Mary starts out on new business (From Wiltshire Business Online)

Mary starts out on new business

10:00am Monday 15th September 2008

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Another Swindon entrepreneur who was also a runner up was Mary Parsons, who had been a talented art student when she was knocked down by a car.

The accident not only resulted in significant back injuries, preventing her from painting, but also caused her great anxiety about having to cross roads.

Mary struggled with continual health problems for the next few years and that meant she found it difficult to hold down a job.

But, after helping her grandfather deal with the loss of his sight, she decided to retrain as a rehabilitation officer for people with visual impairments.

Once qualified, Mary found a job that she loved.

Unfortunately, she still struggled with her health and just as it was looking as if she would have to give up work and become dependent on sickness benefits, she considered starting her own business.

In January Mary combined her passion for art, the ROVI qualification and her own experience with disability, to start Create Vision UK, which specialises in the training of the visually impaired.

"At school and college my strengths were always in art, " she said.

"After A-levels at New College, I continued my art study at Swindon College, and then did a sculpture degree at Bretton Hall.

"My accident made it difficult to paint or make artwork, so I looked for alternative jobs. I worked in an art gallery and at a disability telephone helpline to start with.

"I began to explore other options to requalify and I found out about visual impairment rehabilitation.

"I decided to train to do this, and enrolled on a course with Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. I learned to teach various skills such as road crossing, various kitchen skills and Braille.

"I also learned how to assist people to deal with the trauma of losing sight.

"Following my work with social services, I worked at RNIB Redhill College and when I left RNIB in 2007 I decided to move back to Swindon to start up Create Vision UK.

"This is an exciting new venture and I am looking forward to working with local organisations. I am preparing training courses for the public sector, and health and social care and I have work lined up for Swindon Council."

The dates are Friday October 30 or Monday January 12 between 1pm and 4.15pm at the Training Academy, Great Western Hospital, Swindon at £120 per person. Another session may be on Monday November 24 or Tuesday February 3 at the Pilgrim Centre. Contact Mary at info@createvisionuk.com or go to www.createvisionuk.com or telephone her on 01793 686449 or 07934 446366

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