Fern Lulham & Nancy

The club’s guest speaker on 27^th February was Fern Lulham, a blind inspirational speaker, who is the President of Eastbourne Speakers, part of the Toastmasters International Organisation.

Born with a congenital eye disease Fern is registered as blind and was given a guide dog, Nancy, last year. After leaving school fern was offered an exchange place at an American University for a year but decided to transfer to a three year course in North Carolina where she read media and communication. She used these skills while studying to make radio broadcasts with local radio stations and on completion found a job in Michigan where she managed a commercial radio station. Returning to this country she found difficulty in finding long term employment, “We’re looking for people with five years of experience in this sort of employment” being the standard response from prospective employers. This attitude hit Fern hard and after consideration she decided to start a career in public speaking.

Fern based her talk not on differences but on similarities; she has, during her life, faced many challenges and regularly meets and overcomes new ones. These experiences have given her a deep understanding on how people function and what makes them tick. “Emotions unite us no matter what differences there appear to be on the surface.  I encourage others to dig deep and explore themselves and those around them in new and empowering ways.” Fern tries to make a difference by making people realisethat they can do it by learning about themselves. “We need to be proud of who we are, not be a stereotype and we need to challenge people’s perceptions. Look back on our own inspirational times and learn.”

Fern certainly inspired her audience and gave them much to reflect on. Rotarian Pat Connor thanked Fern for her excellent talk and her motivational delivery.

www.fernlulham.com/