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News Letter
  • 1 year ago
Lisburn Outlook group
Transcript
00:00This Burnout, they do numerous things, there's walking groups and all sorts, but the part
00:17that I get involved in is the tandeming, and it's people that are out wanting to go cycling
00:29but can't because they're partially sighted, so obviously it wouldn't be safe for them
00:33to go out on their own. A sighted person goes out in the tandems with the partially sighted
00:38folk in the back.
00:45I'm David Mann, I'm now Joint Secretary of Lisbon Outlook, and I've been involved in the
00:54tandem riding for, well ever since we started really, a dozen years or so. These days I'm
01:00virtually totally blind, when I was younger I had quite a bit more sight, quite useful
01:06sight, but never been able to see well enough to ride a bike safely on the open road, so
01:12I've never had the experience of cycling as a younger person. I'm not interested in going
01:18to the gym or anything like that, but it's exercise that actually gets you somewhere,
01:23in this company as well, fresh air, all those things really. It's a sort of feeling of freedom
01:31if you like, just moving along, but moving along with a purpose.
01:45The person in the back can't see the potholes or the ramps on the road or anything like
01:49that, and also there's some blind, some partially sighted, but some of the men, they know the
01:58route and if you mention the road you're turning onto or whereabouts you are, it gives them
02:02an idea, and they I'm sure pick up sights and sounds from the different, like when you're
02:08coming close to the motorway, they know they're crossing over the M1 bridges and things like
02:13that, and they would get sights and sounds from different places, but part of the calendary
02:19is you let them know where they are on the road and what, we're coming up to traffic
02:23lights here, and then I always tell them that you're going to stop, and we usually count
02:27it down as 3, 2, 1, and stopping, because you can't just stick the brakes on because
02:32they don't know what's happening behind you.
02:36I can only see light, dark and shadows. I enjoy the company, I enjoy the freedom I've
02:41been able to go out on the bike, and get the benefit of the exercise and the fresh
02:45air, and I don't feel like I have a disability.
02:52I suppose a lot of people would maybe see it as if you go to a gym membership or something
02:59or you're in a club of some description, if you were going out yourself for some exercise,
03:05you'd think it's a wee bit cold this morning, or it looks like it might rain, I'll not bother,
03:09I'll leave it, but on a Saturday morning, if I don't go out, it means someone else can't
03:15go out, so you've always got that wee drag, thinking, well, make the effort and get out
03:20there, you know.
03:21I feel like my blindness doesn't matter, it doesn't affect me the way it does in other
03:26parts of life. I can't thank them enough for it, I really can't thank them enough for their
03:29time, their support, their friendship, and their dedication to making a difference to
03:36people's lives. We wouldn't be able to do it without them.
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