Published: 26 January, 2012
by PETER GRUNER

A former TV actor, who gradually lost his sight, is advising blind and disabled people who are threatened with losing benefits under new medical assessments required by the coalition government.

Ian Jentle, 66, who once featured in mainly villainous roles in EastEnders and The Bill, as well as appearing on the stage, is one of three London regional representatives of the RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People), based at Judd Street, King’s Cross.

Millions of people with special needs have been denied financial support since the assessments – described as “demeaning and insensitive” – were introduced last year.

Mr Jentle, who uses a stick to negotiate the capital’s streets, said: “It is the biggest issue I have to deal with – and causes enormous heartache.
“Many people who have been disabled all their lives, including the mentally ill, face losing benefits unless they can prove they are unable to work.”

He said that a blind colleague, who had steel implants, was sent a 40-page form to fill out before he could qualify for new disability benefits.

“She was told she has to present herself every year for medical re-examination, presumably in order to see if her eyes had grown back,” said Mr Jentle.  

Mr Jentle, who is chairman of Extant, a blind people’s performing arts company, believes that his acting background makes him a passionate advocate for the disabled.

Now registered partially sighted, he will often advise people on their entitlements as well as campaign in his personal capacity for improvements for blind and disabled access.

Mr Jentle is a trustee of Disability Action in Islington, where he lives, and was consulted on architectural designs for the new Sadler’s Wells theatre building – he is still on the theatre’s board of governors – which has some of the best facilities for disabled people in London.

He started to lose his sight in the 1980s but refused to accept his condition. He lost major roles because he couldn’t read scripts and soon the acting work dried up.

He was knocked down and badly injured several times because he couldn’t see vehicles coming.  

Mr Jentle’s gradual blindness contributed to the break-up of a relationship, although he is now happily married to medical writer Jean O’Reilly and they live in Holloway.

He was finally diagnosed with Staggart’s macular dystrophy, a degenerative disease that causes loss of vision.

Today, however, he has become a philosophical yet vociferous voice for the blind and disabled.

“Disabled people don’t want to be seen as needy or vulnerable,” said Mr Jentle, “but we are experts on our condition and how to deal with it. We need to be consulted. We just want to be treated as human beings.”