TESTING THE WATERS

I feel a longing that hurts as I scroll through the pictures on the Roxy Davis Foundation’s Instagram page. A child with Down’s syndrome is riding a wave, her joyous smile radiating back at me.

I pause when I come to a group picture of the adaptive surfers, the coaches and volunteers. There I am, to the right. If you didn’t know me you might mistake me for one of the volunteers, but I’m a beneficiary of Roxy’s organisation, the purpose of which is to give people with physical and mental challenges the opportunity to experience the thrill of riding a wave.

I have retinitis pigmentosa, a deteriorating, genetically inherited eye disease that erodes your peripheral vision, leading to eventual blindness. In 2006, a visual field test revealed that I had 40 degrees of my central vision left. It was a devastating blow, because it meant giving up