Guide Dogs strikes the right note for Matthew in Newcastle
Newcastle office celebrates 20 years providing services to people in the Hunter region.
Twenty-one-year-old Matthew McLaren may not be able to see, but the talented young musician can certainly hear and is fast becoming well known on the Newcastle music scene.
Not only does Matthew play and teach piano, his band is currently producing its first EP and he also runs a recording studio.
Matthew says all this would not be possible without Guide Dogs NSW/ACT, which has been helping him to travel independently and safely since he was four, after surgery failed to correct the blindness he was born with.
In fact the organisation has been providing local orientation and mobility services for Matthew and other Novacastrians with impaired vision since 1990.
"Guide Dogs is integral to my life; from helping me to independently attend school in the Hunter Valley, to leaving home and moving to Newcastle to study and work," said Matthew.
He added that his life really opened up two years ago when he received his first Guide Dog, Stamford, a Golden Labrador.
"Stamford is great. He is invaluable to how I live my life and enables me to do so much more than I could with a cane, such as carry music gear and move confidently through new places."