Passionate about sport, but challenged with a disability, Aaron Fowler’s journey is one of inspiration
Sport has always been my biggest passion in life. If I’m not playing sport the chances are I’ll be watching it or talking about it.
When I was five years old I was diagnosed with a deteriorating eye condition called retinitis pigmentosa, which causes tunnel vision and night blindness.
Growing up I played for local football teams and played every sport possible at school. However, when I was 14 my eyesight began to deteriorate significantly and playing sports against fully sighted people was becoming more challenging.
Fortunately, when I was 15 I was invited to have a go at blind cricket. I went on to be an opening batsman for both Hampshire and Surrey blind cricket clubs as well as having trials with the England team.
The two sports I have always loved most are football and rugby. In 2019 I started playing visually impaired rugby, which is a seven-a-side touch version of the game.
Four years ago, I was fortunate to play for the England visually impaired rugby team in Tokyo in a three-match series against Japan.
This October I had the privilege of playing for England in the first international visually impaired rugby tournament in Toulon, against Ireland and France. After winning all four group games, we beat Ireland 15-5 in the final and as an England team we remain unbeaten.
Playing for the England team has been my sporting highlight as I never thought I would get the opportunity to play rugby for my country.
As a physiotherapist
I’m extremely keen to help my patients stay active and help them return to doing activities they enjoy
We work with patients with various disabilities, so it is important we are aware of local sporting opportunities to encourage them to stay active and to enjoy the power of sport! Anyone interested in visually impaired rugby can contact daniel.lineker@changefdn.org.uk
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