Seeing Within — Episode 4: It Will All Be Okay

Guest: Claire Sisk | @canseecantsee_

In this episode, Dawn talks with Claire Sisk — disability advocate, RNIB Global Ambassador, and the first blind chef to appear on This Morning. Claire has 112,000 followers across her @canseecantsee_ platforms, where she shares the unfiltered reality of life with sight loss.

Claire's sight loss journey began in 2009 following two strokes. In the aftermath, she noticed changes in her vision and was diagnosed with cone-rod dystrophy — a condition affecting the rods and cones in the eyes. She has since been diagnosed with Best Vitelliform Macular Dystrophy (BVMD) and macular degeneration. On 1st November 2017, she woke up to find she had lost almost all of her sight.

Rather than stepping back, Claire stepped forward. She began sharing her daily life online under the name @canseecantsee_ — a name that captures something both she and Dawn know well: the strange in-between of partial sight loss, where you can see enough to be doubted but not enough to feel safe.

In this conversation, Claire talks about:

The moment she knew she had no choice but to use her white cane — and why she describes being told she was going blind as easier than actually going outside with it

What it really means when people say blindness is a spectrum — the good days, the bad days, and why both are valid

Walking the catwalk at London Fashion Week for Oxfam's sustainability and inclusivity show — and what she hopes younger people took from seeing her own that runway with a cane

Her role as one of three blind matchmakers in ITV's Blind Matchmakers — a dating show that puts non-visual connection at its centre

Co-hosting The Happy Hour on RNIB Connect Radio every Monday from 1pm

Why she started creating content, and what she tells herself every single morning: give up, give in, or give it your all

Claire also talks honestly about the gap between what people see online and what life actually looks like on a hard day — and why she would give all of it up to have her sight back.

Her advice to anyone at the beginning of this journey: "It will all be okay. You will get through this. Life can still be just as good and just as fulfilling. It'll just be in a very different way."

Follow Claire: @canseecantsee_ on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook

This is not a podcast to rush through. There is no right way to listen. Produced by Anne Gould. Music via Epidemic Sound. With thanks to Sarah Place Accountants, Bury St Edmunds, for supporting the production. To hear more, visit pathwayyoga.substack.com.

Aly Slaughter is a yoga teacher based in St Louis, Missouri, who has been visually impaired since birth. Diagnosed in adulthood with achromatopsia — a rare inherited retinal condition — Aly lives with severely reduced distance vision, nystagmus, and extreme light sensitivity. She also has ADHD, anxiety, and a seizure disorder, and has built a teaching life that spans senior centres, CrossFit gyms, and online classes across multiple time zones.

In this conversation, Aly and Dawn explore what it means to navigate the world when you exist somewhere between the blind and sighted worlds — and why that in-between space is both the hardest and the most interesting place to be.

They talk about how Aly came to yoga through weightlifting and why she used to dread Shavasana; the practical and psychological reality of solo travel with a visual impairment; why she uses a white cane primarily for other people’s benefit — and the complicated feelings that come with putting it away; the “you don’t look blind” experience and what it costs to keep explaining yourself; how achromatopsia progresses differently from conditions like Stargardt’s; and why asking for help is a form of advocacy, not weakness.

“Imagine if I didn’t practice yoga — how much worse this would be.”

To contact Aly about classes, email alyslaughteryoga@gmail.com or find her on Instagram at @alyslaughteryoga.

This is not a podcast to rush through. There is no right way to listen. Produced by Anne Gould. Music via Epidemic Sound. With thanks to Sarah Place Accountants, Bury St Edmunds, for supporting the production. To hear more, visit pathwayyoga.substack.com

Watch the full conversation on YouTube:

In this opening episode, Dawn introduces the intention behind the podcast and why it has been created as a listening-first space.

After being diagnosed with Stargardt’s disease and living with sight loss, she reflects on sound, attention, and presence .

That inspired her to create something shaped for people who are visually impaired.

It is also open to anyone drawn to slower, more attentive listening.

This is not a podcast to rush through.

There is no right way to listen.

Credits

Produced by Anne Gould

Music via Epidemic Sound

With thanks to Sarah Place Accountants, Bury St Edmunds, for supporting the production.

The first is a gentle evening meditation — a way to wind down, breathe deeply, and rest well. It’s a soft, grounding practice to support you as the day ends.

The second is a short reflection on Yoga Sutra 1.12: abhyāsa-vairāgyābhyām tan-nirodhah — which speaks to the importance of regular practice and non-attachment.

Click here to listen

This teaching has shaped the way I approach my own practice. I often think of it like planting seeds: roots come before fruit, and it all takes time, care, and trust.

Both are now available on my YouTube channel. I’d love for you to listen and use them.

Namaste.

And these two audio pieces emerged.

I have Stargardt’s disease and am losing my vision so these humble flowers seem to shine more brightly right now.

The first (above) is a morning meditation — simple, gentle, and grounding ideal for starting your day.

The second (below) is a short reflection I recorded spontaneously about the lessons we can learn from nature.

These are for anyone who finds connection through listening and for those like me with vision issues.

Thank you for listening. 🌼

For more details about my Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge here’s a link to my Just Giving Page.

Today’s hospital visit confirmed what I already suspected—my vision has deteriorated again. The pressure in my eyes, the constant feeling of a smudge on my glasses that isn’t really there… it’s not my imagination. It’s my reality.

This is the thing about vision loss—it’s not just about seeing less. It’s about constant adaptation, about grieving each stage while learning to work with what’s left. It’s about knowing the facts but still feeling the weight of them.

But I refuse to stay in this feeling for long. Yes, today I feel down. But tomorrow, I’ll pick myself up. New glasses, new adjustments, and a renewed commitment to moving forward.

Because acceptance is a process. And I’m still on the journey.