My name is Lee Barfield, and I am the owner and founder of LA Guitar School. I have dedicated my career to sharing my passion for guitar and helping others discover the enjoyment and confidence that music can bring, even with the challenges of sightloss.

Alongside my work as a guitar teacher, I live with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a degenerative eye condition that has left me registered as severely sight blind.

While sightloss presents daily challenges, it has never stopped me from pursuing my love of music or building a successful teaching business.

Over the years, I have developed a teaching approach built around sightloss, patience, understanding, and adaptability.

My personal experiences has taught me about the importance of encouragement and finding creative ways to overcome obstacles that sightloss brings.

These experiences allow me to connect with students from all backgrounds and create lessons that are welcoming, accessible, and enjoyable.

Music has been an important source of strength and positivity throughout my life, and I believe it has the power to inspire confidence and bring people together.

Through LA Guitar School, I want to show that a disability does not define a person’s ability, talent, or ambition.

I am proud to continue teaching and supporting students on their own musical journeys while also raising awareness of Retinitis Pigmentosa and the importance of accessibility and inclusion within music education.

Retinitis Pigmentosa “the invisible disability” this can make traditional employment harder over time because it causes sightloss, which includes night blindness, peripheral vision, and sometimes central vision.

I also had a cataract procedure when I was 29 years old in both of my eyes, so my sight no longer focuses, so unless text font is 14pts or above I can no longer read properly without the use of magnification,

The lack of peripheral vision that I have makes reading text a time consuming challenge in its self, because I can only scan small amounts of text at a time.

I’ve also learned that my proof reading has also been strongly effected and a challenge for me, this is because I am only able to scan small amounts of written text that I am writing for e.g. emails, text message or documents.

This in its self can take up more time than really needed correcting things that normal sighted people would not really experience as much.

Many people with RP choose self-employment because it offers more flexibility around lighting, travel, screen setup, visual fatigue, and working hours.

I started teaching in 1995 from a local music store in Tamworth, I then moved the business to the white house 93 Lichfield Street up until 2008 where I closed due to personal circumstances.

I then studied at QAC Birmingham a college for the blind and visually impaired, where I learned the ability to use a white cain to increase my mobility and safety in the day but more so my mobility at night.

I then gained some employment working for action for blind people in John Bright Street Birmingham, as a bookings administrator for concept conference centre, who Focused on employing visually impairments and blind people.

Sadly, though when RNIB and action for blind formed as one enterty and moved premises, concept conference centre was closed down putting there current visually impaired & nlind employees out work.

Still playing guitar, I then searched for employment for 2 years with no success of employment, as it is easier to employ someone without a disability than to make adjustments to the work environment for someone with a disability especially, for someone with sightloss.

So yes, in 2017 I returned to teaching guitar at Leonard house in Tamworth and currently I am stil self employed at LA Guitar School teaching today.

This website is up dated and managed by Lee A Barfield

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