Partially sighted gardener seeks to inspire others

A partially sighted gardener is hoping to inspire and connect with other people by sharing his experiences through videos on social media.

John Henry, 67, from Guernsey lost part of his sight after developing Ramsay Hunt syndrome, a neurological condition which affects the body's nervous system.

He started the John's Patch YouTube channel after socialising became a challenge and he wanted to connect with other people who may struggle to leave the house through disability, mental health issues or age.

Henry said he would see his channel as a success if he could inspire anyone in a similar situation to "give it a go" and get outside or socialise once again.

Henry, who is retired, said he no longer has sight in his left eye and his condition clouds the vision in his right eye.

"It's a bit like having a digital camera in 1980 when the focus would eventually come clear," he said.

"Well mine won't come clear but it'll come a bit clearer."

Henry said he started walking with his head down to avoid having to interact with people he may not know.

"The length of time I would have to stare to know that I've got the person I think I'm meeting is cringey - it's too long, it's unacceptable," he said.

"So you end up, to get out of these sort of situations, you just avoid."

Henry said his limited ability to interact with people is what inspired him to start sharing videos of himself in his garden.

"That's when I thought there must be so many people, maybe not people that are partially sighted, but there might be other people who don't feel comfortable socialising, maybe they've got anxiety issues, it might even be age restriction," he said.

"So that's how I've moved from where I was, to what I'm doing.

"It's basically filling a gap for me as a people person because I don't feel confident or comfortable mixing physically but I have no problem being me through a small video camera."

Henry has intentionally left misspellings and mistakes in his videos as he said it represents the difficulties he faces with his sight.

"If it could be termed successful one day, it would be because there was somebody like me that didn't or couldn't go outdoors and do the social things that they used to enjoy once upon a time, but then thought, you know what? If a bloke that can't see too good can do it, I'm going to give it a go."

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