介绍： You are listening to a programmes from BBC Radio 4.

Good morning. Yesterday's news about a new kind of eye test for glaucoma captured my attention. I've got a personal interest. My maternal grandmother went blind with glaucoma just before I was born. My mother too had signs of it, so my eye tests have always...

介绍： You are listening to a programmes from BBC Radio 4.

Good morning. Yesterday's news about a new kind of eye test for glaucoma captured my attention. I've got a personal interest. My maternal grandmother went blind with glaucoma just before I was born. My mother too had signs of it, so my eye tests have always been free as a consequence. Genetic factors play a part in all major forms of the disease. Glaucoma is often identified after some sight has been lost so a test which predicts its onset five or ten years in advance will be welcome news to countless people.

My grandmother died when I was just fourteen but she had a profound effect upon my life. Becoming blind caused her such trauma that she was sent to a psychiatric hospital. The harshness of the regime in those days did her little good. It was only later in life that I realised just how much she must have suffered. You wouldn't have known it since she was invariably gracious and counted her blessings, though in her poor home she seemed to have very few of them.

As a child I recall her touching my face to see what I looked like. I can't imagine it helped very much but she became very strong on touch as a means of human connection. In time she became very deaf as well. Her life and humanity depended on her touching others and being touched by them.

Perhaps as a result of this family experience I always paid particular attention to the encounters of Jesus with blind people in the Bible. I noticed how he always touches them, a sign of their acceptance before God and a means of integrating them in a society which often shunned them.

For whatever reason my grandmother never had a white stick nor became confident or independent when alone outdoors. I vividly recall a day out on a Cornish cliff top near her home when I was no more than nine or ten. We went for a walk together. She trusted me to lead her safely, and took my arm. I suddenly felt adult and highly responsible for her well-being. It was a maturing experience.

We seem to learn a lot about life from those who have known suffering and tragedy and done their best to overcome them. And yet, as much as I owe my grandmother and admire her even today I still wish the gift of sight had not been taken from her. Yesterday's news will be good for millions of people around the world still threatened by glaucoma.