Meet 19year—old Jill Hendry, Insight’s new Young Columnist for 2014.

Here, she writes about her “Next Step” in her winning entry to our annual competition.

I have an eye condition called retinitis pigmentosa (RP), which I found out I had when I was sixteen.

I have always been a very sporty person and since I went blind I have tried many different sports and activities. My main sports are running and swimming but I have also tried cycling and goalball with friends.

Through the charity, RP Fighting Blindness I have done a tandem skydive and run the New York and London marathons to raise funds and awareness of the condition.

I’ll never forget the skydive — after feeling so low it gave me more confidence. I’ve also run the Great North Run, once for Kidney research and last year for Guide Dogs.

Running marathons keeps me competitive and motivated. My main aim is to raise money for my charities, so far raising about £25,000 for RP Fighting Blindness and Guide Dogs.’

At the London Marathon, I had an article about myself in the national papers and was interviewed live on BBC by Sonali Shah and during the race by athlete Denise Lewis.

I was matched with my guide dog, Basil in March; he is crazy, bonkers, loving, caring and makes me feel so much safer when out and about and he’s good for a cuddle.

I plan to keep raising awareness of eye conditions and to raise as much as I can for charity. I want to continue with my sports and compete for more to prove I am as capable as a sighted person and to achieve my goals.

Running and swimming make me happier and more confident. I will never give up on something I enjoy and gain so much from.

I have joined a group called Haggeye for blind and partially sighted teenagers where I was welcomed and felt included. I have made loads of new friends and got involved in different workshops and activities. Through Haggeye I have learned how to travel, communicate and work with people in similar situations.

I will continue to work on the 1-magazine (a magazine produced by I-Haggeye) with my creative editors from the Haggeye group to provide information which helps young people to give them awareness and access to all the interesting info and gadgets which are out there to help the blind community.

I also aim to build my training with Basil and to explore places all over the country. I am very keen to get back into mainstream education and eventually go to university.

So if you asked me before I went blind what my next steps would be, I wouldn’t have been sure, but now I have such a full agenda with something to do every day with friends’, family, sports and activities. It has proved to me that it’s not always the disability that holds you back, it can be yourself. I also want to continue to try and change the way people treat a blind person and make them see that we are equal.