Having shared the Facebook post about a woman with a guide dog being told by another passenger to get off a bus as her dog couldn’t be a guide dog as it wasn’t yellow (yes I know, unbelievable but sadly true) – I, Vicky, thought it might be a good time to write a blog about assistance dogs and their different roles. It also happens to coincide nicely with the book I’m currently reading called ‘Dogs with Jobs’ by Laura Greaves – about all the different roles dogs undertake.
 
Assistance Dogs UK is an umbrella organisation for 8 Assistance Dogs charities in the UK. Their roles are different and varied – just like the dogs themselves! The 8 organisations are:
·      Canine Partners
·      Dog AID
·      Dogs for Good
·      Guide Dogs
·      Hearing Dogs
·      Medical Detection Dogs
·      Support Dogs
·      The Seeing Dogs Association
 
Canine Partners (www.caninepartners.org.uk) provide dogs who assist people with physical disabilities and impairments with practical day to day tasks that may otherwise be difficult to perform. They also provide increased confidence, independence and social interaction. Their dogs wear a purple coat to identify them.
 
Dog AID (www.dogaid.org.uk) empower people with physical disabilities to train their own pet dog to assist them with daily tasks which are tailored to the individual. These dogs wear a red and fluorescent yellow coat.
 
Dogs for Good (www.dogsforgood.org) assistance dogs support adults and children with a range of disabilities and also younger children with autism. They also provide a Family Dog service that gives advice and support to help families with a child with autism get the most out of their relationship with their pet dog. In addition they train and support community dogs and their specialist handlers to work in activity and therapy in communities and schools. Their trained dogs wear a green coat.
 
Guide Dogs (www.guidedogs.org.uk) provide dogs who will guide adults and young people who are blind or partially sighted. Qualified guide dogs wear a white harness with yellow fluorescent strips.
 
Hearing Dogs (www.hearingdogs.org.uk) provide dogs for adults and children with a hearing impairment. These dogs are trained to alert deaf people to sounds they would otherwise miss, such as doorbells, alarm clocks, fire alarms etc. Qualified hearing dogs wear a burgundy jacket.
 
Medical Detection Dogs (www.medicaldetectiondogs.org.uk) have dogs that are trained to detect the odour of human disease. This is used both for Bio Detection dogs and also Medical Alert Assistance Dogs who support people with complex health conditions and use minute odour changes in a person to alert them to take preventative action. They wear a red coat.
 
Support Dogs (www.supportdogs.org.uk) are dedicated to increasing independence and quality of life for people with various medical conditions. They have 3 specific programmes: Autism Assistance Dogs for young children, Seizure Alert dogs for people with epilepsy and Disability Assistance Dogs. Their trained dogs wear a blue coat.
 
The Seeing Dogs Alliance (www.seeingdogs.org.uk)
Training dogs to guide blind and partially sighted people. Qualified dogs wear a yellow coat.
 
As you can tell from this list, assistance dogs’ breeds and roles are widely different and varied. However, all qualified assistance dogs can be identified by the coats or harnesses they wear when working which, although different colours all have the name of the organisation clearly shown too. These assistance dogs shouldn’t be disturbed when working so please don’t stroke or feed them. If they are relaxing, then you can ask the owner if it’s okay to say hello to the dog.
 
Legally guide dog and assistance dog owners have important rights under the Equality Act 2010 (EA). This Act ensures people with disabilities to have the same right to public services as everyone else.
This includes taxis and minicabs unless the driver has a medical exemptions certificate from their GP. And yes, this law applies whatever the colour of the assistance dog!!
 
In the past there have been negative comments on social media about these dogs being trained to be slaves, all I can say in response to that is that Dave’s guide dog, Errol always looked so proud to wear his harness, standing up straighter whenever the harness was readied for him (and just for the record, Errol was a black dog – a German Shepherd crossed with a Golden Retriever). Also, Guide Dogs and I’m sure all assistance dog charities, regularly monitor the health and well being of the dog and their focus is that it has to be right for the dog, not just the owner.
 
In reading the book ‘Dogs with Jobs’ which covers a whole range of different roles that dogs undertake, from being assistance dogs, pat therapy dogs, a dog who acts (from his own choice) as a guide dog for another dog, dolphin detector dogs and a dog whose role it is to keep the Seagulls away from the Australian National Maritime Museum, I think what struck me most was each owners immense respect for what their different dogs could do. Some had been trained, but many had a natural instinct for the role they undertook. And when the dog decided it wanted a break or to stop working, then that was respected to.
 
And, just as an aside, in one of the other services Dave and I run, the Disability Equipment Service (www.disabilityequipmentservice.co.uk), we have been proud to sponsor a guide dog (aptly named Des), through the first year of his training. We have just raised enough money to do this again and will then also hope to start supporting Support Dogs too! This money is raised through kind donations of both money and disability equipment, which we then sell on to support the running costs of the website with 25% being donated to an Assistance Dog charity. Find out more about Des on our Disability Equipment Service Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/disabilityequipmentservice/. And if you want to read more about Dave’s lovely guide dog, Errol, Dave wrote a heartfelt tribute to him when he sadly passed away in June 2017 - https://vidatraining.weebly.com/blog/archives/06-2017
 
We’re always interested to know about other people’s experiences and thoughts. Please share these by commenting…
 
Interested to learn more about VIDA Training? Read about our Training and Consultancy packages, specialising in Vision Impairment and Disability Awareness, Communication and Team Building or contact us for further information.

“In December 1996 the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 21 November as World Television Day commemorating the date on which the first World Television Forum was held in 1996.” (from Wikipedia).
 
With it being World Television Day today, Wednesday 21 November, I (Dave) felt it appropriate to write about televisions and in particular how they have progressed in recent years to be much more accessible for vision impaired people. I am also considering upgrading my 13 year old Sony TV with a new, more accessible one so this VIDA Insight has become a bit of a research project at the same time! J
 
TVs have generally been poor when it comes to accessibility. Some sets used to enable you to change the contrast of the text in the menus but that was pretty much it. Panasonic worked closely with the RNIB and released a TV in 2012 that spoke the channel number and programme title when you moved through the stations but it didn’t read the full electronic programme guide (EPG). There have been a few set-top boxes that have had screen reading capabilities with the most popular being the TVonics set-top box with built-in hard drive for recording TV programmes. I actually still have one of these and it still works well and is fully accessible but they were discontinued several years ago and can now only be bought second hand. They sometimes come up on the Disability Equipment Service website (www.disabilityequipmentservice.co.uk) – another service that Vicky and I run and also via places like eBay.
 
However, things are progressing and there are now several TV manufacturers that are selling TVs with built-in screen reading facilities. I’ve yet to go to a store to test them out but, from digging around on the internet and from listening to podcasts, know that some are now available.
 
I’m not going to go in to too much detail in this blog as it would just go on and on and on…. So I’ll mention below some of the leading manufacturers and provide a direct link to their website where you can read more information about their particular accessibility features. They are in no particular order and I’m not in a position to recommend one, however, as a Sony fan I will be looking at their range to see how good it is. It will need to be very good as the features offered on the Samsung TV’s appear to be very impressive.
 
Sony – offer 3 main accessibility features that they are calling:
·      Vision Assist - Easy to see / convert to sound -
·      Hearing Assist - Easy to hear / convert to text -
·      Action Assist - Easy to use / support operation -
https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/accessibility/
 
Samsung – Have included a range of features including Voice Guide, Audio Description, High Contrast, Enlarge, Colour Inversion and Greyscale. They also have a few features for people with a hearing impairment as well as very smart learning tools including Learn Remote and Learn Menu.
https://www.samsung.com/uk/accessibility/tv/
 
Android – There is now a screen reader called Voiceview available on smart TV’s running the Android operating system as well as on the Amazon Fire Stick. Similar to the above, Voiceview will read aloud screen menus, programme information, etc.
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT205454
 
Apple TV – All Apple products now have a built-in screen reader called Voiceover. This is also the case for the Apple TV 4K and the Apple TV set-top box - you can navigate all of the menus without seeing the screen.
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT205454
 
Panasonic – Although Panasonic have sold TVs with voice guidance since 2012, I can’t find any information about their newer TVs doing much more. Voice Guidance reads the on-screen text (channel and programme title) and volume levels but doesn’t read the full EPG. Sadly I couldn’t find a quick link to the Voice Guidance on the Panasonic website as it wasn’t that accessible with my screen reader and a Google search didn’t reveal much other than stories from 2012 when the Vieira range of talking TVs was launched!
 
In addition to surfing the internet, I have listened to a few podcasts about accessible TVs. The best ones were from the RNIB’s Tech Talk podcast. RNIB Tech Talk is a podcast and radio show (RNIB Connect Radio) for vision impaired people who are interested in accessible technology.
 
There have been discussions about accessible TVs recently on episodes 242, 243 and 249 during the weekly 1 hour Tech Talk programmes hosted by Steven Scott, Shaun Preece and Tim Schwart. They were talking about the Sony and the Samsung in particular and went in to some detail about how some are better than others when it comes to accessibility of the apps on smart TVs.
 
You can listen to all of the RNIB Tech Talk podcasts at:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/rnib-tech-talk/id1151878596?mt=2
 
We’re always interested to know about other people’s experiences and thoughts. Please share these by commenting…
 
Interested to learn more about VIDA Training? Read about our Training and Consultancy packages, specialising in Vision Impairment and Disability Awareness, Communication and Team Building or contact us for further information.
​

Queen Alexandra College (QAC) are once again bringing their Sight Village exhibition to London.
 
QAC say “The Roadshow allows visitors to come and find out more about the latest technology, equipment and support services available to people who are blind or partially-sighted. If you or a family member have a visual impairment it could be of great help to visit the show. We also welcome a wide range of professionals that support people with visual impairments and businesses looking to better meet the needs of their employees and customers.”
 
Vicky and I already have pre-registered and will be attending on Tuesday 6th November. We had a great time last year, meeting many of the exhibitors and updating ourselves on the latest equipment and services available for vision impaired people and we’re hoping to do the same again this year. Of particular interest to us, AIRA will be present this year and with this service about to roll out in the UK, it will be good to see first-hand how this really works. The new OrCam is also meant to be a great device so it’ll be interesting to see this compared to last year’s version.
 
If you’re heading to the exhibition on Tuesday 6th November then keep a look out for Vicky and I; we’ll have our VIDA shirts on so will be relatively easy to spot for most of you!
 
The exhibition specifics…
 
Date & Times
Tuesday 6 November, 10:00 – 17:00
Wednesday 7 November, 10:00 – 15:30
 
Venue
The Kensington Town Hall, Hornton Street, W8 7NX.
 
Food & Drink
Refreshments are available for purchase throughout the event.
 
 
For more information about the exhibition and to pre-register, visit: http://www.qac.ac.uk/exhibitions/sight-village-southeast/3.htm
 
We’re always interested to know about other people’s experiences and thoughts. Please share these by commenting…
 
Interested to learn more about VIDA Training? Read about our Training and Consultancy packages, specialising in Vision Impairment and Disability Awareness, Communication and Team Building or contact us for further information.

I’m (Dave) very much a realist when it comes to my sight and live each day as best I can using the limited sight that I have. I’m regularly asked if there is any treatment or operations that I could have to improve or restore my sight and my simple answer to these questions is ‘No, not really’.
 
However, I have spoken to my consultant at Moorfields about the research in to my condition (Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP)) and have had discussions about retina implants and in particular the Argus II ‘bionic eye’ developed by American company Second Sight Medical Products, as this is the most advanced treatment currently available for RP in particular.
 
“Surgeons at Manchester and Moorfields Eye Hospital made history by delivering the world’s first trial of the Argus II Bionic Eye implants in RP. Specialists at both Hospitals initially supported early studies, which demonstrated that the Argus II restores a degree of visual function to patients who have suffered complete blindness due to the condition.” (https://www.england.nhs.uk/2016/12/bionic-eye-surgery/)
 
Currently my small amount of vision is probably better than what I would get from the Argus II and I don’t have to wear camera glasses or charge batteries, etc. so this treatment isn’t on my radar just yet. However, I do believe that there might be a light at the end of the tunnel (I couldn’t help myself with this pun) either via a bionic eye or with stem cell treatments.
 
A story broke recently that pricked my interest about a bionic eye that had been printed using a 3D printer. I read an article on the Daily Mail website that covered the story quite well…
 
“Scientists have taken another important step towards building the world's first bionic eye, which could give millions of blind people the chance to see again.
 
In a world first, a team of researchers have built a three-dimensional artificial 'eyeball' capable of detecting changes in light levels.
 
The bionic eye, which mimics the function of the retina in order to restore sight, works in tandem with an implant to convert the images it sees into electrical impulses for the retinal cells, which carry image signals back to the brain.
 
By using 3D printing, scientists were able to produce the prototype much faster than previous efforts – sparking hope this could be a viable commercial solution in the future. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6109589/One-step-closer-creating-worlds-bionic-EYE-Scientists-3D-print-prototype-eyeball.html).”
 
It is the 3D printing that took my interest in particular and the ability to print light detecting electrodes on a curve. I remember attending an exhibition in London 6 or 7 years ago that showcased 3D printing and what you could do using this new technology. Items ranged from candle stick holders and small ornaments to remote control cars through to some pretty cool stuff like personalised printed electric guitars and drum kits. Back then they were talking about 3D printing being available in the home in 10 – 20 years with the future being that you’ll be able to download a template and print your own parts – circuit boards for washing machines for example. I certainly didn’t think back then that this technology, particularly in such a short time period, would be printing a bionic eye or could be the answer to restoring my sight!
 
As I mentioned at the beginning, I am a realist and am not expecting my vision to be restored before I die, however, I am excited by this kind of developments as it demonstrates that work is being done and there could be hope, if not for me, for people in the future.
 
We’re always interested to know about other people’s experiences and thoughts. Please share these by commenting…
 
Interested to learn more about VIDA Training? Read about our Training and Consultancy packages, specialising in Vision Impairment and Disability Awareness, Communication and Team Building or contact us for further information.

I, Dave, have decided to write a sensible Insight for National Eye Health Week. There are no jokes in this one as this is a serious subject and one that you should take note of.
 
I have been registered blind now for 21 years. I have 2 conditions that have caused the deterioration to my eye sight; these are Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) and Retinal Telangiectasia. Both of these are inherited eye conditions that I had when I was born but, due to the nature of them, they weren’t detected and diagnosed until I was 16.
 
As a child growing up, I thought that my sight was ‘normal’. I went through main stream schools, rode a bike, played video games (on an old Atari console for those that remember these), enjoyed playing sports and games with friends and all the other ‘normal’ things that kids did back then. I was never a strong reader but could read newspapers and magazines and I remember having extra bright lights on my bike to do my morning paper-round as I used to find riding my bike in the dark pretty difficult. Once I was diagnosed, I realised that reading and riding my bike in the dark (not together as this would have been stupid) were probably more difficult for me due to my sight conditions.
 
During the past 21 years, I have had many discussions with my eye consultants at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London about prevention and what I can do to slow the deterioration of my sight down. Ultimately there wasn’t anything that I could do to stop it but I was advised that the following would help:
 

• A Healthy Diet; this should include lots of green vegetables, oily fish (which I really don’t like) and fruit; basically anything that contains lots of vitamins
• Drinking Water – they suggested that adults should drink around 2 litres a day. Eyes require lots of water (keeping your body hydrated) to remain healthy
• Vitamin & Omega 3 Supplements – These were suggested if my diet wasn’t including them
• Avoiding High Contact Sports and  G-Forces – This was to prevent any further damage being caused to my retinas; they particularly mentioned avoiding playing rugby, boxing and things like rollercoaster rides at theme parks and head banging at raves!
• Not smoking – there were/are some strong links with smoking causing or affecting sight conditions as well as it being unhealthy for you
• Wearing Sunglasses – with RP particularly, the sun can cause the sight condition to deteriorate more quickly. Wearing good quality sunglasses will help prevent unnecessary damage to the rods and cones on the retina as well as making bright days more tolerable by reducing glare.

 
I attend Moorfields approximately twice a year depending on whether there are any changes to my sight that have to be checked more frequently. During these examinations they check the eye pressures and my general eye health to ensure that nothing else is about to kick off.
 
My sight loss is due to the for mentioned conditions, however, there are some sight conditions that can occur at any time such as Glaucoma, Macular Degeneration and Cataracts. These conditions can be treated quickly if detected early and this is why everyone should have a sight test at least every 2 years.
 
A sight test doesn’t just check to see whether you need glasses for reading, they look for any signs of change. Usually they will take a photo of your retina and then use these photos to compare at your next visit. In addition, other conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure can be detected from a simple eye test.
 
I really can’t stress enough how important your sight is. My sight loss isn’t avoidable but yours could be. Please do your best to keep your eyes healthy and REMEMBER to have your eyes tested every 2 years. If you notice any changes in-between these tests go back and get them checked out; the earlier something is detected the more likely it can be treated or prevented from getting much worse.
 
Don’t delay, book today!
 
Vicky: Not much to add to this blog, just that both of my parents had their sight conditions diagnosed only through their routine optician check ups – my Mum found out she has AMD (Age Related Macular Degeneration) and my Dad has Glaucoma. Neither had recognised any deterioration in their sight prior to these visits but both have since had further checks, advice and treatment as well as regular monitoring. So, please do make that appointment to the opticians even if you have no need for glasses and then keep going regularly!
 
We’re always interested to know about other people’s experiences and thoughts. Please share these by commenting…
 
Interested to learn more about VIDA Training? Read about our Training and Consultancy packages, specialising in Vision Impairment and Disability Awareness, Communication and Team Building or contact us for further information.

Following on from Dave’s blog last week, I (Vicky) thought it would be good to mention again the RNIB’s set of mini films called #HowISee – available on Social Media, YouTube and also on their website - https://www.rnib.org.uk/rnibconnect/how-i-see. These are short films by people with vision impairments talking about the way their vision impairment specifically affects them. It also attempts to change some of the misperceptions people have about vision impairments.
 
Whilst reading Dave’s blog prior to posting, I was reminded of Jen Pearlstein’s article on The Mighty - https://themighty.com/2017/06/when-people-say-they-forget-about-my-disability/#_=_desribes which details how she now doesn’t find it a compliment when people forget she has a vision impairment and actually finds it offensive when they could assume it is. It’s a really interesting article and well worth a read. It also outlines to me 2 important things:
 
Firstly, a very common theme from our training about how everyone is different. Get to know someone or ask them rather than making assumptions. So, as in the case of this article, as a sighted person, don’t assume that a vision impaired person would want to be thought of as sighted – that may be your viewpoint but one they don’t share.
 
And secondly, that it can be a fine line between supporting someone appropriately who has a vision impairment versus only registering that person as someone with a vision impairment or ignoring their vision impairment completely. As Jen says in the article, ‘although it is flattering that [her colleague] does not see me as defined by my disability, my vision loss is a core piece of my identity that impacts how I live my life.’
 
So, to highlight this within our own VIDA training partnership and our other working roles, I couldn’t ‘forget’ that Dave is blind and walk off not sight guiding him in an unfamiliar place. However, I also acknowledge that he is taller than me and so can reach things for me and is also stronger and therefore better at, for example, lifting our training suitcases out of the car. I might need to give directional prompts for these things to be achieved successfully but although Dave’s vision impairment is an important element of his life and impacts how we work together, there are other factors about both of us that we need to take into account too. If you’re interested to read about this further, we recently published a post entitled ‘Playing to our strengths’, which was our Insight at the beginning of this month - No. 70.
 
We’re always interested to know about other people’s experiences and thoughts. Please share these by commenting…
 
Interested to learn more about VIDA Training? Read about our Training and Consultancy packages, specialising in Vision Impairment and Disability Awareness, Communication and Team Building or contact us for further information.
 

Back in September last year, I wrote an Insight called What can you see for Eye Week - http://vidatraining.weebly.com/blog/22-what-can-you-see-eyeweek that tries to explain what I can see (although it’s very hard to give an explain – think about how you would describe what you can see). I wanted to follow up that Insight with something similar but this one is more about how people perceive me and my blindness.
 
It doesn’t happen quite as much nowadays probably due to me being a bit more ‘obviously’ blind. I get sight guided or use a white cane to get around, usually have my sunglasses on and regularly bump in to things or need extra help to complete tasks. However, I still sometimes surprise people by what I can do or still can see.
 
Being registered blind doesn’t mean that you can’t see anything; in fact statistics state that only about 4% of people have no sight with these people usually having their eyes removed and/or having prosthetic eyes. In fact, even if you have no light perception, often you still see something. A BBC Ouch blog about David Rose, a blind journalist entitled “Do blind people really experience complete darkness?” (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-ouch-31487662) helps explain this and, although 3 years old, is still very relevant.
 
David Rose describes the flashes and fireworks as ‘Visual Tinnitus’ which I think is a great description. I am in this camp, I still can see when it is light and dark; I can see lights in the ceiling and I can see flickering images if I look closely at the TV. However, this is all very blurred and behind a load of rapidly flashing white dots and green swirls. As with David, these don’t go away when I close my eyes or bury my head under the duvet, they’re always there.
 
So, it still surprises people that I can bend down and pick up a coin that I’ve dropped, do the ironing or wash the car. I can do these things but I do them differently than a sighted person would. I use my other senses more, so for example, I feel the paintwork when washing the car and use my ears to listen to wear something has dropped so that I have an idea of where to start feeling to find it. Ironing is slightly different, obviously I don’t touch the iron as that would be stupid, but I do feel where I have ironed and work in a methodical way so that I don’t iron in creases (well I don’t think I do anyway).
 
An advantage to using my other senses to do tasks is that I don’t need the light on to do it. I can wash the car in the dark and regularly end up ironing in the dark without even noticing that the room has gone dark due to the sun going down. I rarely put lights on in the house so shower, shave and dress in the dark and I’ve even made breakfast for the children in the dark forgetting that they can see and would probably prefer the lights on!
 
I’m not saying that life is easy without sight, it isn’t. However, it doesn’t stop me from doing normal things; it just means that I might do them differently and am usually much slower at doing them. Obviously there are things that I can’t do or find really difficult such as driving, painting and decorating and knowing whether something is stained following a spillage. I also find dusting and window cleaning difficult due to not seeing whether I’ve removed the dust or just moved it around (I also tend to knock things over or have to remove everything from the shelf before I dust so it takes ages!) or have left smeary windows.
 
My life is about finding new strategies or solutions to achieving everyday tasks. Perhaps you can take some time to think about how you might do things if you couldn’t see… try it, and see how your other senses take over.
 
We’re always interested to know about other people’s experiences and thoughts. Please share these by commenting…
 
Interested to learn more about VIDA Training? Read about our Training and Consultancy packages, specialising in Vision Impairment and Disability Awareness, Communication and Team Building or contact us for further information.