Laurinda Martin with her trusty “life partner”, guide dog Summer. Photo: Supplied.
Kanahooka’s Laurinda Martin was nine when told her vision impairment would end in total blindness.
“I remember running into my bedroom and sitting on my bed crying for a while, but then I decided I had two choices – give up, or make the best of the life I had,” she recalls.
Laurinda chose the second option and now at 55, she is the poster girl for grit, determination and her love of life.
Laurinda lives independently, has a busy social life and she recently started her own business with the help of her trusty guide dog, Summer.
Laurinda grew up in Sutherland, where at the age of three she developed a condition called cone-rod dystrophy and by seven she had retinitis pigmentosa.
“Primary school was miserable,” she recalls.
“I was bullied because the cone-rod dystrophy impacted slightly on my brain making me a little slow in speech and I was also overweight. My only friends were the teachers and one other girl.”
Life vastly improved when Laurinda chose to finish her education at the nearby Minerva School, which catered for primary and secondary children with special needs.
“I felt a welcoming warmth and acceptance the moment I stepped through the gates,” she says.
Her family moved to the Illawarra in 1990 when Laurinda was 20.
By the time she was 26, Laurinda had lost all sight and soon after that she started working at Flagstaff Group at Unanderra, receiving training across several platforms from the factory floor to the reception desk.
“Flagstaff gave me confidence in what I could achieve and the work gave me a clear career path,” she says.
The year 2020, which most people recall with Covid-cringe, was the opposite for Laurinda, with a string of new and exciting challenges.
She started work with Guide Dogs Australia helping vision-impaired people from Helensburgh to Kiama.
“It was a crazy good year for me because I replaced my cane with a guide dog, Summer, who has become my life partner,” says Laurinda.
“It was also the year I turned 50, which I celebrated with a trip to Coffs Harbour to swim with dolphins.
“It didn’t worry me that I couldn’t see them because I enjoyed their chatter and touching and feeding them.”
Her time with Guide Dogs Australia gave her the experience to launch her own business early this year.
Laurinda, with Summer at her side, now travels throughout the Illawarra helping vision-impaired people in their homes by teaching braille and helping them with their adaptive technology.
“I know what it’s like to be in their shoes so I make sure I go slow and steady with clear steps to follow,” she says.
Laurinda’s social life is just as packed as her professional life.
“I’m a bit of a daredevil in that I’ve done two jumps from planes, one at North Wollongong and the other at Camden.
“I love going to the Illawarra Hawks games where I can soak up the atmosphere and I often go to Sydney to listen to musical theatre.”
Laurinda also belongs to Berkeley Toastmasters and she is loving the program which teaches people to be competent communicators and public speakers.
Laurinda says much of her success is due to family support.
“I couldn’t have asked for better parents, or siblings. My mother has passed away but my father and my twin brothers also live in Kanahooka,” she says.
“As for Summer, we just clicked from the moment I met her and she has brought so much joy to my life.
“She senses when I’m not well or feeling upset and she has reduced the falls I had on my cane down to nil.”
Laurinda’s greatest gift in life is the ability to focus on what she has rather than what she has lost.
“I don’t give my blindness much thought because even if my sight returned tomorrow, what could I do that I can’t do now?” she says.
“I suppose I’d be able to drive, but I wouldn’t want to because there are too many idiots on the road.”
