Sometimes it’s important to step back, take stock and realign your priorities. This is exactly what I’ve been doing over the past few months. What has become profoundly clear is that there were too many spinning plates and something was likely to spin off if things were left as they were.

It is apparent since last summer that my sight loss is taking up far more of my time than I ever thought possible. In all reality, I never expected to be sat writing at my laptop with each letter being read out to me in a blur of sound. As the zoom level gets increasingly bigger (only a few weeks ago I could comfortably work at 3.5 times, now it’s much more likely to be between 6 and 7 times normal size) I find that the things I used to be able to do with ease are now more complex. With the technical advances nothing is impossible, but I must re-evaluate things.

I’ve never really been one for social media, but I have found such an amazing community online of other visually impaired and disabled people that I otherwise would never have met. There are some fantastic content providers online, telling their sight-loss and disability stories in so many ways, I feel privileged to be able to contribute in my own little manner.

As I continue along this new road, I have found so many amazing tools to make things that little bit easier. My long canes, Tim and Mike, my symbol cane, Daisy, my talking scales and alarm clock, bump-ons, liquid-level indicator, taci-mark (this is a truly amazing invention which I’ll have to showcase soon) and many others.

As well as all the new people I’ve met, organisations I’ve found and accessibility technology and tools, I have also found a real love for writing. Other than a cathartic release, I am thrilled to be able to raise awareness by contributing to larger organisations every now and again. Of course, some of my writing is quite personal and I really wanted a platform where I can decide what I share and what I don’t.

So here we are, a new beginning at BlindManWithABackpack.uk and, to celebrate, a new backpack to take on my travels.

So all that’s left to do is raise a glass to a new beginning and wish you the best of health.