Randy Ott's vision problems began when he was 23 years old due to Usher's Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder characterized by hearing loss and vision loss. He was forced to give up driving and, without independent transportation, also his career plans of becoming a plumber.
Instead, Randy worked at a plumbing supply warehouse. However, at the age of 53, he could no longer see to read and had to leave his job as branch manager to go on long-term disability. In 2018, when he was 63, he officially retired.
"With the technology available today, I probably could have kept my job," Randy believes. Tools such as a screen reader, VoiceOver, and audiobooks have been wonderful in recent years. However, should his hearing further deteriorate, these may not be enough. So, last year, he started learning braille with Hadley, "I don't want to be in a world where I can't read. I want to be prepared," he explains. "The timing was also right with COVID-19 because that was when I was just starting to get into braille."
Around this same time, Randy and his wife moved from British Columbia to Saskatchewan to be near their daughter and her six children. In addition to helping with his grandkids, Randy enjoys listening to audiobooks and hockey games. He also loves baking and jokes, "It's a good thing I also like walking to counter this."
Over the past year, Randy has also been an avid Hadley learner, completing more than 100 workshops. "I fell in love with the Hadley website," he states, "It has opened up a whole new world. It has been a huge help and has made me realize there are still things that I can do."
He is amazed by how much useful information he has found for dealing with vision loss. For example, Randy had assumed that he could not rely on sound cues because he has lost much of his hearing, but after completing the Getting Around Outside workshop, he realized that he can distinguish enough sound to make a difference. Hadley's technology workshops, which are helping him take full advantage of his iPhone and computer, have been another highlight. "There are so many little tricks I didn’t know—like, the fact that you can answer the iPhone by double-tapping. You don't need to locate the button on the screen. Something as simple as that is so helpful."
"It can be isolating not knowing where to go for help," Randy explains. While he has tapped into excellent resources provided by the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), "they can't have enough staff to help everyone fully," he says, "So, it is great to have resources like Hadley to complement this." Plus, he values Hadley's personal touch, "It makes a big difference to have Hadley learning experts reach out to me to see how I'm doing and encourage me."