A MUSIC-LOVING, humour-filled, 18-year-old has revealed what life is like trying to social distance when you're blind.

Louis Moorhouse, from Idle, posted in two community groups on social media website, Facebook, to explain his situation to those he may have come across on his daily walks.

The teenager - who is a fully-trained guide dog user - outlined the complexities of social distancing as someone without their sight.

He said: “That is a struggle for me and my guide dog, Kizzy.

“Kizzy has not been trained in that before, no guide dogs have, I don’t think humans have.

“If somebody is in front of me I’m not going to know and I’ll just keep going.

“In normal circumstances that’s less of a problem, but now that’s a big issue.

“It’s pretty much impossible – if a blind person wants to get in touch and tell me a way to do it then I’m all ears.

“That’s the only way we can do it, we can’t move for them.

“What’s sad as well is, if you do move, we can’t say thanks as well.

“We do really appreciate it, we just can’t.

“If someone said, ‘you’re going passed me now’, I’ll go ‘cheers’ and move on."

Social distancing is a commitment we all must make, including blind people, according to Louis.

The 18-year-old wanted to make it clear that the post was not out of anger, or frustration, rather it was more about enlightening people and showing that he is not trying to be "arrogant or entitled".

Louis said: “We can’t do it ourselves, so we need that little bit of help from our sighted friends.

“Hundreds of people could’ve passed and I’ve blanked them and they might think, ‘he’s a right so and so’.

“I empathise with that reaction, if you’ve not worked with, or are friends with a blind person, you don’t think about such things, it doesn’t cross your mind.

“Adaptations to every day life, you don’t think about it, because you don’t have to do it.

“I put posts on the Thackley page and the Greengates Matters page, because I just thought I need to get the message out."

It seems Louis's polite plea was understood and appreciated, with 7,500 likes and 8,000 shares on his Greengates Matters post.

Both figures are over a thousand more than the amount of members in the group itself.

Louis said: “I wasn’t expecting anything from it, other than a couple of likes, but the Greengates Matters one blew up.

“I didn’t know there was 8,000 people in Greengates.

“I’ve had nothing but positive feedback. Everybody got the message shared round and said, ‘that’s fine, we get that’”.

While the need to social distance due to the coronavirus pandemic has led to some new challenges, Louis says he has always lived his life like any other teenager outside these unprecedented times.

He added: “A normal day, remember them?

“The thing I’ve strived to do is to be ‘normal’, for want of a better word, but normal isn’t a thing.

“Sometimes I have to adapt and do things in a different way.

“But, I still get up in the morning and have breakfast, lunch and tea.

Louis’s guide dog, Kizzy, helped the teenager walk to Woodhouse Grove School – when he was still there – then during lunchtime he would use a cane.

The youngster also explains how Apple products have allowed him to “do stuff any other teens can do”.

A voice over option allows Louis to interact on social media and also enjoy his beloved music production via his Mac.

This is one of the things he has continued throughout the lockdown to pass the time, as well as chatting to friends and girlfriend.

The couple cover songs on their YouTube channel, and were even recognised by Lewis Capaldi after they did their own version of his "Someone You Loved".

During the lockdown, Louis - a huge Bastille fan - mixed a cover project of one of the band's songs with fellow fans from a group.

He hopes to turn his passion into a career and was intending on studying Music Production at Leeds Beckett University in September.

Louis said: “I’m hoping to go to uni, hopefully if it all works out, who knows at this point.

“I want a career out of it, because I love it.

“I just love music production and I love working in a studio – I’m fascinated by all that stuff."

Having his independence is extremely important to Louis.

He has been walking the same route around Idle and Apperley Bridge for the last 18 months and he doesn't want social distancing to jeopardise this.

Louis said: “You do learn the route beforehand.

“If your dog is ill, you can still manage it on your own.

“Your dog is going to retire eventually.

“If you get lost, for example.

“At the moment, my mum is coming out with me – we’ve had next to no issues really and I really appreciate it, my mum is there just in case.

“But my mum can’t always do that, when I go off to uni, as I’m meant to be in September but who knows, she won’t be there and I can’t always have sighted assistance when I get my own home.

“We want to be the same as our sighted peers.”

The teenager hopes his message will not only prove beneficial for his own social distancing endeavours, but also people in the same situation across the country and world.

Louis said: “There are blind people everywhere – my girlfriend is blind, she’s from Leeds, one of my closest friends is blind and from Latvia, another friend is blind and is from Bradford, and another friend is not blind, but partially sighted, and he’s from London.

“We all just want to say, ‘I’m going here today’, get on a bus and off we go.

“I hope this post reaches as many people as possible.

“I don’t mean any offence; this is just what we need you to do.”

If you want to check out Louis's music and work click here...