Jim Wallis and Jane Crabtree are the power behind the massage and complementary therapies programmes at the Royal National College for the Blind (RNC), which is celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2022.
So dedicated is Jane towards training the visually impaired in massage, that she has been at the College for 28 years. This year, however, she is bowing out, leaving the department in the safe hands of Jim. Jim is also one of our ThinkTree members.
Based in Hereford, this specialist residential FE college aims to prepare visually impaired students for university as well as providing stepping stones into employment through vocational courses such as massage. It is situated on a purpose-built, state-of-the-art campus, which includes a fully accessible, international standard sports centre.
Students are aged 16 to 25 and range from those studying for entry level English and Mathematics to prospective medics at Oxbridge. The College currently supports around 100 students with courses lasting up to three years.
Massage normally only attracts funding for one year, so students have to work really hard to learn their anatomy and physiology, gain computer skills and complete case studies and units. Alongside this valuable learning, the course supports independence and provides the tools and knowledge needed for self-employment.
Students may come to the College and try out massage and want to study it or they may already be working towards a career in physiotherapy. Others are natural healers and interested in aromatherapy. It’s a very varied intake. Often students have been cocooned, so joining the College allows them to meet a wide variety of people giving tremendous opportunities for personal development.
Jane says: “We had a student a few years ago who worked in the Treasury and had MS. As his sight deteriorated, he became more reliant on more people. But as he learnt more therapies, more people became reliant on him. He would always be late to classes as he was always helping someone worse off than himself. Absolutely huge inspiration.”
Many Paralympians train at the College’s large sports complex and are able to benefit from the students’ massage skills as well as sometimes training in massage themselves.
The massage and complementary therapy team teach sports massage, reflexology, on-site chair massage and an introduction to aromatherapy and students have gone on to train as sports therapists and physios. Well-known names in the massage industry such as Gerry Pyves and Darien Pritchard visit the College to support its students with a visiting lecture in Thai yoga massage also coming this year.
Besides supporting Paralympians who train at the centre, such as the England Blind Football Team, working in the local community is part of their ethos, with students providing massage for carers and the NHS as well as running clinics for the general public. It brings benefits for students, not just in terms of experience they can add to their CVs, but also in their ability to provide massage to a wide range of people in real world settings.
Gold medal performances
Last year, ex-student, Dan Pembroke, who has the degenerative eye condition Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), won gold in Tokyo at his first Paralympic Games.
Dan was diagnosed with RP at the age of six. The condition sees people gradually lose their peripheral sight leaving them with just a small amount of vision at the very centre.
Dan works locally in Hereford as a sports massage therapist. He first threw a javelin at school, while still considered an able-bodied athlete, setting national records at the ages of 14, 15 and 17. His furthest throw, in 2011 of 75.89m was less than three metres off the 2012 qualifying distance for the Olympics. Unfortunately, he snapped a ligament in the process and could no longer compete.
Fast forward a few years and Dan joined RNC to study massage and his passion for the javelin reignited. He began to throw once more and qualified for the 2021 Tokyo Games. His throw of 69.52m not only won him the gold but set a new Paralympic record and now he is hungry for the World para record.
Another successful student is Anthony Kappes, who has won three gold medals for cycling. Anthony, another College massage student, based in Buxton, won two golds in 2008 and one on home territory in 2012. Anthony rides tandem with his guide Barney Storey and holds the World Record for 200m.
The College is also home to GB Women’s Goalball squad with some of the current massage students on the team. Goalball is a 3-a-side ball game, originally designed in 1946 for soldiers who had lost their sight in World War 2. (https://britishblindsport.org.uk/membership/bbs-sports/goalball/). GB Rugby and GB Judo also use the College facilities.
Keeping up with sports massage will see Jim Wallis as part of the sports massage team at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games – yet another way of ‘keeping things moving’ for the students, says Jim.
We asked Jim and Jane if visually impaired massage therapists have any advantages. Jim immediately mentioned a lady who was badly scarred in a fire, saying: “She would only have a totally blind female masseur. Our students are not challenging for clients. They let the clients ‘come to them’. When they work with carers, they seem to inspire them with their skills and abilities, sending out the message that you can have a go at anything.”
Jane adds: “Therapy is about giving people a space and our students have learnt to give other people space and time. They can hold space. They go by touch. Whereas we might make assumptions with our eyes, out students don’t – and it makes a difference.”
Statistics for the visually impaired in general are not good with over 85% long-term unemployed. We asked Jim and Jane what the challenges are for students once they leave the course with all their skills and experiences.
Jim says: “People who employ our students are usually very pleasantly surprised. However, it would be nice if more establishments were more welcoming to visually impaired people. There is definitely some education needed with employers who are often unfamiliar with visually impaired masseurs. Mostly it boils down, they say, simply to employers having an experience.”
Jane also points out that “It wasn’t that long ago that only very privileged people would have a masseur come to their house. Nowadays more and more people are trying it and seeing its benefits. When I started off at the Marsden Hospital, 40 years ago, we were only supposed to massage people’s hands!
Some of our students are really go getting. They will go and get themselves roles in high profile areas. For others we are looking for establishments that will give them a month’s work placement close to home for the fabulous skills they come away with to keep them sharp and confident.”
Is there anything that ThinkTree Hub members could do?
“We would love them to try a visually impaired masseur and give them a chance in your clinic.”
Jim and Jane are united in their absolute aim to empower people wherever they are and at whatever level they are so that they can take ownership of themselves and develop in whatever ways possible.
To contact Jim and Jane, email Jim on jim.wallis@rnc.ac.uk
The Royal National College for the Blind
Venns Lane
Hereford
HR1 1DT
Tel: 01432 265 725
Email: info@rnc.ac.uk
Website: www.rnc.ac.uk
Find us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter