\u201cIt was the journey of a lifetime,\u201d says Jason Romero of his 60-day-long run across the United States. \u201cI\u2019ll never do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Romero was the first and still only legally blind person to complete the feat, which involved running 50 miles a day supported only by his 70-year-old mother, a borrowed 12-year-old minivan with transmission problems and a great many buckets of ice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe hardest thing was waking up each day and knowing I had to do another 50 miles,\u201d he says. \u201cThe pain for the first two weeks was excruciating, I thought I was going to die. My mom would get two trash cans full of ice each morning for me to stand in so that gradually I\u2019d be able to stand, walk, then run. But the physical pain subsided. The emotional part of it never did.\u201d<\/p>\n
A decade on, Romero (56), a veteran of high-level management positions at General Electric<\/a> and Western Union who left the corporate world to spend more time with his children after getting divorced, still gets emotional when he recounts the moment the notion occurred to him while volunteering in a homeless shelter. \u201cI texted my mom,\u201d he recalls, \u201cand said I\u2019m going to run across America. Within a couple of minutes, she texted back to say, \u2018I\u2019m in.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Romero, an attorney and now author after writing a book about his journey, was told aged 14 that he would lose all of his sight by the time he was 30, and advised he should \u201clearn to do something with his hands\u201d. Now, he says his calling is to tell his story, to inspire others to \u201caccomplish their dreams or die trying\u201d.<\/p>\n He was in Dublin on Thursday to tell that story at a conference on the challenges facing people with disabilities<\/a> who are trying to work<\/a> for themselves. The event heard of the many challenges that have been faced \u2013 and overcome \u2013 by thousands of people, including employers. <\/p>\n The data is thin, acknowledged Prof Thomas Cooney of TU Dublin<\/a>, but the event heard from entrepreneurs, academics, advocates and the Northern Ireland Minister for the Economy, Caoimhe Archibald<\/a>, on the many hurdles to be overcome and the fragmented range of supports available across the island of Ireland.<\/p>\n Olivia Kitterick, enterprise and social enterprise officer at South West Mayo Development Company, said there was an \u201cinformation gap\u201d where entrepreneurs with a disability are concerned. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a confusing landscape. There is a lot of good stuff out there in terms of supports but it needs to be enhanced and there needs to be more awareness around training and skills.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we don\u2019t need, though, is another agency where we are confused about what they do and don\u2019t do.\u201d<\/p>\n