Steven Poole

My dad went totally blind when I was 10 or 11. His sight was taken by Diabetic Retinopathy, a complication of diabetes that damages the retina's blood vessels. I watched him lose something fundamental, and I watched him adapt. One of the first things I did was teach him to use a computer with adaptive technology. That instinct, finding the right tool and making sure someone can actually use it, has never left me. 

I went on to study Social and Environmental Sciences, then spent years teaching IT to people with sight loss at a rehabilitation centre. I trained as a qualified Rehabilitation Officer for Visual Impairment (ROVI) and eventually managed the Christopher Grange Rehabilitation Centre for people living with sight loss. All of it, every thread, came back to the same thing: what's the right support, and how do we make sure it reaches the people who need it? 

I joined Visably in 2009 as Regional Development Manager for the North West. What I didn't fully realise until later was that a Visably radio had been sitting in my dad's kitchen for 25 years. The charity had been part of our family long before I worked here. 

That's the moment I come back to. Not the technology. The person on the other end of it. 

Today I manage our service delivery strategy across the whole country. My job is making sure that what we do is shaped around the real lives of people living with sight loss, not our assumptions about them. Small charity, big responsibility. I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Outside of work, I am a keen musician, a Liverpool FC supporter, which has become considerably more complicated since I relocated to the wilds of Scotland. I also love walking, reading and photography.