Thanks to decades of experience, optometrists approaching retirement have learned what is important to focus on during their career. For Gordon Ilett MCOptom, it’s about “saying yes” when ideas come up. 

“That’s led me to some very interesting places and to undertake some very interesting work. Optometry isn’t just sitting in a consulting room, testing – be willing to explore other opportunities.”

Early in his career, Gordon was asked to work on the prevalence of visual impairment in patients with learning disabilities who had been institutionalised in residential care. That led to working with experts in the field, including Dr Maggie Woodhouse MCOptom, a leading optometrist and pioneer in research into the visual development of people with Down syndrome.

This progressed to working with the Special Olympics for people with learning disabilities, which took him to the US and Japan, and to become a trustee, and later chair, of the charity SeeAbility.