“My site was created in the hope that my loss of sight could touch the lives of people who would like to achieve their own goals. My goal is to share my stories with you so that you may be able to either help yourself or help others to cope with whatever challenges confronts you in life. I am a very ordinary person who has had so many wonderful opportunities to live life and to fulfil some amazing dreams. I would like to share with you the formula that has made so many things possible”
 

Nick’s life changed forever at age seven when an electronic swinging supermarket door hit him on the side of his head, causing a retinal detachment. With the support of his family and friends, Nick continually challenged himself to first attend university, and then go on to live a life of sport and adventure.
 

Nick’s accomplishments include representing Australia at the Paralympic Games, crossing the finish line in the New York City Marathon three times, racing up the 1,576 steps of the Empire State Building and completing the gruelling 90km from Durban to Pietermaritzburg in the Comrades Marathon. Nick also represented his state and country in blind cricket for almost 20 seasons, using an audible ball in the game. Nick was also chosen to carry the Olympic Torch for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

Nick’s later life moved towards adventure expeditions. Nick put together a group named Blind Ambition to climb Africa’s highest mountain, four members of the expedition reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

The next year, while climbing in New Zealand, Nick had the privilege of telling his hero, Sir Edmund Hillary, of this achievement. Nick and Blind Ambition’s then went on to conquest Everest Base Camp. Nick’s most recent achievement was a 3-day solo crossing of Island Lagoon in South Australia. Although these situations are extraordinary to most of us, Nick’s down-to-earth nature and compelling descriptions of what he smelt, heard and felt at the time enable the listener to place themselves in his well-travelled shoes
 

Over the past decade, athlete, accessibility advocate and global adventurer Nick Gleeson has built up an enviable reputation for public speaking. Nick has that rare gift of being able to convey a serious message, that of overcoming the challenges of living with blindness, with warmth, humour and honesty. He connects with people of all backgrounds and importantly, he possesses a talent for making the audience feel comfortable and confident about asking him questions about blindness.