Bob Groeneveld/Special to the 91原创 Advance
Don鈥檛 assume that the guy with the white cane is lost.
If he is Ryan Knighton, he is totally blind鈥� and more than likely completely in control.
His 10-year-old daughter understands. She has more difficulty with people鈥檚 perception of her father鈥檚 鈥渄isability鈥� than with his blindness.
鈥淵ou know, when we take the bus to and from schools, there are always people desperate to help me,鈥� said Ryan, 鈥渁nd she finds it all very puzzling, because she doesn鈥檛 see me as somebody who鈥檚 completely incapable.鈥濃��
Ryan became totally blind over the period of a decade or so, after he was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa around the time he graduated from 91原创 Secondary School.
The diagnosis was literally life-changing. It set him on a course dramatically different from what he had previously envisioned for himself.
The Hollywood screenwriter who works from his Vancouver home noted, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think I鈥檇 be a writer if I hadn鈥檛 lost my sight. That wasn鈥檛 the path I was headed down. I was driving forklifts poorly in a warehouse when I came out of high school.鈥�
He decided on post secondary education because, 鈥淚 felt I had to do something, to find something that didn鈥檛 require physical labour.鈥�
Retinitis pigmentosa is slow, but relentless.
鈥淚t starts by losing your night vision,鈥� Ryan explained, 鈥渟o if you鈥檙e in a dark room and there鈥檚 two candles, I could see the flames of the candles but they wouldn鈥檛 illuminate anything. They鈥檇 just be two distinct points of light. It鈥檚 not very functional.鈥�
In the daytime, peripheral vision narrows and disappears: 鈥淭hink of it like bull鈥檚-eye rings start closing in and tunnelling.鈥�
At university, he could see three or four letters at a time. 鈥淚 would see 鈥榟en鈥� and then realize I was looking at the word 鈥榯hen.鈥欌��
鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I started to read poetry,鈥� he explained, 鈥渂ecause you don鈥檛 want to read Dickens when you read like that. So I studied a very short list of poets, and it got me through.鈥�
From his diagnosis at 18, it took about four years before he picked up a white cane. 鈥淏ut I would say I really stopped seeing by the time I was in my early 30s.鈥�
Things seemed to work out for him in a lot of different ways.
鈥淚 think I just encountered the right people at the right time,鈥� he recalled. 鈥淚 still marvel that when I found out I was going blind and I decided to go to university and study poetry, my parents never balked at that at all. I think of that now, as a parent, that that takes a lot of courage, to say, 鈥榊eah, you go do that.鈥欌��
鈥淎 shout-out to my parents 鈥� good on them!鈥� he added.
One of Ryan鈥檚 professors had a great influence on his life, not only steering him into writing 鈥� 鈥測ou know, he made me feel like I was actually pretty good at it鈥� 鈥� but also set him on a path to deal with his blindness.
George Bowering saw Ryan walking outside, 鈥渁nd he pointed to me and said, 鈥榊ou鈥檝e got retinitis pigmentosa, haven鈥檛 you?鈥欌��
Ryan had told no one about his problem yet, but Bowering recognized it in his walk.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a very specific shuffle you can develop from the tunnel vision,鈥� Ryan explained, and Bowering had a friend from childhood who had it.
鈥淚 was pretty lucky,鈥� said Ryan, 鈥渂ecause [Bowering] taught me about literature, and his friend, Willy, taught me about going blind. He didn鈥檛 make it seem so frightening.鈥�
鈥淗e was one of the big figures, if I look back over my career,鈥� said Ryan of his professor who later was named Canada鈥檚 Parliamentary Poet Laureate, 鈥渂ecause he definitely put me in a direction. I had never thought of becoming a writer, but I really admired him, and I loved his take on the world. I loved the way he talked, the way his mind worked. When you鈥檙e young, you鈥檙e looking for models like that.鈥�
鈥淪ometimes,鈥� Ryan noted, 鈥測ou have to stumble across the right person at the right moment.鈥�
A creative writing and English instructor at Capilano University, Ryan has been working at writing screenplays for the past seven or eight years. 鈥淚鈥檝e sold maybe 10 features and three TV show pilots.鈥�
It started with a adaptation of one of his own books. 鈥淭hen I went to the Sundance Lab, and that鈥檚 how I got connected with Jodi Foster. And that opened a lot of doors for me.鈥�
He鈥檚 still waiting for the big break 鈥� he鈥檚 making a short film of a comedy pilot, a 鈥減roof of concept.鈥�
But other than that, 鈥淎ll the movies I鈥檝e written 鈥� it鈥檚 all sort of research and development in Hollywood, there鈥檚 lots of people writing and maybe one per cent get their stuff made 鈥� all my stuff has yet to be made.鈥�
Meanwhile, there are other projects.
He has been invited to lecture for NASA, and he recently wrote a travel feature about being blind on a safari adventure in Africa.
Another travel magazine assignment got him into surfing at Tofino, with a deaf friend. They thought it would make a good story, with 鈥渁 blind guy and a deaf guy yelling, 鈥榃here are you?鈥� and, 鈥榃hat?鈥� at each other.鈥�
It didn鈥檛 turn out as funny as expected, but he鈥檚 still surfing. His daughter Tess and his wife Tracey, whom he met in his university days at SFU, got him a bright yellow T-shirt that says, 鈥淐aution! Blind man.鈥�
鈥淢y daughter was convinced that people wouldn鈥檛 get the joke, so in parentheses underneath it [I added] 鈥�(For real).鈥欌��
He鈥檚 pretty sure that it was the 91原创 Advance that published his first piece 鈥� long before he had an inkling that he might become a writer.
鈥淚 think it was Grade 4 or 5. We had a field trip to the paper and as a class we got to make an insert supplement for the paper. I did a profile of my grandfather鈥檚 music repair shop, Knighton Music, which was down by the 91原创 Mall for many years.
鈥淚t might have been one of 鈥榯hose moments鈥� for me. I remember my article was quite big, and I took it very seriously. It was cool. Let鈥檚 just say that鈥檚 when I started [writing].鈥�
He still comes to 91原创 to visit his parents. But he鈥檚 noticed a lot of changes: 鈥�91原创 is like an alien landscape to me now.鈥�
But that doesn鈥檛 mean he鈥檚 lost.
鈥淧eople try to be kind and all that stuff, but I usually don鈥檛 need help,鈥� he said. Nevertheless, he tries to 鈥渋ndulge it kindly鈥� there鈥檚 always that thing where the next blind guy may need it more than me.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 funny though how often people can be almost aggressively Good Samaritan about these things,鈥� he added. 鈥淓ven when I say I don鈥檛 want help, I鈥檒l often get hands on my elbow, getting dragged to who knows where.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just part of the wear and tear of the day you have when you鈥檙e a blind guy. People just want to help you all the time.鈥�
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