This much I know: Richard Moore

I LOST my eyesight aged 10 when I was shot by a soldier’s rubber bullet.

Despite the trauma, I got through it with the support of a good family and community. I was the second youngest of 12 kids.

I set up the charity Children In Crossfire in 1996 because of my own life experience. Despite all the difficulties in Derry in the 1970s, I still had choices and opportunities available to me. I realised that there were many kids in other parts of the world who may had have their eyesight, but didn’t have what I had. So I simply decided to help children like that, who are facing injustice and poverty.

I don’t live in a world of darkness. I have a visual memory. I visualise things automatically — when I hear a car, in my mind’s eye I see a car. When I hear rain, I see rain.

I used to be a publican — but I don’t miss that world. I played guitar in a band too.

The most amazing thing about the Dalai Lama is his ability to communicate with every type of person. He is a very human world leader. I first met him in Derry in 2000. He asked to meet victims of the Troubles and somehow I ended up on the list. I knew of him vaguely, of course. But during his talk about forgiveness something clicked for me. I realised that he was expressing exactly what I felt about forgiveness. That night, I sat beside him at dinner and that’s when the connection really began. He asked me out to Dharamshala. It took me 10 years to get there but in 2010 I spent some time with him there.

Meeting the Dalai Lama was terrific — but I’d still like to meet Paul McCartney.

Since I lost my sight, my other senses have become more important, especially my hearing, because I rely on them more.

My brother was the one who told me I would never see again. I sort of just accepted it. I cried that night in bed when I realised I was never going to see my parents’ faces again.

There was no such thing as therapy for me back then. I didn’t get depressed but it certainly took a bit of adjustment. I did get very bad panic attacks for a while.

I kept going to school locally. The nearest blind school was in Belfast and going all that way would have been too traumatic. I learned braille and how to touch type and went on to Coleraine University to study to be a social worker.

The most important thing I’ve learned so far is that whatever problem you have, you need to put it into perspective in relation to the rest of your life. It can be as big or as small as you make it. My blindness could have been massive, but I began to see that it was only a part of my life. There is more to life than being able to see.

I am no more or less religious than the average person. But my parents’ faith had a big impact on me. They were deeply religious, they used to go to mass every day, and I think I found forgiveness through their faith. I never heard them say an angry word about what happened to me.

My earliest visual memory is of congealed pools of blood on the Bogside after Bloody Sunday. I remember silly things too — like how I used to love looking at the stars.

My greatest pleasure in life is travelling. Especially alone. When I travel with someone, all my needs are catered for, but when I travel alone it is different. I love all the things most people hate about it — waiting at airports, sitting on planes. It’s the chance to meet people that I enjoy. You know that person who sits next to you on a plane and won’t shut up? Well, that’s me.

I’m not too good at separating my work from the rest of my life. But I am pretty good at taking holidays.

If I could change one thing in society I’d like to see less greed.

Richard Moore is in conversation on Wednesday at a free event during the Liberties Festival 2011, which runs from June 12-19. Further information at www.libertiesfestivaldublin.com