6 months. None of my family are disabled in any way.

My hobbies include, playing the drums, listening to late 1960s rock music, listening to sport, such as football and international cricket, reading historical fiction, walking, sailing, pottery and going to rock concerts.

My favourite authors include Steven King, Colin Forbes, Thomas Harris, Jack Higgins and Alistair MacLean.

My football team is Liverpool.

I enjoy most foods except salad! My favourite foods are pork sausages and chocolate.

Black is my preferred choice of colour.

My favourite singer-songwriter is Bob Dylan.

My favourite band is Led Zeppelin.

I hope to travel for the rest of my life.

My goals are to get a kidney transplant and return to travelling the globe. I would like to meet a like-minded female, blind or not, and travel until my body tells me I can no longer do such activities. I will then retire by the sea.

My aims are to get to Antarctica, travel across Russia, go to India and the Himalayas, backpack more of Central-South America and visit Japan and Indonesia.

My other ambition is to publish my travel books and write and publish some fiction.

My biggest passion is travelling and hostelling.