Nick Gleeson has spent his life climbing mountains, and his spirit of adventure and drive to succeed has been recognised with a Vision Australia Award.
The awards, first established in 2006, honour those who help to make a substantial difference through their commitment to Vision Australia’s mission to ensure people who are blind or have low vision can live the life they choose.
Nick, 57, a former Vision Australia staff member, has a passion for adventure and experiencing new things.
He became totally blind following an accident at the age of seven but doesn’t consider it to be a barrier.
He has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, visited the Everest Base Camp, trekked through New Zealand, competed in many marathons including a 90km ultra-marathon, scaled the steps of New York’s Empire State Building, represented Australia in athletics three times, and has played blind cricket for almost 20 seasons representing Victoria, NSW and Australia.
Nick carried the baton in the Queen’s Baton Relay for the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, and ran with the Olympic torch ahead of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
He is a dedicated fundraiser for Vision Australia through his sporting and athletic pursuits, most recently on a three-day solo trek across the salt flats of Island Lagoon in outback South Australia without his Seeing Eye Dog, Unity, using braille and audio compasses to navigate.
Nick has also written a book about his experience with blindness, Many Ways of Seeing, and is an accomplished public speaker who shares his story with warmth, humour and honesty.
He spoke about his 32km trek across Island Lagoon, and about his life with blindness, at Vision Australia’s annual general meeting shortly before the award was presented to him.
Vision Australia chief executive officer Ron Hooton said Nick is a great example to people who are blind or have low vision.
“This award is very much related to leadership in our sector,” Ron said.
“There are few people in the sector that really demonstrate leadership in the blindness and low vision community.”
Nick said he was delighted to receive the honour.
“This comes as a total surprise, I’m very humbled to receive this, and I really appreciate it. I very much treasure this award. It means a lot to me.”