Lisburn Outlook

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.