Just Jill: The Autobiography of Jill Allen-King OBE: The Autobiography of Jill Allen-King MBE

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At 24, on her wedding day – June 6, 1965, the 20th anniversary of D-Day – she went suddenly blind in her remaining eye, having developed acute glaucoma. A blind Pride of Britain winner from Essex has slammed plans for the mass closure of rail ticket offices after being left stranded and “petrified” at a station.

Jill went on to have a baby the following year but she spent her daughter’s early life too scared to go out alone.

Jill Allen-King MBE, 70, has penned Just Jill, a moving account of her triumph over adversity and how she used her own experience of disability to benefit others. In this moving autobiography, Jill explains how she went blind in one eye when she was a toddler – as a result of contracting measles – and then lost the sight in her other eye as an adult. She is on familiar terms with ministers, and when she shakes them by the hand, she does not let go until she has finished with them. From the age of eight, the dogs are monitored by the charity to ensure they are still fit - and willing - to work. At the age of 70, Jill continues to fight for the cause, and hopefully her story will inspire others to take up the baton.

She later lost the vision in her right eye having developed acute glaucoma and found herself blind, and on her wedding day in 1965 of all days. For the next seven years Jill barely left the house, too scared to go outside unaccompanied and afraid that she would never again be able to participate in the activities she loved, such as dancing. Then you have to assess them, travel to the local venue in London and Essex and take an active part in enquiring into up to 10 cases per session in open hearings delivering life affecting decisions, often involving quite detailed questions of law. As I walked down the path of our cottage to head for the church, a black cat crossed my path and I remember thinking, ‘That’s bad luck.Imagine that you receive, each month, several bundles of around 600 very detailed appeal papers concerning claimants with a wide variety of disabilities. Jill went on to be awarded an OBE in 2011 and continues to campaign for better access to fair benefits and financial support. Peter Osborne, the charity's chief operating officer, said: "We have over 1,000 people waiting for a guide dog in the UK at the moment. She rose to face an enormous challenge and set out determinedly to make sure that, for the rest of her life, she would fight to help others similarly afflicted. When she was about three, I started doing some radio recordings for the BBC about our life together but it was very limited because I couldn’t leave the house by myself.

In the first few years, I was determined to prove that a blind person could and should bring up a child. Jill also came into our studio to interrogate ministers or other leading politicians or those responsible for running charities that provided services for the blind.It was only when Jill got her first guide dog that she began to rediscover the world outside of her front door and take those first giant steps towards regaining her freedom. July 2010 - An audio item about 'Just Jil'l has been included in this weeks edition of the 'Infosound Briefing'. While ticket office opening hours are currently protected, unions fears closures will pave the wave for many more unmanned stations in time. The rights of blind people are continuing not to be considered, so I will keep working to fight that.

It was the worst journey of my life,” says Jill who has travelled all over the UK on the rail networks. But then I also came up with the idea for textured pavements at road crossings – we got the first one laid at the House of Commons in 1982. The birth of her daughter, Jacqueline, gave her renewed purpose but could not give her back the thing she desperately needed her independence. I knew when I went out of the gate, I could be confident and independent with walking in the streets, using public transport.You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.