My name's Theo, I am ten years old.
There's no one else who's visually impaired who goes to karate.
But it don't really make a difference鈥 because they treat me the same as everybody else and that's what I like, I don't like being treated different.
I think karate is something really, really good to learn because, if like, one day someone comes up to you in the street and they know that I'm blind so then they know I won't be as strong as the others, but鈥 with karate I learn how to defend myself and all that.
When I was born, I had tumours in my eye so then they had to take those tumours outbut I cannot see out of this eye now.
With my right eye鈥magine an alien鈥 with one eye, and the eye's about this [gesturing] big. That's what I can see.
Theo's mum:
鈥淒on鈥檛 forget to put your eye drops in, yeah.鈥
Theo:
Every three hours I have these little drops that I put in my eye so I need them, cos if my eyes dry out, the tumours might come back to life".
Theo's mum:
鈥淎re your eyes alright?鈥
Theo:
鈥渊别补丑.鈥
On a Saturday, I go cricket with the V.I. Team, V .I. means visually impaired.
The only difference in normal cricket and this cricket is, this cricket is much much more communication. You have to shout your name and you catch the ball, you have to clap your hands, that's 'yes' and 'no' and the ball, it's a big ball鈥 it's got little jingle bells in it and then you hear the ball coming to you.
I like it because we get to interact with lots of people who have the same problem and I think that's really really good that they've got this.
Theo:
&辩耻辞迟;顿补诲鈥
Theo's dad:
"Yeah?"
Theo:
鈥淒o people do this for a job for a living?"
Theo's dad:
"They do you know."
Sometimes I help my Dad! I help him do the easy jobs鈥 like carrying the bucket, paint, scrape stuff off walls for him, clean.
Some people will say to me 'Ah, you might not do this good because you've got an eyesight problem' but my Dad, he's really good, he don't even remember that I've got an eyesight problem鈥 he, he treats me normal. Sometimes he just forgets because I act so normal to everyone else鈥 And I think it's really really good that people give me a chance.
When I read, I have big books, 26 font and it's easier for me to read.
If it's a small book I have magnifiers to help me find it.
On a Tuesday and a Thursday I have braille lesson. Braille is when, it's an alphabet鈥 but you feel it with your fingers for blind people.
I'm not blind, but I still use it just in case I become blind later on in my life.
In class, they treat me the same as everyone else there鈥
[Teacher: Good, Theo well done Jenny, Marcus鈥
The only difference is they get blown up papers and they explain it more to me.
When people are too nice to me I hate it because, the only difference between me and you鈥 is, I've got eyesight problems and you lot can see perfectly well, some of you can anyway. But with my eyesight problems鈥 hate it when people treat me like a kid鈥 like "Oh Theo, do you want this?.. Oh Theo, here you go鈥 let me take you to your, let me take you to your desk."
I hate it.
Theo's best friend:
Erm, my name is Jake, and I've been Theo's best friend since reception.
Theo is very, very clever in maths and sometimes he helps me with my maths and sometimes games like on the computer. So yeah, he helps me quite a lot.
Theo:
Having Jake as a friend, it makes me feel like I've got someone to look after me.
Jake:
One time in year 4 a boy was teasing him about his disability and I had to tell him he's just like you feel鈥 And you shouldn't be teasing him, because if that happened to you, how would you if someone was teasing you about it. So yeah, there was some hard times for Theo.
Theo:
I tell people that I've got bad eyesight, I'm half blind and I can't see that good. And I tell them I'm sorry if I bump into you or stuff like that.
Cos I can't see, I have to use my senses a bit more to live.
So if like I'm going to the shops and I have to cross a road, I could hear from the cars鈥 if I can't see them I could hear them.
With my cane, I do use it sometimes, so when I'm on the trains, I'm like "Move out the way, VIP coming through."
At night time when I go out I take a torch with me sometimes there鈥檚 lights that鈥檚 not working so on that bit I just have to switch on my torch.
Most people with a visual impairment they find fireworks quite scary, but me鈥 I enjoy it!
[Fireworks]
In this little space I can see the fireworks because they were far away and because they were big I could see them!
Jake:
Just because someone can鈥檛 see as far as someone else that doesn鈥檛 mean they鈥檙e really different it just means that, well he鈥檚 blind, yeah, so what?
Theo:
It don't really make a difference that I'm visually impaired, I'm used to this, I was brought up this way鈥 I don't feel any different.
Video summary
Theo is a ten-year-old boy with a visual impairment.
He does not want to be treated differently because of his disability and doesn't like it when people are being too nice to him.
The youngster talks about how his friends help to look after him, especially when he is being teased or bullied.
Theo uses Braille to help him read and has some big print and magnified pages to help him to learn.
He has developed his other senses so that he can live as full a life as possible.
This clip is from the series Same but Different.
Teacher Notes
This clip could be used to discuss disabled people and how they might want to be treated.
In what way is Theo's life similar or different to other boys his age? How does Theo feel about the way some people treat him? What do you think about this? How important is friendship for Theo? What do we learn from this clip?
Pupils could write down in their books five main points discussed in class.
Encourage students to investigate about Braille and maybe even learn to read a couple of words.
They could discover the range of medication that children may have to take on a daily basis.
This short film will be relevant for teaching PSHE at KS2 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 2nd Level in Scotland.
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