A VISUALLY impaired Blackburn College student has landed her first job as a columnist.

Budding author Raeesa Jaffer, 17, has had her report of her family’s trip to Dubai published in the Royal National Institute for the Blind’s Insight magazine.

The Interactive Media student won a four-part column after entering a competition suggested to her by a tutor and jumping at the chance to get involved.

Raeesa said: “I was shocked when I found out I had won but really pleased.

“It’s really boosted my confidence and now I know what I want to do for my career. I can’t find the words to tell you how great it is, I’m speechless.

“My articles tell all about our holiday, where we went to the top of the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, went on desert safari and rode camels and quad bikes.

“I couldn’t drive the bike myself but I went on the back of one driven by my brother and it was great.”

Raeesa was born with nystagmus, a condition which causes her eyes to move involuntarily, impairing her vision.

She said: “It doesn’t hold me back, and when it has, I have found a way and got it done. I wear glasses, have magnifiers for reading and if it’s dark then I hold onto my sister and she guides me.

“The college have been really great about my condition and have provided me with all types of support, like software, a support assistant and weekly tutorials.”

A fan of both fiction and non-fiction, Raeesa is a keen reader and writer of action, adventure and fantasy stories.

“I love to read, if I like a book I’ll pick it up once I’ve finished it and read it again.”