Shetland Lives / ‘I see myself as a lucky person’ – successful Paralympian reflects on life as a blind sportsperson
FORTY years after participating in his first Paralympic Games, Rob Latham is “really looking forward” to following this year’s games from the comfort of his sitting room in Yell.
Though using the term ‘looking forward’ is somewhat ambiguous here because Rob is blind. That’s totally blind; he can’t differentiate between night and day.
And yet, he is a four times paralympic silver and bronze medallist, and the likelihood is that you will never have heard of him.
The 60-year-old ran and jumped in six European and three world championships and represented Britain at four Paralympic Games between 1984 and 1996.
He and his wife Jean have just moved from the Scottish Borders to Mid Yell, and it is fair to say they are loving it.
Sifting through boxes full of newspaper cuttings and photos while chatting away in the couple’s kitchen last week, he produces triple jump bronze medals won in New York (12.23m) in 1984 and Barcelona (12.81m) in 1992.
There is also long jump bronze medal (6.06m) from 1992, and a silver medal won as part of the 4 x 100m B1>B3 relay team (40.18 sec) at the same games.
All this sounds high profile and glamorous, but the reality as a blind person – or for that matter any other disabled person – living in a country with crumbling public services is anything but that, Rob is adamant.
He said he would have loved to carry on to the Sydney games in 2000, but he lost his National Lottery funding and subsequently had no choice but to retire from competing internationally.
Growing up in Liverpool, Rob lived with poor eyesight from a young age and became totally blind at the age of 17. He was lucky in that he was able to enter Exhall Grange boarding school in 1976 when he was 12 years old.
Specialising in meeting the needs of children and young people with physical disabilities, visual impairment and complex medical needs, the school had a strong focus on sport.
With all the right support systems in place including fast enough guide runners needed for track running and highly qualified coaches for the visibly impaired, Rob excelled and became one of many Paralympians the school produced over the years.
“If I hadn’t gone to that school, I would never ever have been a Paralympian,” he reflects, “I see myself as a lucky person.
“I am pleased for our people competing, but I feel it has – like the Olympics itself – become about money more than medals. “I am looking forward to both championships, specifically the athletics because I think it is the essence of competition, but I do believe the Paralympics have followed the Olympics in relation to chasing money, and I find that quite disappointing.”
And while there is no doubt
that the higher profile of the Paralympics has heightened the general awareness of disability and what can be achieved by some, there remains a “disconnect”, as Rob puts it, in the same way as there is no real link between Olympic champions and the everyday concerns of the general public.
“I am a paralympic athlete, and will aways be one,” he says, “but I don’t represent disabled people in Britain, I don’t even represent blind people.
“The rest of the disabled population of Britain don’t relate to me. They are saying: ‘our problems aren’t getting money for the Paralympics, ours are getting a stairlift in our house, or getting a job, or getting education’.
“There is a disconnect as there is with every Olympian never mind Paralympian. They are not like Joe Public.”
Rob knows what he is talking about; while working in a number of diversity and equality roles with various employers in the north of England, he was also unemployed for 10 years before gaining employment, and has been at the receiving end of bias, discrimination and outright hostility.
“I found throughout my life that people thought I was pretending, and that was also because I was doing jobs, such as lecturing at Durham University, or running a museum department in Newcastle,” he says.
This, he claims, has got worse since Covid – with people becoming less tolerant and more judgemental while happy to ignore the facts.
Coming to Shetland had an element of ‘running away’ from all this, Rob continues, while there were also several other reasons to head north such as his wife’s family relations, a job being available and a house they could afford.
And what they found sounds a little bit like paradise – though not everybody will perhaps agree with that.
“What I found here is the most disability friendly society than anywhere I have been in the world and that includes Scandinavia,” Rob states.
“We have had no issues in shops or with any service provider whatsoever, toilets are all disability friendly, there are concessions on the travel, and the local authority dealt with my re-registration as a blind person in one day.
“I live here among 400 people; we have a community centre, a leisure centre, a health centre, a shop, and there are well maintained pavements which mean I don’t need to walk on the road with my guide dog.”
He is planning to visit local schools with his guide dog Bobbi to talk about what it is like running and triple jumping when totally blind.
So, how will he ‘watch’ the Olympic and Paralympics Games?
Radio commentary used to be first class and very visual in the past but that is not quite as easy to access any longer, so being married to a sighted person, he says, he will access coverage “second hand”.
“I am hoping we will see some really good performances, but I am just as happy to see the good performances by an athlete or a Paralympian from Australia, Germany, France or Norway. I watch it for the sport rather than from a nation’s perspective.”
The Paris Olympic Games are on until 11 August with the Paralympic Games starting in the same city and at the same venues on 28 August.
