RNIB - Supporting People with Sight Loss

RNIB - Supporting People with Sight Loss

July 2016 Connect Magazine

Speakers:

NB:Nicky Barringer

PC:Padma Cheryan

VH:Vidar Hjardeng

AS:Alec Sabin

AP:Annalisa Page

BS:Bill Skipworth

HP:Hussein Patwa

AH:Anne Hornsby

AJ:Anne Jones

SN:Sally Nigell-White

AR:Alan Russell

KS:Kevin Satizabal

LA:Lindsay Armstrong

SR:Shadeen Rose

KW:Kim Woods

Introduction

VH:Hello and welcome to the July edition of Connect, your new community magazine. I’m Vidar Hjardeng, and like many of you listening, I’m registered blind. I’m also an RNIB Trustee, and wearing the day-job hat, I currently lead on diversity for ITV News. I also have the pleasure, at the moment, of chairing the national audio Description Association, and more about that later on in the programme.

During the next 30 minutes, we’ve got an interesting and engaging mix of news and features, of what’s going on in the sight-impaired sector and particularly here at RNIB, so without further ado, let’s hand over to resident presenters, Alec and Nicky, to tell you more.

NB:Thank you, Vidar, and how lovely it is to hear your voice again. We’ll be hearing more from Vidar again, later in the programme.

AS:Yes, and this is Connect magazine, which goes out to members of the RNIB Connect community across the UK, and brings together everyone affected by sight loss, and that means you, people close to you, and your supporters.

NB:And this, the audio version of Connect magazine, is doing just that, through sharing voices, experiences, stories and tips from our community. Perhaps you have a story to share too – well, stay tuned for details of how to get involved.

AS:I’m Alec Sabin.

NB:And I’m Nicky Barringer.

AS:And coming up – if you think that you’ll just never get your head around the likes of Twitter and Facebook – well, think again.

NB:Because one tech-savvy member has put together a simple guide on how to get started in the world of social media.

AS:Also in this edition, we all know how important audio description is, but did you know that there hasn’t been a meeting of minds on the subject for almost 20 years?

NB:Well, a conference has just taken place in Birmingham. It was chaired by our own Vidar Hjardeng, whom we heard from just now, and he’ll be bringing us the latest news with the help of RNIB Connect Radio.

AS:In this month’s Your Voice, we’ll be bringing you the remarkable story of a man who developed the ability to compose music after losing his sight.

NB:We also speak to a community member, Hussain, about the ways he’s involved in the community and the variety of ways that you can get involved too.

AS:That’s along with the usual mix of news and stories that you won’t find anywhere else. So, stay tuned.

NB:All that and more, as they say, coming up in the July edition of Connect magazine.

News

AS:RNIB is launching video and radio activity to help the public understand how many in the community have useful but lower levels of vision. It’s a common belief that sight loss is a black and white issue – you can either see or you can’t.

NB:And it’s hoped that the new video – released next month in August – will help to clear up some general misconceptions. Annalisa Page, who is helping us develop the project, says she regularly has to explain her level of sight to people.

AP:I haven’t yet worked out a way to use my cane and push my son in his buggy at the same time, so when I have my son in his buggy, I don’t use my cane, and when I don’t have him with me, I do use my cane. So for example, the lollipop man we pass on our way to school gets really confused – he doesn’t really understand why half the time I’m using my cane and half the time I’m not. I think quite a few of the mums on the school run don’t really understand what on Earth’s going on with me and my site issue. So yeah, I think there is definitely space for a better understanding of partial sight.

NB:Blind and partially sighted train travellers can now independently navigate their way around more UK railway stations, thanks to the arrival of new tactile maps. RNIB worked closely with Virgin Trains to help it become the first train company to install RNIB Maps for All in stations it manages on the East Coast route from Berwick to Peterborough. The maps provide key information such as the location of platforms, toilets, shops and cafés. They use a mix of raised large print, Braille and tactile symbols – something blind train traveller KawalKakungulu really appreciates.

AS:Former RNIB chairman Ken Reid is taking on a tandem cycling challenge to raise money for talking books. Ken, from Berwick, plans to cover 750 miles around all four capital cities of the UK to mark the 30th anniversary of losing his sight. He has the eye condition retinitis pigmentosa. Ken’s trip starts in Edinburgh on Friday, 29 July and finishing in London on Friday, 12 August. You can support him by donating at justgiving.com/cycle75 or send a text message to donate via your mobile phone – text CCLE75 £5 to 70070.

NB:Best of luck, Ken.

AS:An RNIB Connect community member has been campaigning for a navigation system for her local shopping centre in Milton Keynes. Padma Cheryan, volunteer campaign coordinator and RNIB Connect community member, has secured funding for the first step in getting a beacon system installed at Centre MK. It’s hoped this system would help people with sight loss to shop independently, by alerting them to which shop they’re passing. Padma hopes her campaign, along with support from other blind and partially sighted people, will convince the management to make the move.

PC:The next step is to get permission from the Centre MK management to hold a demonstration and we are going to film it, show it to the prospective funders for installation of the beacon system throughout the shopping centre.

AS:RNIB Charity Trustee elections. Are you registered to vote?

NB:This year, blind and partially sighted RNIB Connect members living in the UK and aged 16 and over will be eligible to vote for RNIB Charity Trustees.

AS:Three trustees will be elected when voting takes place later this year. This is your chance to influence the governance of RNIB charity, but you can’t vote without registering.

NB:And there are lots of ways to register to vote, and you will have heard from us in June by post or email. You can also speak to the Connect team on 0303 1234555 or register online at rnib.org.uk/rnibtrustees.

AS:By Friday, 29 July 2016.

Your Voice

AS:You’re listening to the July edition of RNIB’s Connect magazine.

NB:And now it’s time for Your Voice.

AS:This is the section where you tell us what’s been on your mind – it could be advice that you’d like to share with other community members, something you’ve discovered lately, or you might just want to share your story.

NB:Like Bill, for example, who got in touch to tell us about the remarkable change that came about in him after losing his sight 12 years ago.

BS:Hello. My name is Bill Skipworth and I’m 62 years of age, and I live in Sheffield. And I began to lose my sight from the age of 36 after a dose of flu, which is hard to believe, but it’s true, and I do struggle a bit with lots of everyday things. In fact, just recently, I didn’t see a kerb and fell awkwardly and I broke my foot. But the strange thing that happened to me was I learnt the piano when I was a child and I was a reasonable pianist, but the trigger seemed to be when my right eye went completely blind when I was 50 – I suddenly found if I heard a tune on the radio, I could pick it out, give me a bit more time and I could harmonise it, and if you gave me a week, I could play it about 25 different ways. I developed what’s called synaesthesia, which means that all the keys on the piano to me are like a colour and also trigger an emotion – like the key of C to me is light, pure light or bright yellow, and it also gives a feeling of innocence, child-likeness, and joy as well. And like the key of F, it’s full of love – it’s a very sort of loving key, and every single key on the piano to me comes across as a colour. I’ve now moved into composition. I mean, this has been going on for about 12 years.

A bit like an artist, I sort of think, ‘I’d like a bit of yellow here, I’ll put a bit of green here, a bit of blue.’ And the strange thing is – I mean, most people moan about the negativity of sight loss, but in my case it’s a bit like – if you get a plant, some aromatic plants and you crush the leaves, then you’re actually damaging them, but this wonderful aroma comes out and that’s what I feel has happened to me. Although my eyesight has been crushed, it’s caused something different to come out. You know, I sometimes think to myself – ‘Well, if all this was taken away, this new ability was taken away and you got your sight back, would you?’ – and I see that as a difficult question, because it is fantastic to be able to do this stuff on the piano.

AS:And our thanks to Bill from Sheffield for sharing his story with us.

NB:And next, let’s hear from Hussein Patwa from Aberdeen about his involvement in the new RNIB Connect community. He also has advice about how you can take part as well.

HP:Hello, I’m Hussein Patwa. I’m from Aberdeen, and I’ve been a member of RNIB Connect since it launched in February 2016. I’m also a member of the Connect Communications Panel, which helps to shape the way the Connect magazine and other Connect communications go out, and helps members like me and you share their voices across the country.

RNIB Connect is a community bringing together members, campaigners, volunteers and their family, friends, supporters and local societies together, to share views, campaign for change, and help one another to achieve our best in life.

RNIB Connect also offers members the chance to take part in regional events and to have a hand in shaping them, to do the activities that they wish to do together.

The online Connect area allows me to share discussions with other members, and also to see the latest on what’s going on in my local area, news from RNIB, and where there’s links to other organisations and charities that can help. The Communications Panel gives the opportunity to create your own articles, posts or recordings on any topic you wish, that you can then share with the whole Connect community. Become involved with RNIB Connect in any way you wish and choose to receive as much or as little information as you like. I’ve found it to be really rewarding thus far. To join RNIB Connect, simply contact the RNIB Connect team or speak to your local Connect representative.

NB:Thanks to Hussein for sharing how you can contribute to your community. Both Bill and Hussein will receive a Sonic music player for taking part in this month’s Your Voice. And if you have a story to share in Your Voice, you can email or speak to your Connect team on 0303 1239999.

The first audio description conference of the century

NB:There are many gadgets and services which make the lives of blind and partially sighted people a little bit easier.

AS:But the one thing that ties pretty much everyone together is audio description.

NB:Indeed. It provides a cultural connection for so many of you, so let’s find out what’s emerging in this all-important field.

AS:Well, for the first time in 20 years, some of the top names in audio description got together to discuss the future.

NB:Vidar Hjardeng, who was chair of the conference in Birmingham, tells us more.

VH:Thanks, Nicky. Audio description is really useful if you’re blind or partially sighted – it basically describes to you the overtly visual dimension of a TV programme, a theatre production, ballet or other arts event of that type. So it’s hugely important and it helps all of us who have some degree of sight loss to keep up with the story.

Alan Russell from RNIB’s Connect Radio was at the event, and here’s his report.

AR:This year’s conference was organised by Anne Hornsby from Mind’s Eye Arts.

AH:The audio description association has been going since 1997, I think, and we exist to promote audio description. We are a registered charity and everyone who work on the executive does it voluntarily. So the challenge for the day really is to discuss good practice in terms of attracting audiences.

AR:ITV’s Vidar Hjardeng was chairing this year’s event.

VH:You know, when I think back, audio description has revolutionised my own enjoyment and appreciation of the arts generally, and in particular the theatre, which is my own preferred artistic form – so whether that’s in terms of a play or a musical or opera, or increasingly, latterly, ballet, which was something I thought I would necessarily appreciate, other than the music. So audio description through carefully prepared, skilfully timed scripts that are delivered by professional audio describers who can actually weave in and out of the language, the lyrics, the dialogue, with description of what is happening which is overtly visual on stage – the things that fellow sighted members of the audience would see, appreciate, be able to admire or applaud or whatever it might be, that blind and partially sighted people simply wouldn’t be able to without that spoken description.

AR:There are greater ways of delivering quality audio to the patron. One of the discussion groups was looking at some of these advances – one of the contributors was Anna Jones from RNIB.

AJ:I was talking about new technology and how new technologies can help theatres and arts venues, look at accessibility for blind and partially sighted people. One of the things we were talking about was low energy Bluetooth beacons which are beacons that speak to the Bluetooth on a smart device and can aid navigation, so navigation inside a venue with the possibilities for museums to put beacons around the museum to help people navigate around, but also then within the beacon, put descriptive material which would give somebody with sight loss additional description of perhaps an object or a painting in front of them. It does definitely give people the ability to navigate around, especially complicated buildings. The Victoria & Albert Museum in London was referred to, which has 18 split floors which would be a problem for anyone to navigate around.

AR:No, it wasn’t just professionals attending the Audio Description Association conference. There were representatives from service users as well. Sally Nigell-White told us her story.

SN:Some of the snags with audio description are that the headsets are different – some are more comfortable than others, some fit over the head and others fit behind the head. I found that in ballet, I had to alter the volume as the music was louder – I had to turn the volume up in order to hear the audio description and then, of course, with the volume turned up, the description was disturbing the other people sitting around me. I’m delighted that audio description is available, because I loved coming to the theatre as a sighted person, and I came to the theatre as my sight deteriorated, but at last I came to a production where I missed the salient points of the final act, and at that point I decided I’ve really got to investigate coming to an audio-described performance and having somebody describe to me what is going on.

AR:If you would like to find out more, if there’s perhaps audio description services in your area, then why not contact RNIB’s helpline, or you could contact your local cinema, theatre, museum or art gallery.

AS:And our thanks to Alan Russell from RNIB Connect Radio and Vidar Hjardeng for bringing us that report.

Technology

AS:Sometimes it can seem there’s a whole other world out there which you’re not part of.

NB:Yes, we’re talking about the world of social media – Twitter, Instagram, Facebook. You might just feel it’s a lot better just to put your head in the sand and pretend it doesn’t exist.

AS:Well, you shouldn’t. If used correctly, and with a bit of practice, they can really enhance your life. Here to tell us how and where to start is Kevin Satizabal, our social media guru.

KS:Hello, my name is Kevin Satizabal and I’m the online communities assistant for the Royal London Society for Blind People. I’m totally blind and I use social media at the charity to promote its events. I also write blogs for the website and news articles.

Today, I’d like to share with you my top tips on using and getting started with social media.

Social media is social, is a real great way to keep in touch with your friends and family and also to keep up-to-date with the latest news. Social media has really levelled the playing field and opened up a lot of doors for me as a blind person. In the past, everyone would always be talking about something that they’d glanced in a magazine or something that they’d seen on TV, so it was a lot of visual references that I had no access to. But now, using social media, that’s all changed.