Vision magazine
April/May 2015
Issue 71
Editor’s letter: welcome
Welcome to your special writing competition of Vision. We were impressed by the variety of stories we received for this year’s crime theme – you really are a creative bunch! Find out what inspired our three winners and read extracts of their stories.
With the general election on 7 May, you may still be deciding who you want to vote for but everything you need for the ballot box is in our guide to accessible voting . We also preview the new Apple Watch, review scientist Stephen Hawkings’ memoir, plus all your favourite news, views and a pancake recipe for spring!
We’re excited to launch your new online area, Your Vision Community, later this month. You’ll be able to read and listen to your favourite Vision content, share tips and find out more about your representatives and events near you.
Clare Conley, Managing Editor
News
RNIB on TV
Were you among the millions of viewers to see our first ever primetime TV adverts in February?
In ITV’s Broadchurch, Charlotte Rampling played a barrister losing her sight to macular degeneration. Our advert for sight loss advisers ran during the gripping final episode.
We ran the advert, so that people who don’t know much about us realise that we’re here for them and their loved ones, who are affected by sight loss.
The advert also highlights our need for supporters – campaigners, volunteers and donors in order to continue delivering our vital services for blind and partially sighted people.
Sometimes we use daytime and Freeview channel advertising, because it’s a cost effective way to raise money. This is the first time we’ve advertised on primetime TV, but the link between the storyline and our aim to be there for everyone affected by sight loss was too good to miss.
Watch the advert and share with your friends and family
youtube.com/rnibuk
Online Today: opening up a world of opportunity
We are delighted that the Big Lottery Fund awarded RNIB £5.8million last September - the biggest lottery award we have ever received - to help people with sensory loss get online.
Technology can make life easier when you have hearing or sight problems, but knowing where to start isn't always easy. We're going to make everyday digital skills available to as many people with sensory loss as we can.
We'll help people across the UK gain basic skills and confidence to use technology through home visits, one-to-one sessions, group sessions, drop-in sessions and a line-up of nationwide events. After talking through your needs, our team of staff and volunteers will be able to help you with anything from learning to Skype, using a smartphone or tablet to shop online.
Get Online Today
Visitrnib.org.uk/onlinetoday
Call the Helpline on 0303 123 9999.
Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest launch accessible bank cards
Have you accidentally used the wrong bank card because you couldn’t tell which was which? Or put your card in the wrong way at an ATM?
We have worked in partnership with RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) and its subsidiary, NatWest, for the launch of debit and savings cards that are accessible for blind and partially sighted people. The cards have received a quality assurance mark, “RNIB Approved”.
The cards have the following features:
- Tactile markings andbraille on the top right corner to help you identify different debit and savings cards
- A notch is cut out of the right hand side of the card so that you know which way to insert it into ATMs and PIN pads
- Larger font telephone numbers on the back of the card for partially sighted customers
Ross McEwan, CEO of RBS, said they want to be recognised as a bank that listens to its customers and responds to their issues. It’s really important to me that we make banking as simple and easy as possible for all of our customers.”
To order one of the new accessible cards, pop into your local branch of NatWest or RBS or contact: NatWest on 03457 888 444 or visit natwest.com/accessible And contact RBS on 08457 24 24 24 or rbs.co.uk/accessible
Success for our On my street campaign
In the last edition of Vision, we told you about the next phase of our campaign to clear street obstacles. We’re pleased to announce that Northumberland County Council has committed to carrying out an urgent review into policies relating to street obstacles.
This came about as a direct result of the media coverage secured for the launch of RNIB’s streets campaign report “Who put that there!” The report is calling on all local authorities to review their policies in relation to the most common obstacles - advertising boards, parking on pavements, bins and recycling boxes, shared space, crossings and street furniture.
Join our campaign to make streets safer
RNIB is calling on all local authorities to adopt a street charter designed in consultation with blind and partially sighted people. If you would like more information, or would like to sign up to the summer fortnight of action please contact the RNIB campaigns team by emailing or call 020 7391 2123.
Help us improve patient care services
Do you or a friend or family member have diabetic macular oedema, cataracts, glaucoma or age-related macular degeneration?
Although there is a continuing effort to better understand new and evolving eye treatments, there is little information on how to improve patient care and support.In order to address this gap, from March 2015, RNIB will run two separate projects across England; one will look at the patient’s experience – another at the carer’s role from diagnosis through to discharge from hospitals.
If you live in England and have been diagnosed or provide a caring role for someone with any of the above eye conditions we would like to hear from you. Please get in touch and help us improve services for others. Email or call her on: 020 7391 2124.
Wear dots and raise lots for RNIB in 2015!
This October we're asking everyone to wear dots …and raise lots for RNIB.
By wearing dots you’ll be celebrating braille and helping us to be there for those who need us.
Last year talking book subscriber Joan, organised an event at the weekly Drop In at her local Church in Guildford. She took along some braille books to show people and raised money by selling a variety of homemade "dotty cakes" which went down very well!
We’ve also produced special curriculum based lesson plans for use in schools to teach pupils about braille, so if you have children or grandchildren who might want to be involved, please spread the word.
Get your fundraising pack
Taking part is easy, just register to get your pack filled with posters, balloons and ideas for planning your October events. Go to rnib.org.uk/weardots or call 0845 345 0054 (Monday-Friday 9am to 5pm)
More treatments for diabetic macular oedema?
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has set out new draft guidance recommending the use of Eylea and Ozurdex in certain cases of diabetic macular oedema (DMO).
Clara Eaglen, RNIB Eye Health Campaigns Manager, welcomed the fact that this will increase treatment choices for some patients. However she pointed out that that the guidance is that Eylea and Ozurdex will only be recommended as an option for treating DMO if people have a central retinal thickness of 400micrometres or more. RNIB will call for NICE to consider its decisions and ask that the treatment is opened up to a wider range of patients.
DMO affects some people who have diabetic retinopathy. Around 50,000 people are affected by DMO and this is set to increase with the expected growth of diabetes in the population.
A final decision about the guidance is expected from NICE in June.
Eye health news
New contact lenses could improve vision for people with AMD
New contact lenses to help people see using inbuilt telescopes were unveiled by Swiss scientists at an international science convention earlier this year. They have the potential to improve vision for people with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in the future.
The lenses work in conjunction with glasses. They operate by winking - a wink from the right eye will trigger the lens to zoom in and a wink from the left eye will turn off the telescope.
Small mirrors in the lens bounce light around, expanding the perceived size of objects and magnifying the view, so it's like looking through low magnification binoculars.
“We think these lenses hold a lot of promise for low vision and age-related macular degeneration”, said Eric Tremblay from EcolePolytechniqueFédérale de Lausanne in Zurich, who pioneered the invention.
AMD is the most common cause of blindness in people aged over 50 and affects more than 600,000 people in the UK.
Matthew Athey, RNIB Eye Health Information Service Manager, warned that the invention should be tested more widely, though he added that the hands-free aspect of the invention was significant. He added: “It’s useful not to have to use hands for magnifying.”
Find out more about the new contact lenses
Visit aas.epfl.ch
Find out more about AMD and other eye conditions
Visit rnib.org.uk/eye-health
or call the RNIB Helpline on 0303 123 9999.
Your voice: winners of this year’s members’ writing competition
Find out who won this year’s annual members writing competition – the theme was crime!
We asked you to get your criminal thinking caps on this year to send us your short stories with a crime theme. We were pleased to receive 35 entries and would like to thank everybody who took part. Everyone who entered will soon receive a copy of their story, read by a volunteer.
We’d also like to thank our judging panel. Our judges included: Chris Simms, author of the DI Spicer series; Michael Williams, journalist and bestselling author of a selection of books about railways and the media, and Doug Walker, winner of last year’s competition.
Congratulations to the three winners
1.The winner is Allan Mabert with “The Great Euro Bake-Off”. A twisted tale of anger, resentment and jealousy!
2.In second place is Henry Shanks with “Nothing But”. A tense courtroom drama.
3. In third place is “The Undertaker” by Mary McClelland. Old grudges are settled in a funeral parlour.
Our winners will each receive a special CD with their story read by professional talking book narrators. Extracts are published in your Vision magazine; and the full stories feature on Vision’s free podcast . There will also be a special programme and podcast on RNIB’s Insight Radio.
Our winner: Allan Mabert
“This was my first step into creative writing, I was totally surprised to win!”
Our winner is Allan Mabert, 64, from, Essex. Allan, who has been blind from birth, based his story on The BBC1 baking competition, The Great British Bake Off, to give readers a familiar background so that the stage would be set and he wouldn’t need too many words to couch the story in.
“The crime theme interested me as I listen to a lot of crime stories on talking books. This was my first step into creative writing, so I was totally surprised to win.
At first, I walked around being Cliff, the central male character in the story and he became very real to me. Then the writing flowed and in fact the problem was that I ended up with about 2,000 words!
In terms of how I physically went about writing it - I have an accessible computer. And I still use braille as I find it very personal, very private. I kept reading it back lying in bed sometimes at night, making alterations, not liking what I’d written. At one point I even felt I was letting the character down slightly because he was more rounded than he comes across. But you have to keep going back and revising and in the end I was reasonably satisfied!”
Well the judges were more than satisfied! They praised the story for its topical theme and thought the emotions of anger, resentment and jealousy expressed in the quotation from Shannon L Alder were very well worked into the plot. Chris Simms added that it was an: “effective portrayal of the lead character's mounting paranoia and a nice twist at the end.”
Do you recognise some of The Great British Bake-Off in Allan’s writing?
The Great Euro bake-off
“Anger, resentment and jealousy doesn’t change the heart of others – it only changes yours.” (Shannon L Alder)
Cliff was very pleased about his wife’s success, of course he was. Things had changed over the last few months but resent the changes? No of course not.
However, the fun when it all started was gone, he felt he was an onlooker to Mel’s exciting exotic life now and his was flattening out. He thought back to the beginning when he and Mel had driven off to the first heats of the contest in their old Fiesta, it was just what he needed after facing the shock of redundancy, gave him a purpose and Mel an outlet from the boredom of her job as an accounts clerk.
He had always known she was a good cook, his waistline was proof enough of that, he gave her ideas for cakes and baking and she magicked them into existence.
He wasn't in the least bit surprised when she won the local heats, went on to triumph in the regional round and finally made the last 12 in the national, televised contest.
How could he be resentful, ridiculous to even think it, but that twinkling, egotistical ‘judge’ Carl Greenwood was proving to be a real fly in the ointment.
There was no escaping him now, Mel had won the national contest, bit of a surprise to him, but of course he never let her know that it all felt like it was running away from him and he was being pushed into the shadows, how would anybody like to be referred to as ‘the husband’ and never addressed by their own name.
Now Mel was going to represent Britain in the European final, he couldn't be prouder of her but it did mean their holiday to Cornwall would be cancelled and he was so looking forward to that, still can’t make an omelette without cracking eggs and all that.
In second place: Henry Shanks
“Winning this prize means I might still have a future despite my age and despite my disability.”
In his story, Henry, 84, from Lanark, Scotland, imagined a woman with sight loss who has been attacked and then has to identify her assailant in a courtroom.
“After I retired around 12 years ago, my ambition was to take up creative writing. I won a couple of competitions quickly but then sight loss intervened and I thought it had put an end to my writing ambitions. That’s why I’m doubly delighted to have won a prize in this RNIB competition because it means that perhaps I might still have a future despite my age and despite my disability.
I was a court lawyer for about 50 years, so I decided to draw on that personal experience for this crime story. The main character of the story is a retired lady with sight loss – Janet Laird – and it was easier to identify and write about a lady in this situation. When she is mugged, Janet can’t see the assailant clearly but has a strong smell from his breath. She is then very anxious about identifying him in court, due to her sight loss.
As I’m partially sighted, I found a way to write my story out on large A4 sheets of paper, about three sentences to a page. I then use a king size keyboard with giant letters on my computer to edit – I can’t read 12 point font at all. And winning the second prize has been a real confidence boost!”
The judges thought this story was very well written. Last year’s competition winner, Doug Walker particularly identified with this character. He said: “Janet Laird's anxiety about the court case, her nervous fingering of her gloves and her silent weeping after the hearing were very well expressed. As someone with sight loss and a main witness for the prosecution, I could certainly empathise with her situation.”
Nothing But
Miss Janet Laird had thought that when she retired from teaching her life would be free of stress. But here she was lying awake at night, dreading the next day.
Not that this situation had been of her making. It was all because of that young thug. She would never forget that morning in the supermarket car park, in broad daylight too. Then there had been all those police procedures. Even the video identity parade The “VIPER” system. What a strange name! But at least she could manage to pick out that young hooligan from the parade of faces on the screen.
But how will I get on tomorrow in court?
How did that oath go again...?
“I swear by almighty God that I shall tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?”