Jack working to help make sport and fitness more accessible for blind and partially sighted people in Northumberland

Jack Moffat, from Longframlington, has a hereditary condition called retinitis pigmentosa that begins in childhood and causes a deterioration of vision – primarily affecting peripheral sight.

The 29-year-old says he was in denial about his eye condition growing up and hid his sight loss from his friends and peers, and he withdrew from playing sports that he enjoyed when he was younger.

It was not until much later that he would find a way to have sport back in his life.

Jack said: “I had to move the goalposts to make myself realise that I am still capable. I wasn’t going to get back into sport until I’d accepted my condition.

“I’ve done that in the past few years. I’ve started playing visually impaired cricket, which has been a big part of changing and turning my life around.”

He recently gained a coach development scholarship with the English Cricket Board, where he has proposed to develop a coaching course specific to a visually impaired version of cricket.

In addition, through his capacity as a Northumberland Sight Loss Council member, Jack intends to survey the access needs of blind and partially sighted people in Northumberland to better understand what people want and what might be stopping them from participating in sports and fitness.

The council is working with Active Northumberland to help make its sites and activities more inclusive for visually impaired people.

For more information about the council, go to www.sightlosscouncils.org.uk/northumberland-sight-loss-council