Above: When most of us are asleep, Reg Hinsley, 79 and legally blind, bounces out of bed at 4.30am to begin his daily exercises.
By Glen Atwell
REG Hinsley might be legally blind, but this 79-year-old simply doesn’t know the definition of ‘can’t do’.
The Cranbourne resident lives alone and suffers from aged-related macular degeneration, the most common cause of severe vision loss in older Australians, which now affects one in seven people over the age of 50.
Mr Hinsley was diagnosed with the condition 12 years ago and was declared legally blind just two years later, but this bubbly grandfather won’t let anything stand in his way of an active life.
When most of us are sound asleep in the early hours of the morning, Mr Hinsley bounces out of bed at 4.30am to spend an hour on his exercise bike.
The local swimming pool is next on his list and depending on how his knees are feeling, he either cycles or uses a battery-operated scooter to get there at the 6am opening time.
Maintaining his full-scale vegetable patch keeps him busy when he gets home, he then completes any shopping, cleaning and cooking to round out the morning.
Macular degeneration means Mr Hinsley has reasonable peripheral vision, but cannot see straight ahead.
“There is a very gradual deterioration of all my sight, but I’m not going to let that slow me down,” he said.
Mr Hinsley utilises the services of Vision Australia, a leading provider of blindness and low vision services in Australia.
Vision Australia has provided him with a number of devises designed to make his life a little easier, including a talking watch, large button telephone, and big print stationery.
“My watch is great, I press the button and it tells me the time and the temperature,” he said.
After his high-octane mornings, he is happy to relax with talking books, which are sent to him from the Vision Australia library.
“I have a machine which I put the audio discs into and I can skip forward chapters and bookmark my favourite pages with the touch of a button,” Mr Hinsley said.
Kate Gniel from Vision Australia said a number of social activities kept clients like Mr Hinsley busy all year round.
“We organise a number of fun days for our clients to connect with other people and keep them in the social circle,” she said.
“Reg is particularly looking forward to our tandem bike-ride day, which is happening this coming weekend.”
This year is going to be a big one for Mr Hinsley, with his 80th birthday, the wedding of his eldest grand-daughter and the 21st birthday of his youngest grandchild all on the calendar.
“It’s going to be a terrific year, I’m going in to have my knee replaced in the next few weeks to make sure I’m back on my feet when all the celebrations begin,” he said.
