{"id":924251,"date":"2026-10-11T13:02:36","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T13:02:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/924251\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T13:02:36","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T13:02:36","slug":"love-story-being-vision-impaired-made-me-feel-unlovable-then-i-met-jed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/924251\/","title":{"rendered":"Love story: Being vision impaired made me feel unlovable, then I met Jed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chanelle Morris thought she was going to be “alone forever” after many deflating and hurtful dating experiences because of her vision impairment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old had all but given up on finding love when she caught the eye of Jed on a social outing at a driving range.<\/p>\n

Whether it’s romantic, platonic, heartbreaking or surprising, our Love Story series is about love in all its forms.\u00a0Share yours with us<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These are Chanelle and Jed’s words.<\/p>\n

People didn’t understand my disability<\/p>\n

Chanelle: I have a type of chorioretinal dystrophy, a rare vision condition which impacts my peripheral vision and ability to notice detail.<\/p>\n

I’m legally blind in one eye and the other one is not that much better.<\/p>\n

I thought no-one would love me because of my condition.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Chanelle says having a vision impairment made dating difficult. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

I thought that I was too much for people. I feel like a lot of people with disability experience that.<\/p>\n

Something that really rocked my confidence was when I would speak to someone, it would appear that my eyes were focused behind them, not on them.<\/p>\n

So I stopped approaching people in public settings.<\/p>\n

I used to get anxious in the lead-up to meeting someone from a dating app because I chose not to disclose my vision condition. It led to some people not believing me when I told them, or worse, being the subject of blind jokes that were disrespectful.<\/p>\n

Once I included my condition in my dating profile, I got fewer matches, but they were more authentic, genuine and open.<\/p>\n

I just didn’t think that anyone would accept my vision impairment because most people didn’t understand it and there was a lot of fear around it.<\/p>\n

I couldn’t see he was checking me out<\/p>\n

Chanelle: I was hosting a women’s golf event at a driving range on the Gold Coast and Jed just happened to be there that day.<\/p>\n

Our meet-cute is a funny story because he was checking me out, but I couldn’t see that.<\/p>\n

One of the ladies I was there with noticed and actually went over to Jed to see if he was single and was interested in me.<\/p>\n

She came charging over to me and said, “Go right now, he’s interested.”<\/p>\n

I wrote my number on a drink coaster and went straight over, and I can’t remember what I said, I just remember the adrenaline. I gave him my number and then I left because it was at the end of the event.<\/p>\n

But I left my golf clubs behind because I was so nervous.<\/p>\n

So I sent one of my friends back to get them because I was like, “I’m not going back in there.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Chanelle and Jed’s meet-cute was at a driving range. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

I remember Jed texted me that day to organise a date two days later.<\/p>\n

I was so nervous, I couldn’t eat.<\/p>\n

But he was so sweet and texted me specific instructions on where he was sitting at the restaurant so I could find him.<\/p>\n

I’d never had anyone do that for me before.<\/p>\n

Jed: When I went to the driving range, I thought I’d go hit some golf balls on my day off. Little did I know I’d find the love of my life.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jed says Chanelle’s vision impairment was never a barrier to them dating. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

I was definitely checking Chanelle out.<\/p>\n

The first thing her friend said to me was, “She’s keen on you but she has an eye condition.”<\/p>\n

So I knew about her vision impairment straight away.<\/p>\n

But it wasn’t something that was going to change my mind or affect my decision to see her.<\/p>\n

I was pretty nervous before our date, but it couldn’t have gone any better, the conversation flowed so well.<\/p>\n

I just love how caring and supportive she is.<\/p>\n

My heart is healing<\/p>\n

Jed: I have type 1 diabetes and Chanelle will get me some sugar if I need it because my sugar’s low or she carries my insulin pen for me in her purse.<\/p>\n

I think that’s why we get on so well, because we know what it’s like to need support and help.<\/p>\n

I’ve always admired her selflessness.<\/p>\n

She has so much time for other people, including me.<\/p>\n

She goes to conferences for motivational speaking and I am so proud and impressed by that.<\/p>\n

I’ll come home, and she’s got some sort of little surprise for me.<\/p>\n

I’ve never felt so at ease before in my life.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Chanelle and Jed say the support they show one another has deepened their love. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Chanelle: He shows up for me in a way that I didn’t even know was possible and he says to me that I do the same for him.<\/p>\n

The main thing I can’t do with my vision impairment is drive, so Jed drives me a lot, which is great.<\/p>\n

Every time we go to a restaurant or a cafe, he reads the menu without me even asking or helps me read labels at the grocery store.<\/p>\n

He’s like my eyes for anything, even helping me find the bathroom when we’re out, which is a big anxiety for people with low vision.<\/p>\n

Jed’s my caddy at my golf competitions now, so he’s literally my eyes.<\/p>\n

We’ll practise at the golf range now and as soon as he’s not looking, I can’t hit the ball.<\/p>\n

I need him to help me play.<\/p>\n

I can really be myself and I love that.<\/p>\n

He makes me feel like a whole person and I’m more than enough for him.<\/p>\n

My heart is healing in ways I never expected, and I could not be more grateful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chanelle Morris thought she was going to be “alone forever” after many deflating and hurtful dating experiences because…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":924252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,492027,492029,7110,44540,134,755,492028,242789,48549,107882,85738],"class_list":["post-924251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-chanelle-morris","tag-chorioretinal-dystrophy","tag-disability","tag-driving-range","tag-entertainment","tag-golf","tag-jed-bevern","tag-love-stories","tag-love-story","tag-meet-cute","tag-vision-impairment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=924251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/924252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=924251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=924251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=924251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}