From kicked off to welcome aboard: How a blind Vancouver Paralympian was hired by Virgin cruise line

A blind Vancouver Paralympian who was forced to leave a Virgin cruise last November has been hired by the company to consult on accessibility on their cruise lines.

Donovan Tildesley, 39, has been blind since birth. But that hasn’t stopped him from traveling the world.

“I was very blessed to have parents who encouraged me to do any and everything that someone with sight could do,” said Tildesley.

Last November, he boarded a Virgin Voyages Caribbean cruise that he’d booked through a travel agent. “I made him aware and he made the company aware that I was blind,” said Tildesley.

But just as the ship was getting set to leave Miami, two Virgin Voyages crew members approached him.

“And they said, ‘Well, we have got some unfortunate news. We have determined that it’s not safe to have you on board as a solo blind traveller. So you will have to get off the cruise.’ And I said, ‘Really? You realize that I’ve travelled solo for a lot of my life. I’ve gone to the Paralympics four times.’”

A competitive swimmer, Tildesley was Canada’s flag-bearer at the 2008 Paralympics. Just hours after he posted to social media that he’d been kicked off the cruise ship, he got a call from the vice president of Virgin Voyages.

“And he apologizes profusely, he said ‘This shouldn’t have happened, this was a huge miscommunication. How can I make this right? Can I fly you to meet the ship in Roatan?’” Tildesley recounted.