Dennis Robertson talks about being the first VI MSP

Photograph of Dennis Robertson

Dennis Robertson MSP has amassed two major accomplishments in this year’s election. He was elected as the MSP for Aberdeenshire West, a previously unshakeable Liberal Democrat stronghold, with an impressive majority of 4000 (42%) votes. His second accomplishment was that he made history by becoming the first visually impaired MSP to ever be elected. Dennis recently spoke with Visibility, the west of Scotland ’s local sight loss charity.

Dennis’s love of politics stems from his experiences in school.

“I was doing modern studies, economics and history and when I started reading what happened to Scotland I started looking into the political field.”, Said Dennis “We held a mock election in school and I put myself forward to stand for the SNP, I didn’t win but that’s what started it.”

However, when Dennis went into social work, his political aspirations had to be put on hold.

“I kept my political interests going for as long as I could but when I started doing social work in Inverclyde I tended to not get too political.

It was only after I left social work and started at Guide Dogs in Forfar and moved to Kirriemuir I got involved with a bit of campaigning”, He said “I was campaigning with Pete Wishart and John Swinney and they asked if I had ever thought about putting myself forward as a candidate.

They said that if I did they would endorse my application, with those names behind it who was I to say no?”

Like many of Visibility’s supporters, Dennis has no sight at all and says that, just like with any other job, being visually impaired has a huge impact on his.

“It’s partly to do with the volume of constituency work that comes in”, Dennis says “I have a good team though that help me with it.

It’s also a help that much of the work comes in electronically and there are a lot of programs that exist to make working with a computer easier for visually impaired people”

Problems also arise with getting around the constituency “I’ve got a very large constituency and getting around it on buses is difficult because the public transport isn’t very good.”, he said “I am reliant on a driver to take me from A to B, obviously if I wasn’t blind it would be much easier.”

Disability benefits are an important issue for the people who attend Visibility’s events and activities and we raised the issue of the proposed cuts to the disability allowance by Westminster, if Scotland had control of the welfare would there be a review on this cut?

“I think the Scottish Parliament value the work that the third sector does and the Scottish National Party has always supported things like concessionary travel for blind and partially sighted people.”, said Dennis

“I, personally, intend to lobby it and I think that there will be enough lobbying going on that the UK government will change its mind.”

Dennis has a long and fond history with Visibility “I worked for Strathclyde regional council back in 1979 and Visibility, then called The Glasgow West of Scotland Society for the Blind (GWSSB). I’ve continued to be aware of Visibility through my social work career and I applauded the name change to Visibility. I felt it was very brave and I think that most visually impaired charities need to change their names.”

Dennis admitted that although he was still under the effects of the euphoria of being elected, the actual parliament building was not very VI friendly.

“In terms of orientating yourself it is an absolute nightmare.” He said “Spaceial awareness is a major issue especially in the main foyer; there are also no straight lines in the building so that can be very tricky.”

That being said it’s not all bad.

“Texturally it’s great if you’re using a cane because you can pick up clues from them that help you get around” Dennis was also keen to point out that the Parliament have been hugely accommodating for him.

“When I got elected they contacted me and asked me to tell them what I needed to make it work and they would do it.

They had already installed a lot of the standard things that would make it a lot easier for me but they still wanted to know how they could help.”

This is not just the case with his office either.

“In the debating chamber they had changed all the stations to touch pads for the voting which, obviously, would not suit me very well.

However, they asked me where I would most like to sit and then installed a screen that uses raised buttons so I would be able to use it.

They have been endlessly helpful and without hesitation in fitting things to accommodate my needs and they continue to do so. From day one they have done everything to ensure that I can do my job as an equal and continue to support me whenever I need them.”

So what does the future hold for Dennis? “I’ll be involved with a lot of committees.”

He said “The whips put me on there, I think, because of my background in social work.

They felt that my knowledge about that would be really helpful.

Apart from that I have no idea; I presume that I’ll move to more committees.

Given the rural nature of my constituency it wouldn’t surprise me if I was moved to the committee on rural affairs.

The thing about me is that I’ll try anything so I’m just going to throw myself into it and take what comes!”