Working Life: Sculpture classes tailored to people who are visually impaired have proven to be a success

Marta O'Connor, head of support services at Fighting Blindness

"I seek out grants which could potentially support our counselling and peer support groups and also our new projects such as Sculpture for Visually Impaired, Dance for All and yoga classes, which I would like to put in place this year," Marta O'Connor, head of support services at Fighting Blindness

6.30am

I read the news over a cup of tea before strolling through Cork city to my yoga class. I’m a huge fan of yoga and mindfulness — it plays an important role in my life. It’s one of the activities I’m looking at introducing into our community of people with visual impairment.

8.30am

Back home, I make another cup of tea and switch on my laptop. I work mostly from home in Cork but travel to Dublin every few weeks to meet my team and attend important meetings.

Every morning looks similar: I go through emails and follow up on counselling or support group queries, then I contact new or existing clients using our support services.

9.30am

I meet with colleagues in Fighting Blindness to discuss actions related to our upcoming Retina International World Congress which takes place in June. It’s the biggest event we have hosted in the history of Fighting Blindness (over 40 years) and we are really excited.

11am

I travel to Cork College of Further Education and Training to meet with the principal, Paula McCarthy, to discuss upcoming projects. Currently, we’re collaborating on delivery of sculpture classes tailored to people who are visually impaired. It’s proven to be a success and we are going to deliver it again in September.

1pm

Lunchbreak is usually a lovely nature walk by the river.

2pm

I have a Zoom call with the dance artist Laura Sarah Dowdall. We’re collaborating with her on delivering 'Dance for All' — a project for visually impaired people in our community in Dublin.

3pm

I seek out grants which could potentially support our counselling and peer support groups and also our new projects such as Sculpture for Visually Impaired, Dance for All and yoga classes, which I would like to put in place this year. There are usually one or two grants to apply for at any given time.

4pm

I meet with our support group coordinator to discuss any pressing matters and opportunities for new support groups for people in our community. We always look for feedback from people and it informs how we develop our services, new groups and new projects.

• Fighting Blindness is organising a public engagement day in Dublin on Saturday, June 8, as part of hosting the Retina International World Congress. Click here for more information or to register.