| I was born in
Edinburgh, Scotland, and graduated from St. Andrew's University with a
BSc [Hons] in Chemistry. My work took me to Newcastle, in North
East England. Then my employer offered
an opportunity to transfer together with my family to the US, in Sept
2000. This was a good job opportunity for both my husband and me;
he works for the same company. One of
my main concerns was that the US, and our location to be, was a car
driven environment and I was a non-driver due to my low vision. I had
been told in Scotland at 8 years old that I would never drive.
All my life in the UK I had grown up dealing with the
challenge of not driving. Which become even more difficult when I
started to work and some years later was raising a young family (I have
2 young children under the age of 5). My husband has a busy job and was
often traveling globally, which left me with the very tough challenge of
managing life in the UK without a car.
We decided to accept the move to the US with all its
uncertainties. At this point I had no knowledge that a special driving
program was in place for people with certain types of low vision (acceptance onto the
program depends on eye condition and visual acuity etc). In the US I went to
the CAB - Cincinnati Association for the Blind (like the British RNIB) to identify visual aid equipment for my
office. Since I was in the States, a completely new geography and one
renowned for its innovation and technology advancement, I was excited to
see if they had any other new technology/visual tools that would be
helpful to me. It was there during a visual assessment that the eye
doctor said, "you know there is a high chance you could drive on
the BiOptic driving program, you are an ideal candidate". I just about went through the roof. After years of
conditioning that I would never drive there was a medical professional
telling me there was a high chance I could. I could hardly believe it.
I was determined to get the license as soon as
possible so immediately started to pursue it. It was a long and thorough
process, which took me 10 months. The process involves medical
assessments specific to driving, waiting for BiOptic glasses, fittings
and training in glasses usage, and training in driving whilst using
glasses and for me driving itself (I had never driven in my life). In
November 2001 I got my Ohio drivers license. What a dream. What a gift.
What freedom and independence. I was ecstatic and still am. Having a
driver's license has been life changing for me, and certainly a major
milestone in my life at 35 years old.
Susan Baillely, OH.
Chair of International Sponsorship,
Trustee, BiOptic Driving Network
Also see:
Vision
Center of Central Ohio awards BDN Trustee Susan Baillely
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Susan
Baillely
