Raymond Mullen: "I am blind but charity brought light to my life"

dailyrecord.co.uk:

RAYMOND Mullen has spent much of his life in darkness – but the kindness of charity Sight Scotland has helped brighten up his days.He now enjoys plenty of support from Sight Scotland, including morale-boosting home visits, but previously life has often been hard.Born prematurely, his retinas never formed properly, and although he could see a little until his teenage years, his vision deteriorated.“I always wore big, thick glasses, but I still couldn’t see the blackboard at school, so I didn’t really get anywhere,” Raymond says.“In primary school I could play football and games with the other children – with difficulty – but I seemed to be able to adapt and I had some resilience.

But going to a large high school was very difficult. I was a prime target and there was a lot of bullying.“This was in the Sixties and there were no tools in place to help me, so I just stopped going to school.”This injustice is compounded by the fact that Raymond was bright with a desire to learn.

At school he was told he had nice handwriting, and he loved words and reading – using big-print books.But as an adult his opportunities were limited, which led to low self-esteem and alcoholism.Raymond’s sight worsened, and by his 20s he could only make out light and dark shapes as colours disappeared.“I can’t remember what a car or a house looks like, or a tree,” he admits. “It’s been so long since I physically saw them.“I know the grass is green and the sky is blue, and I know when it’s night or day or when my television is on, but I can’t see any of these things now.”Yet, incredibly Raymond held on to factory jobs by copying the people working next to him on the production line, as he could barely see.