By Matthew Sims
At 26 years old, Matt De Gruchy has found strength well beyond his years and broke through the boundaries of his vision impairment.
The blindness and disability advocate will be one of the speakers at the upcoming Healthy Minds mental health forum on Tuesday 15 August from 6.30pm to 9.30pm at Lyndale Secondary College at 14 Halton Road in Dandenong North.
Held by the Rotary Club of Greater Dandenong and Endeavour Hills, in conjunction with Casey-Cardinia Rotaract, the event is suitable for adults and young people from 12 years and over and is a fundraiser to support Australian Rotary Health’s mental health research.
Mr De Gruchy was diagnosed with Stargardt disease, a rare genetic eye disease caused by fatty material building up on the macula, at the age of nine, reducing his vision by 90 per cent of my vision by the time he had reached his teen years, with his sight currently sitting between four per cent and six per cent.
“For years I would hide my blindness from others, pretending I could see more than I actually could to try and ‘fit in’,” he said.
“I was scared of being ‘different’ and being picked on, I was scared of bullies and saw depictions of people with a disability in main stream media, movies & marketing as a source of entertainment.”
Mr De Gruchy said his mental health issues began at an early age.
“The stereotyping of those with disabilities is a hard stigma to break and as a young person growing up, you are easily subject to developing a low self esteem,” he said.
“Throughout high school I struggled with mental health, anxiety and depression went hand in hand.
“It’s a rabbit hole that can be challenging to know you’re in at the time and to work on getting out of it.”
Mr De Gruchy said he has come to accept his blindness.
“It seems silly in hindsight, but I somehow thought that if I strained my eyes really hard, maybe just maybe I’ll be able to see again, but that wasn’t reality and I did put myself through a lot of guilt and shame for having something ‘wrong’ with me that was never my choice in the first place,” he said.
“It took a few months, if not a year, but finally I had accepted my disability.
“I was no longer afraid of what others might do or say, and I finally felt like I was moving forward.”
Mr De Gruchy said battling mental illness was similar to maintaining good hygiene as it required daily actions.
“I always say nowadays that I’m content, I feel content within my challenges and that’s a great place for me to be, and I’m very aware that good mental health is temporary,” he said.
“It’s important we leave space for people to share with no judgement and to just ‘listen’, not just wait for them to stop speaking so we can start to talk again.
“We still don’t talk about it enough and from lived experience I know first-hand how isolating it can be.”
Mr De Gruchy said he has enjoyed sharing his story of overcoming his disability.
“For me I am at my best when I’m active,” he said.
“I enjoy exercising and I’m also lucky enough that my job is my passion in life.
“I love sharing my story so that other people out there, blind, disabled or not, we all go through adversity and with a bit of courage & kindness, we can achieve great things.”
If you need help, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Kids Help Line on 1800 55 1800.
For more information on Mr De Gruchy’s story, visit mattdegruchyvision.com
