 Firstly, happy UN International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD).
This year’s theme is ‘Building Back Better: toward a disability-inclusive, accessible and sustainable post COVID-19 World’. So what better day to announce that Dave and I (Vicky) as VIDA Training, along with a colleague, Gary Eady of Gary Eady Computer Training, are proud to be leading Phase 2 of TAVIP’s (Technology Association of Visually Impaired People) Inclusive Employment Project, developing a training and mentoring programme to support people with vision impairments into employment. With the alarming statistic that three quarters of blind people of working age are unemployed, we are very aware that things need to change. This phase of the project is focussing on the development of a training and mentoring programme specifically for people with vision impairments and provide them with the knowledge, skills and confidence to be better placed to secure employment. Last year TAVIP, formerly British Computer Association of the Blind (BCAB), carried out phase one of the project that consisted of a survey that was circulated to vision impaired people as an exercise to establish what their experiences were with finding work, retaining work and what support was missing. Building on the results from phase one of the project and to ensure we build this training and mentoring programme to be as effective as possible for blind and partially sighted people, we would like to find out what the current employment and technology experiences are of people with vision impairments. We would therefore really appreciate it if you would answer the following questions either by adding a comment to this post or, if you prefer, by emailing us at training@vidatraining.co.uk 1. If you are currently working, what is your role and which software packages do you use? For example, I am an Administrator who uses JAWS in conjunction with Microsoft word and excel. 2. Have you received specific IT Training? If so, what was this for and who provided it? Was it helpful? 3. Who or where do you turn to for additional support regarding technology? 4. Who or where do you turn to for additional support relating to work issues? Going forwards, we recognise that this is a two way street and that employers need to also be involved in this process if things are going to change. For example, one of the main problems raised by people answering TAVIP’s initial survey was about the lack of accessibility of in-house technologies. To help employer’s begin to understand and appreciate the problems that people with vision impairments (and other disabilities) face, and to make a start on being more open and inclusive around disabilities, we thought we would share some great resources and webinars. These are: Microlink have produced a free guide, providing links to a range of resources and tools to test the accessibility of your websites and mobile platforms for disabled people. Find out more on the Microlink website. There are also a range of webinars available to employers, all designed to provide practical help and support on a range of key disability employment topics - https://doitprofiler.com/disabilityconfident-webinars The gov.uk website also has information about how your organisation can be more inclusive by being part of the Disability’ Confident Employment Scheme - https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/disability-confident-campaign And obviously, we at VIDA Training can also provide Awareness Training and Consultancy services to any organisations and businesses. What is clear is that to achieve the aim of ‘a disability-inclusive, accessible and sustainable world’ we really do all need to work together. 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? We provide professional, bespoke Vision Impairment and Disability Training, Consultancy and Employment Services. Please contact us for further information.
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 Are you fed up of having to navigate around vehicles that have parked inconsiderably or inappropriately on the pavement? Do you have a vision impairment, need to use a wheelchair or mobility scooter or have young children and push a buggy or push chair? If the answer to any of these questions is ‘Yes’, then we urge you to read on… I, Dave, am blind and earlier this week I walked in to a scaffolding pole that was sticking out of the back of a scaffolding truck parked blocking the pavement in my local area. This is only one example of the pavement parking problems I have faced but there have been many others and they are likely to be more if things don’t change. Therefore we are asking for your support to make a change and make the pavements a safer place for the people using them. Please help by responding to this consultation being run by Transport for London and supported by Guide Dogs (deadline 22nd November) - https://e-activist.com/page/68363/action/1?ea.tthe racking.id=email Further information about this consultation… The Department for Transport (DfT) has launched a consultation on managing pavement parking. This is a fantastic opportunity to share your views and experiences about pavement parking and influence the government to make important changes. The DfT are researching ways to address pavement parking problems and, as part of this, are already working to simplify the process for local authorities to stop people from doing it. DfT are suggesting 3 options to address the problem of pavement parking, although are not limited to these. Option 1 This involves making the process for local authorities to stop people parking on the pavement in certain areas simpler, but nothing else. Option 2 In addition to option 1, this option would allow councils to issue Penalty Charge Notices against drivers who cause an 'unnecessary obstruction of the pavement'. Option 3 (this is Guide Dogs preferred option) In addition to option 1 DfT would introduce an England-wide law to stop pavement parking. Unlike option 2 which allows local authorities to enforce individual instances of pavement parking, this would create a standard where pavement parking is not allowed anywhere in England unless the council has specifically set a local exemption. These exemptions would be allowed where there are issues like narrow streets to ensure traffic flow, and would be shown by use of traffic signs and bay markings. All of the options are further explained in the consultation document which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/managing-pavement-parking/pavement-parking-options-for-change#options Guide Dogs have been lobbying the government for many years about pavement parking. You can read more about the Guide Dog campaigns at: https://www.guidedogs.org.uk/how-you-can-help/campaigning/our-current-campaigns/streets-ahead Thanks in advance for your support. 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.  2020 has been a very strange year for sure; what would we have thought if we knew when we celebrated in the new decade that we would be fast approaching a worldwide pandemic with pretty much every country in the world going in to full lockdown to try and stem the spread of Coronavirus?
Our previous Insights have covered our various thoughts over the past few months and how social distancing in particular has had a massive impact on vision impaired people, including me, Dave, since lockdown back in March. There have been several changes to the rules and restrictions as the government try and balance kick starting the economy and getting people back to work and children back to school, with keeping the hospital admissions to a minimum. Currently, here in Surrey, although cases are on the rise, we’re still under the covid restrictions for England which follows the ‘Rule of Six’. So, is it that bad? Personally, although the continued social distancing still presents problems with independence, especially when trying to visit shops or access services due to not being able to socially distance from other people and follow 1 way systems, etc, there have been some benefits for vision impaired people and the wider disabled community. I went out with some friends for the first time since lockdown. Six of us met at a pub before moving on to the local Indian restaurant. We all followed the rules, wearing face coverings in communal areas and checked in with the NHS app (this wasn’t that easy due to needing to align the QR code in the window in the app) at both venues, and had a fun evening catching up with each other. So what are the positives I can hear you shout… how can there be any??? Well there are, in fact a few… so let me tell you … Extra Space – the extra space between tables meant that it was much easier getting around in both the pub and the restaurant. I’m not saying it was easy but it was much easier than it usually is when there are lots of tables and people to navigate. Easier to talk – with music playing at a low volume in the pub and no music in the restaurant, it made chatting so much easier. I have always found that background noise makes hearing people difficult so it was so nice being able to speak to my friends without us having to shout; I couldn’t even hear other people’s conversations on other tables and it felt like we were in the restaurant on our own. Table service – The best thing that I found was the table service. I don’t think I’m a lazy person but being served and paying at the table in the pub removed all the hassle of getting to and from the bar and carrying drinks back to the table. The restaurant has always been table service but there are some restaurants where you have to serve yourself or are ‘buffet’ style which is difficult when you can’t see… why can’t we have table service all the time! Yes we had to be out by 10pm which was an early night for us usually but it wasn’t that bad… in fact, I would be really happy if some of these measures were to stay in place even after the coronavirus times. 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.  Image from the Department of Transport Following on from our recent post ‘Travelling on public transport – the new way!’, as some people start to commute again to work, we thought it might be a good time to highlight these two social media posts written before lockdown, you know, back in the days when the trains were packed! Although it seems hard to imagine it now, I’m sure we will return to this at some point (there have certainly been some advantages to lockdown)!!
Prior to lockdown, a tweet was published by Amit Patel, regarding how he felt when no-one moved in order for him to sit down on a busy commuter train. Amit is blind and travels with a guide dog Kiki. The tweet, written as if by Kiki and on a wet, rainy day stated ‘Dad had to stand with his back against the doors whilst trying not to slip & I was sliding all over the place as the floor was wet. Have some humanity people!’ The post was met by many expressing their sympathy for Amit and calling the behaviour by his fellow commuters appalling. Dave and I (Vicky) discussed this and were surprised that no-one stood for them as this isn’t what we have experienced. In the past when travelling with Dave and other blind people, inevitably one or more people offer their seats. However, when I thought about this, they often offer their seat via me ‘Do you need a seat?’ ‘Are you alright there?’ (both said to me but looking at Dave) or ‘Would he like to sit down?’ (but giving eye contact to me). I always then refer this question to Dave or the vision impaired person I’m travelling with. Why do people ask me? I’m not sure that it’s the same as the infamous ‘Does he take sugar in his tea?’ (although we’ve plenty of examples of the equivalent of these). I think it’s more likely that on a busy train, they can catch my eye to ask me whereas they can’t necessarily do that with the person with a vision impairment and, on a packed train, wouldn’t necessarily be able to reach the blind person to let them know they were directing the question at them. We did wonder if, in this instance, people couldn’t attract Amit’s attention, or just simply didn’t know how to. Sometimes, people send the message via others, for the person nearest the blind person to touch them to ask, but this takes quite a lot of joint effort and so sometimes breaks down en route. We also wondered how obvious it was that Amit was blind – on a busy train, could those sitting down see Kiki at all? There is the unlikely scenario that those around him all also needed their seats and there simply wasn’t enough room on the busy train to accommodate everyone. And then there is of course, the other, less appealing option that maybe they were all just in a world of their own and not considering the needs of others around them. Sadly, a tweet from RNIB would seem to reflect this as statistics from the department of transport showed that 1 in 4 disabled people say negative attitudes from other passengers prevent them from using public transport. However, having read and discussed Amit’s tweet, Dave and I then read this post by Holly Scott-Gardner which was in response to Amit’s original tweet. This put another perspective on it all - https://www.facebook.com/holly.scottgardner/posts/2578515379103900 Holly (who is blind herself) writes “I get it. Standing on a busy train when you have a dog with you can be difficult. But we have a responsibility as adults to speak up and ask for what we need, rather than expecting everyone around us to know automatically. We also have to recognise that when a resource, like seats on a train, is limited we may not be the only ones who need to use it. We can't blame the public for every single thing, whilst also expecting them to treat us like adults. At what point do we start taking personal responsibility? I'm sure the guy in this article is a perfectly nice person, but when you run to the papers, or shout on Twitter, every time you don't get a seat on the train you start to lose credibility. The sad thing is he actually has a lot of support. Hear me out. It's great that people support him and want the best for him. But a lot of people are there for the outrage. They want to yell about how disgusting it is that a blind person is having to stand on the train because in their mind, of course a blind person should be sitting down. But when disabled people are working hard to change things like accessibility of the built environment suddenly those defenders of blind people go silent. Why? Because by demanding equal access, rather than "special treatment", we're forcing them to confront their views on disability. It's an interesting take isn’t it. Again Dave and I discussed this. Dave rarely accepts a seat when its offered to him as he prefers to stand. He knows where he is then in relation to the door, making it easier for getting off the train. When he did have Errol, his large guide dog, he found it easier to stand with him than try and wedge him into the seated area. But he also chooses, wherever possible, not to travel in busy commuter periods. I still think that it’s polite to offer a seat to anyone who you think might need it more than you (and that’s regardless of whether you are in a seat labelled for as a priority seat). So that might be someone older than you, pregnant, parent carrying a small child, someone with a disability or impairment or just someone who looks like their day’s gone worse than yours! And I have witnessed this happening loads on trains. However, in the same breath, we all need to respect that it may not be obvious who needs a seat and who doesn’t. And that we may offer a seat to someone who could be offended by that offer. My view there is that we can only do our best. As a non-disabled woman who’s just turned 50, with greying hair, I’ve decided not to be offended if someone offers me a seat – there will come a day when I am very grateful for it 😊 (smiley face). The Everyone’s journey campaign, lead by the Department of Transport is asking people to be mindful of their fellow passengers, and make transport more inclusive. Website: https://everyonesjourney.campaign.gov.uk/ Twitter: @transportgovuk, #ItsEveryonesJourney What do you all think? 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.  114. Lockdown Sort Out? The Disability Equipment Service may be able to help
If, like us during lockdown, you’ve used the opportunity to have a good sort out of lofts, garages and sheds, you may now have some items that you are looking to rehome…and we may be able to help 😊 As well as being partners in VIDA Training, and also having other jobs too, we (Dave and Vicky) are also partners in the Disability Equipment Service, a national website for the buying and selling of new and used disability equipment. How it Works… The website is free to use and allows people to list items that they have either for sale, for a donation and sometimes even for free. And then those that need items can search the website and hopefully find what they need for a reasonable price. If they can’t find what they need, they can also put a ‘wanted’ listing on the website. Donating items… No time to put the item onto our website? We do also accept some donated items of disability equipment. Sadly, we can’t accept everything but please do contact us to see if we can help. Once donated, we then sell these items on at a competitive price. This helps us to cover the running costs of the website (and also covers a little bit of our time although believe me we put in a lot more than we take out 😊.) Charity support… In addition, for each item that is donated and then sold by us, we put aside 25% of any profit and donate this to an assistance dog charity, currently Support Dogs. This charity provide, train and support assistance dog partnerships for people with autism, epilepsy and physical disabilities. We have already supported our first partnership between Judith and her assistance dog Fudge and are raising funds again to support a second partnership. Prior to raising funds for Support Dogs, we spent nearly 4 years raising funds to support Guide Dogs. This was a natural fit as Dave used to have a wonderful guide dog called Errol until he sadly died in service in 2017. We were proud to have named and sponsored 2 guide dog puppies through their first year of training, the first called Des after our service, and the second called Errol, in memory of Dave’s guide dog. Details about all of these dogs are available on our Facebook page. Please help us… As well as using the website itself or donating equipment direct to us, please help us share what we do by liking and sharing this Insight, by following us on Facebook (/disabilityequipmentservice) and Twitter (@DESwebsite), telling friends and family about it and promoting the service where possible. We also have postcards and posters we can send out and can provide articles for local magazines and publications. Finally, there are some features and upgrades that the website now requires to keep up with the latest browsers and mobile devices. Sadly we just can’t afford to do these without some additional help. We have therefore started a ‘Go Fund Me’ campaign where you can donate to help us with these updates as well as help to ensure that the website remains free to use for everyone going forward. Contacts… If you would like to list equipment/find out more - please visit www.disabilityequipmentservice.co.uk Or, if you want to contact us about donating equipment or for postcards/posters – please email team@disabilityequipmentservice.co.uk Or, if you would like to support our fundraising, visit GoFundMe - https://gf.me/u/yqgf3w 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.  Whilst a lot of people (us included) continue to work remotely, there will be others who need to start returning to work or travelling for other reasons. Whilst we are all still asked not to travel on public transport unless essential, for obvious reasons, a lot of people with vision impairments are unable to drive and are therefore more dependent on public transport than others. There’s a lot of info out there regarding safe travel (which can appear conflicting), so I (Vicky) thought I’d bring some of this information together, as well as us adding some of our own opinions.
Social distancing: Although the 2 metre rule is still in place, this can be reduced to 1 metre plus in situations where 2 metres isn’t possible. If you are sighted, please remember that someone with a vision impairment may not be able to gauge distance and so you may need to move out of their way. On trains and buses, it is advised that people travel side by side or behind other people, rather than facing them, where seating arrangements allow. Again, this might be difficult for a person with a vision impairment to gauge, and so speaking to that person and letting them know where there is a suitable space might be helpful. Wearing masks: The government guidelines are that masks or face coverings are compulsory on public transport. You should also wear a face covering in other enclosed spaces where it is difficult to maintain social distancing. For example, at stations, interchanges, ports and airports and in taxis and private hire vehicles. A taxi driver or private hire vehicle operator may be entitled to refuse to accept you if you do not wear a face covering. However, there are exceptions to mask wearing for the following reasons:
So our message is, if you see someone not wearing a mask they may have their reasons and these may not be obvious to you. Please be considerate with regard to this. If you are concerned for your health, then maintain your 2 metre distance where possible. Guiding: The rail companies and transport for London have been working on this and have advised their staff that ‘a layer of material may now be used as a barrier between the guide and the customer’. A recent podcast by Kaz, (who is blind), stated that staff have all been provided with plastic ‘sleeves’ that they can use for their ‘guiding arm’, although it seemed to be personal preference as to whether staff used them or not. If you need physical guiding or your route involves an escalator or lift on the London Underground then a taxi will be booked to take you to the next accessible point on your journey. In our last insight (112. Social distancing and shopping, Part 2: Being aware as a sighted person), I discussed that, as a sighted person, I would be prepared to guide a person, if we both agreed it was necessary. However, it is worth bearing in mind that other ways of assisting may be more practical, such as verbally explaining directions to someone or walking with them and talking through where you are going rather than physically guiding. When doing this, remember to avoid pointing and using such terms as ‘it’s just over there’. #WorldUpsideDown Campaign: A useful summary of how you might help as a sighted person has been put together by RNIB in their #WorldUpsideDown campaign. There is a video on Twitter (@RNIB) and also an online quiz to help others learn more https://rnib.in/WorldUpsideDownQuiz. Their campaign message is ‘Be aware, be kind and offer help if you can’. I think our message would be simpler – be considerate, and don’t be too quick to judge. These are difficult times for everyone but will have had more of an impact on some people than others. As we all try and return gradually to life as it was before, we need to be aware that this will be harder for some than for others. Other articles used for this Insight: GOV.UK – Safer travel guidance for passengers: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-safer-travel-guidance-for-passengers BBC news ‘The new way to travel if you're disabled and use access’: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/disability-52927781 The ramblings of Kaz - My first train journey since lockdown - https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8yNDRhNjBiOC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw== 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 yesterday’s post (Social distancing and shopping, part 1: What does this mean for someone with a vision impairment?), we thought it might be helpful to write from a sighted person’s perspective and include ways that you might still be able to assist someone with a vision impairment.
Vicky: So how does all of this affect those of us with sight? Since lockdown started, my life has altered a fair bit. I am now completely working from home which has its challenges but I have also become involved with several community initiatives supporting people locally. One of these roles has included food shopping regularly for people in my local area who are elderly, shielding or just need support. So, whereas before I would do a bulk food shop online once a month (topped up with regular trips to our amazing local greengrocer often on my way to work), I now find myself shopping twice a week, once in our local Tesco superstore and then once in our local village. Since lockdown, everywhere has altered to some respect. I have to say I’m really impressed with our local Tesco’s – they have marked 2 metre queuing points outside, have hand sanitiser as you enter and a clearly marked one way system on the floor. Even my local greengrocer has risen to the challenge, with them only allowing 2 people in the shop at once (more queuing outside, thank goodness for the amazing weather we’ve had) and hand sanitiser on the wall as you enter. All of these new ways of doing things are a necessity but it takes some getting used to (it still seems strange having to constantly give people a wide berth when out walking) and has raised people’s anxiety levels too. And that’s when you can see. As Dave quite rightly states, lots of shops have signs explaining their specific rules but obviously all of these are visual. And finding the hand sanitiser without sight, even if you knew it was there, would be a challenge. Often people with VI need to pick things up to take a closer look – another ‘no, no’ in this new world of ours!! When I took the photo of the hand sanitiser in the greengrocers and explained what I was writing about, they said they would obviously help someone if they needed it and more local shops have also offered delivery services. There are also lots of local initiatives using volunteers similar to the one I have joined (details of these should be available via your local council), but as Dave said in a previous blog, none of this is the same as shopping yourself. So as a sighted person what can we do? If you are out and about (in shops or elsewhere) and notice a person with an obvious vision impairment (someone using a white cane or guide dog for example), please be the one to observe social distancing. If you are near the person, a cheery hello, would be good and, if necessary, you can let them know verbally that you’re moving out of their way, just as you might visually indicate this to a sighted person. If you do think someone needs support, then the best way to do this is not much different to before. First of all, take time to observe the person rather than rushing in. If out, often the vision impaired person will know where they are going and, even though it may seem that they are walking in to buildings, this might be their strategy for knowing where they are, using building lines as navigational landmarks. If this is the case, then as a sighted person, be the one to move out of the way and maintain social distancing. If the person does genuinely appear to be lost or disorientated, then by all means, double check. This is harder to do whilst maintaining social distance as we would usually recommend a ‘hello’ and maybe a gentle touch to the shoulder, to enable the person to realise you are talking to them, so for now a hello will have to do, but try and make it obvious you are addressing them. If the person does need support, it may be a conversation about exactly where they are will be all that is required, or you may need to verbally re-direct them. If physical guiding is the only way, then you will both need to discuss this and ascertain what you are both comfortable with. If in a shop, again, you may be able to verbally assist them to ensure they can get what they need. However, as before, the main point is to ask the person if they need any help rather than grabbing them and moving them where you think they need to go, or grabbing items for them that you think they want. In this case, maybe social distancing does have its advantages 😊 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. 111. Social distancing and shopping, part 1: What does this mean for people with vision impairments?15/6/2020  With lots more shops opening today and lockdown starting to unlock, where does this leave people who live with a vision impairment?
This is a topic that has been rumbling on across various social media platforms throughout lockdown and we have shared some of these on our Facebook and Twitter pages. It is now generating a bit more pace as lockdown eases and the concerns about social distancing rise amongst many including people living with a vision impairment. Dave: As we’ve covered in our past couple of VIDA Insights, things haven’t changed a great deal for me other than having to work remotely and not getting out on my own mainly due to my fears of not being able to ensure a safe distance from other people. I don’t tend to use public transport that much as I prefer to walk where I can and, when not working remotely, have Vicky as a driver, but for people who rely on using public transport for getting to and from work or to do some essential shopping, it’s a different story. Using public transport is a regular challenge at the best of times for people with a vision impairment but trying to navigate bus stops, train stations, ticket offices, etc. all whilst maintaining social distancing is almost impossible. Vision impaired people can usually request assistance on the rail network through National Rail’s ‘Passenger Assist’ scheme but currently they are asking that assistance is only booked for essential travel. Transport for London (TFL) have put their assistance for blind and partially sighted travellers on hold due to social distancing and staff safety which is understandable but will no doubt impact on travellers that rely on this excellent service. Such issues are discussed in the article ‘Will it be worth it? The re-opening barriers facing visually impaired people’ that was recently published on ArtsProfessional.co.uk. Key extracts from the article read: A “major barrier is getting to a cultural venue in the first place, given that public transport is effectively a no-go for most people with a visual impairment at the moment. Social distancing is too often compromised, and as the rules on this soften, local streets are becoming increasingly crowded. These concerns have a basis in hard statistics. Using measurements from Ordnance Survey, Esri UK has mapped and analysed pavement widths in Great Britain: only 30% are at least 3 metres wide, 36% are between 2 and 3 metres and 34% are less than 2 metres wide.” The article also said: “Practical support has been made even more necessary since the start of the pandemic, with a proliferation of visual signage about social distancing (distance markers, capacity restrictions and other changes to normal practices) and temporary changes to routes both on the streets and indoors. For those with some sight, and those able to move around independently, a venue should make any temporary signs or floor markings large, clear, and high contrast. Floor markings should also be tactile for cane users as well.” But if you have no vision or not enough to see signage; what then? I read a Facebook post this week from my local shopping centre, @redhillbelfry, regarding the changes they’ve put in place for when the shopping centre opens fully today (Monday 15 June). It read: “For those of you who have not visited the Centre recently, please be assured that we have taken lots of steps to keep all our shoppers safe within the Centre. We ask that social distancing is maintained, you keep to the left throughout the Centre, wear a face covering, wash hands regularly (sanitiser stations available) and of course stay home if you have any symptoms.” The post also included the photo of the escalators as used above. Again, I understand the need for social distancing and keeping 2m apart from other people but that is really difficult when you can’t see. I also suspect that the rules aren’t consistent in every shop so trying to do the right thing will end in tears! It just means that, for the foreseeable future, it will be safer for me to stay at home. It’s not just me and my views; these are replicated across the country and likely the world. It is summarised nicely in an article and video published on BBC.co.uk of Louis Moorhouse, an 18 year old guy from Bradford. Louis explains the problems he is experiencing with his guide dog and what sighted people can do to help. Ultimately, all whilst social distancing is required, getting around or accessing services is going to be really difficult for people with a vision impairment or who have a disability that requires an element of support from someone else. I suspect that, like me, that they will remain at home much more, only venturing out when it is really necessary and just hope that other people understand the problems that we face. Part 2 of this blog will be out tomorrow – giving Vicky’s thoughts as a sighted person and including ways that you might still be able to assist someone with a vision impairment. 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.  So we’re in week 8 of lockdown and our Prime minister, Boris Johnson, announced on Sunday (10th May) that we can now take unlimited exercise each day, sunbathe in the park and meet 1 person from another household providing that we can maintain social distancing. Some industries are now allowed to re-open providing that it is safe for their employees but those that can continue to work from home should do so.
But what has it been like for people with a vision impairment during these times? So lockdown itself and staying at home is actually quite normal for lots of blind and partially sighted people. For me, Dave, I have a part time job that I do alongside running VIDA Training and the Disability Equipment Service with Vicky and this work gets me out of my house for part of the week, but on other days I work from home anyway. When I’m not working, I might walk in to town, pop to the local shop or meet up with friends for a beer but, on the whole, I would spend lots of time at home so lockdown hasn’t been too bad for me. With regards to work, I have been lucky enough that I can continue to do my work from home with Vicky supporting me remotely, so although a change that’s taken some adjustments on both sides, we have been able to continue working. However, the thing that’s had the biggest impact has been staying safe when going out and trying to maintain a social distance. Even answering the door has become tricky. In the past I would have just opened the door and, if needed, explained to the person in front of me that I can’t see (that’s the phrase that I find works quickest in getting the message across), then taken the parcel, signed the PDA, etc. However, now, when the doorbell rings, I open the door to, if I’m lucky, a delivery driver stood at the bottom of the path shouting instructions on where the parcel has been left. If I’m unlucky, the driver is already driving off and I’m left feeling around until I find the parcel (although to be fair that did also happen sometimes before lockdown too!!). I’m guessing that this will be the same when we have drones dropping parcels off in the middle of the lawn! 😊 (smiley face) Maintaining a 2 metre gap from other people is really tricky when you can’t see; you should try it. I find queuing difficult at the best of times but when everyone is supposed to stay 2 metres apart and no-one wants to touch you or you to touch them then it creates a massive problem. I’m fortunate that I’m married to Kelly who is sighted so she has been able to get out to the shops. However, for many people who live on their own, this option just isn’t available. With supermarket online delivery slots getting booked weeks in advance and people with a vision impairment not classified as ‘vulnerable’ (so not on the supermarket’s priority customer list), food shopping became a real issue for people with vision impairments. Campaigning by the sight loss charities did help highlight this problem but getting through to the supermarkets on the phone to be recognised as a priority for online bookings was taking days. Some blind people were also refused support at supermarkets. Volunteer groups were available in some locations to help, and for others neighbours/friends or family stepped in, but this isn’t available for everyone and certainly isn’t the same as choosing your own shopping so takes away an element of independence. And then there’s going out in general. Again, we’ve walked together as a family and therefore I’ve been guided around people to maintain social distancing – perfect. This has also meant I’ve been guided around objects too and therefore haven’t has to use my sense of touch that I often rely on heavily and which is also a big ‘no’ at the moment. However, if I had been living alone, this would have been another story and I quite possibly wouldn’t have ventured out at all. And again, it has also meant that I don’t currently go out on my own as I would have done before, again taking away another level of independence. So, in conclusion, the actual lockdown and staying at home hasn’t been such a problem for me. It’s the social distancing measures that have had the biggest impact on my life as a person living with a vision impairment and I expect many other blind people will feel the same. Oh, and for me, not being able to get my hair cut!!!! ((although that one probably applies to many people, vision impaired or sighted 😊 (smiley face)). 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.  With the UK in lockdown and all of us being asked to ‘Stay at Home’ other than for essential reasons (to buy food, visit a GP, collect medicine and, at the time of writing this, for daily exercise), what better time to catch up on some podcasts.
With our focus on vision impairment and disability, I (Dave) have selected a few podcasts that I subscribe too that I think you might find interesting. Obviously, they’re not all going to be to everyone’s taste (and are slightly skewed towards vision impairment as I am blind myself) but there should be something that is of interest to you. So, in no particular order, have a search and listen to the following podcasts; they’re available on most podcast apps including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, BBC Sounds, AudioBoom, Spotify and Stitcher to name but a few.
If there are other vision impairment or disability related podcasts that you like and we’ve not mentioned, then please let us know; we’re always keen to learn about podcasts that we’ve not heard about or know of. 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.  Everyday words are easy to remember and spell, right? But when you’re asked to spell a slightly unusual word, a word that you always struggle with or a word that you’ve not had to spell for a while such as definitely, deteriorated or physiotherapist, do you find it easier to write it down? I would expect most of you reading this would say ‘Yes’.
I, Dave, have been meaning to write this Insight for a while now but to be honest, just haven’t got round to it. However, I have recently upgraded my screen reading software, Jaws, to the latest version which has lots of new features including announcing and playing sounds when I’ve spelled words incorrectly. Since this upgrade, I’ve realised that I make more spelling errors than I thought or I’m noticing them more now that Jaws is announcing them as I type! I used to be a reasonable speller but as my sight has deteriorated I’m definitely finding spelling harder or I’m having to concentrate a lot more on spelling words that I might have quickly written down to visually check the spelling. Do you know what I mean? Writing down a word would just look right or wrong. – I guess this is how we learn as a child? I now picture the word in my head and then spell it character by character as I type it. It is easy though to misspell a word or spell a word phonetically. This subject was also covered on a podcast that I regularly listen to called RNIB Tech Talk. The host, Steven Scott, is vision impaired and he spoke about how his spelling has deteriorated since losing his vision (RNIB Tech Talk link - https://audioboom.com/posts/7020255-amazon-apple-and-accessible-technology). It is really common for people that have very little or no sight to spell words phonetically. This is usually because they’ve never seen the word and therefore have had to learn to spell that word by memorising it. Like most people, if you don’t use it you lose it. I usually trip up on people’s names, especially if they’re not spelt in the usual way or have different ways of spelling them. For example, Martin/Martyn, Lee/Leigh, Shaun/Sean, Vikki/Vicky and there is always the names that aren’t spelt the way they are pronounced like Siobhan, Phoebe and Yvonne to name just a few. It’s not all so bad though as we live in an era where the computer autocorrects mistakes as we type and, as I mentioned earlier, even my screen reader, Jaws, will announce when a word is misspelt! This is all fine when you’re in a word processor like Microsoft Word but isn’t as helpful when you’re in a programme that doesn’t autocorrect like Facebook! There is also the complication of knowing if you’re using the correct homophone and how you would know without spelling each word character by character. This is particularly the case when using dictation to input text. Dictation has come a long way but it still gets the grammar wrong occasionally so I, as a blind person, have to understand when to use the correct spelling – your/you’re, where/wear, by/buy, wait/weight, etc. Problems with dictation come up lots on social media posts and forums but there is no real solution to the problem other than to dictate clearly and, if it’s really important, to double check your entry. I did do a quick Google on this subject to see if there had been any study carried out but drew a blank on this. However, I did find another blog called Spelling Inside Out: Developing visual memory. This wasn’t vision impairment related but was interesting nevertheless as it covered how we learn to spell and how children nowadays aren’t using their visual memory as well as they used to probably due to computers and technology. (Link to the blog ‘Spelling Inside Out: Developing Visual Memory’ - https://sis4teachers.org/2018/08/5123/). Vicky: This is an interesting one, and I think Dave’s quite right in that spelling is quite visual, or at least getting spellings correct is quite visual. By that I mean that not only might we write words down to see if they ‘look right’ when we want to check how to spell them but also we see words regularly when we read them and therefore have a regular reminder of how they are spelt. When we’re working together Dave will quite often ask me how to spell a word. My spelling’s usually ok (apart from sociable – what a weird word that is, I always want to spell it out loud as socialable), so usually I can just answer but on the odd occasion when I need to write it down to double check, he tells me I’m cheating, not entirely fair as he’s asked me how to spell it – 😊 (smiley face)!! However, it’s not always the case that seeing a word makes it easier to spell. My daughter’s dyslexic and we were told to encourage her to read more as a young child to enhance her spelling, (again the reason being that the more you see different words the more likely you are to have a visual memory of them) but that’s not an easy task if reading is hard in the first place and also if you mistake some letters for others! So, although she can see the words, she still struggles to recreate them as to her they look different once she’s written them, or else she can’t see where they’re wrong. Having just read the article Dave mentions above, ‘Spelling Inside Out’, I have to confess that I personally think this would have just sent her head spinning as a child and I can’t imagine how it could have done anything other than confuse her but if it helps some kids then obviously that’s great. And believe me Dave, you’re probably much more conscious about name spelling than most sighted people I know, and trust me with a name like Vicky, I know what I’m talking about (Vicki, Vikki, Vickie, Vickey to list but a few of the variations I’ve received, and that’s after I’ve spelt my name or they’ve seen it written down!). What Dave has missed from this (unlike you Dave not to point out your positives 😊 (smiley face)) is that Dave is excellent at noticing typos. So, as he says, although he might not pick up on the where and wear type errors, he’ll certainly notice a typo which visually a lot of people will miss. This is because, visually, we will read what we expect to be there, but when listneing to Jaws, it will of course, read out exactly what’s written and therefore typos become more obvious. So he’ll have noticed (and hopefully not corrected when proof reading this!) that listening is spelt incorrectly in the last sentence. What does all this mean? Well for us, if we’re producing documents, it means we make a pretty good tag team!! Leave us a comment telling us how you manage. Do you write down words that you find tricky to spell? And if you’re vision impaired, what coping strategies do you have for spelling correctly? 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.  Photo courtesy of Donmar Warehouse website I know, an interesting title to choose isn’t it. Its actually a modern day adaptation of Shakespeare’s Richard III, set in an American high school when they are choosing senior election candidates.
I, Vicky went to see this recently with a good friend and colleague of mine who had seen it advertised via Disability Rights UK (https://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/). It was playing (until recently) at the Donmar Warehouse (https://www.donmarwarehouse.com), a theatre just outside Covent Garden. I think the description of the play on their website as ‘darkly comic’ is pretty accurate – the play was really funny in parts (although I think I missed some of the less common Shakespeare references), but also quite disturbing in others and definitely dark! The acting was truly superb, with Daniel Monks certainly portraying a dark and disturbed Richard to the full. In the play, Richard has hemiplegia, as does Daniel himself and the play explores how people perceive and behave towards Richard (and how Richard thinks they perceive him) maybe as a result of this. Although the play was 1 hour and 45 minutes without a break, the time flew by, all credit to the intensity of the acting. Prior to the performance we were lucky enough to have a touch tour organised in conjunction with VocalEyes (https://vocaleyes.co.uk/) a charity providing audio description to ensure plays are accessible for people with vision impairments (my friend has a vision impairment). We were able to wander around the set, getting a sense of the location of different items and also feel some of the costumes that the characters would later be wearing. On this occasion the touch tour also included an opportunity to meet some of the main characters, who gave an introduction as to who they were, described their physical characteristics and also spoke in the accents they would use in the play so people could associate those voices with the characters when they came on stage. My friend and I chatted for a while to Ruth Madeley who plays Bucks in the show. Bucks is in a wheelchair as is Ruth herself. I recognised her from her role in the TV show ‘Years and Years’ and also ‘The Accident’. It was lovely to meet her and also hear about future projects she is involved in. She told us that when they were looking for actors for this play, the playwright had specified that hers and Richard’s parts must be played by disabled actors stating ‘They are out there, you just have to find them.’ 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 sure that this is a question that people mutter to themselves when they see me walking along in the rain. And just recently we’ve been having a lot of torrential downpours which I’ve been caught out in that have soaked me!
Back in November 2017 we wrote an Insight called “Rain… a sensory landscape…” (https://vidatraining.weebly.com/blog/34-rain-a-sensory-landscape) which touched on my experiences of rain. This insight covered all aspects of rain including the sounds it makes, the sensory landscape that it gives me and the reason why I don’t put my hood up. What it didn’t cover is why I don’t use an umbrella. As a blind person, I rely heavily on my hearing to navigate and orientate myself. If I put a hood up then this muffles the sound and removes lots of the directional sounds that I rely on. For this reason, I prefer to hear and get wet than restrict my hearing and remain dry. So the umbrella… Yes, using an umbrella would be a solution to my problem – hooray! But no, I find using an umbrella just as difficult. Yes, it does mean that I can still use my hearing effectively but it causes other problems. I use a white stick (or long cane to use its correct name) to navigate and get around safely. Obviously this takes up one hand and the other hand I like to have free so that I can use it to help identify objects if I need to or be able to protect my face if I walk through overgrown trees etc. If I had to hold an umbrella then I wouldn’t be able to do this. The other problem with using an umbrella when you can’t see is that you are forever getting it caught on trees or hedges, knocking it against walls, lamp posts or vehicles or worse still poking people with it. Ultimately they’re more of a hindrance and danger to others than a help. However, I recently received a gift from my children that solves this problem… a hands-free umbrella! J Yes folks, this is an umbrella, as demonstrated in the video clip, that pops up and attaches to your head using an elastic headband – no hands! Not only does it make me feel like Inspector Gadget and want to say ‘Go go gadget umbrella’ when I put it on, it makes me look a tiny bit sillier than I already do. Practically it solves one of my problems by not having to hold the umbrella but I still would have the same issues with brushing it against trees and branches or catching it on lamp posts and other objects. Ultimately it was a fun present that I’ll use on our training or for embarrassing the children in the school playground but not something you’ll see me wearing sensibly when it’s raining. 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.  Dave: “If you could see for 1 minute, what would you look at?” This was a question posed to me late one evening by a friend when we were talking about my vision impairment. It took me a bit by surprise as I’ve never been asked this question before and I didn’t know how to answer it.
My answer at the time was “probably my family; seeing my wife again and also what my kids actually look like”. However, we then went on to discuss perhaps scenery; looking at the horizon again, etc. I wanted to write an Insight about this question as it’s really got under my skin. I’ve thought about the question long and hard and I still can’t think of what exactly I would do or look at in that minute. I’ve also thought about what I would look at if I could choose how to use the minute; for example, what if I could have 6 x 10 seconds of clear vision or 12 x 5 second windows of clarity… and have these over a period of time. Ultimately I would want to see my family; my wife, kids, parents and extended family. But would a minute be enough? Perhaps a few photos so that I could scan them quickly rather than seeing them in person as I’m sure this would cause delays or take up valuable time somehow. But what else? I would be interested to see what the graphics are like on new game consoles, what HD TV is like, try a virtual headset, see what cars actually look like and see my house in a way that I’ve not seen it before. To be able to see the leaves on trees again, blades of grass, ants on the pavement and birds in the sky… and what about watching a firework display, seeing the moon and stars in a dark sky or watching a sunrise or sunset over a horizon? What do my friends and work colleagues look like and how much has changed from what I remember from the past (road signs, new buildings, etc). There are so many things that, when I really think about it, I would want to see… So I can think about the question and plan my minute of clarity but, unless there is some kind of breakthrough in medicine or technology that restores my vision, it’s never going to happen… and that’s a bit depressing! :-( So, put yourself in my shoes (I’m a size 10) and think about the question. What would you do with that minute? Vicky: Gosh, your shoes are way too big for me Dave (I’m only a size 4!). And, although my feet clearly fit inside them, its always hard to put yourself in anyone else’s shoes isn’t it. And I’m conscious that as a sighted person, do I have the right to answer this question? However, Dave and I have discussed this question and he’s asked me to comment. So, what would I want to see if I hadn’t seen for a long time and only had a minute? I’ve thought long and hard about it. Funnily enough – seeing the latest tech (as Dave mentioned) never entered my head (it’s just not my thing) but I do love sunrises and sunsets, and also wondered if I would like to see the beach again at Polzeath in Cornwall – a place that I love and where we have spent many happy family holidays. However, I have my visual memories of these (would I still if I hadn’t had sight for a long time?) so maybe I would rather not waste my minute on these. So then I wondered about things I hope to see at some point in the future and, if I lost my sight before I saw them, would I want to use my minute to see them? Things like the Grand Canyon, the pyramids, and Meteora – possibly not possible to see all these in one minute :-) So back to the reality of just one minute, and I have to ask myself, is seeing these places really what is important to me? So, I think what I would spend my minute doing is gazing at my loved ones and how they’d changed since I lost my sight – how my kids had grown up etc. and just drink that in for a full minute to try and capture it all in my memory. My only concern about all of this is, would having just one minute be almost more painful when it was snatched away at the end?? And I don’t profess to know the answer to that one. What about other people, what are your 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.  We, Dave and Vicky, took ourselves up to Sight Village South East last week, along with a friend, Gary who works at Sight for Surrey as their Assistive Technology Trainer.
Sight Village is the name given to the exhibitions that are organised and run by Queen Alexandra College. There are 5 ‘Sight Village’ exhibitions held throughout the year (South-West, Central, West Midlands, North-West and South-East) and are described as “The UK's leading exhibitions for blind and partially sighted people and for those experiencing sight problems”. To be honest, Dave and I had discussed whether we would go again this year as we’ve been for the last few years, but we decided that we should – and we’re really glad we did. Having fuelled up with breakfast en route, we made our way to High Street Kensington Tube. There were Sight Village volunteers at the tube ready to sight guide or support people to the venue itself, we declined their offer of assistance though as the 3 of us were managing okay. A guy called Steve also asked if he could just walk with us, which was fine, we joked about us all getting lost together and me not having another guiding arm available but Steve was ok just to follow us and as it’s only a brief distance we all got there ok. Once we arrived, following the obligatory photo to prove our attendance, Dave, Gary and I went straight into the main hall. Many of the stands were familiar and focussed on CCTV and OCR technologies. We took the opportunity to head to the Sight and Sound Technology stand and, at Gary’s suggestion, managed to get our hands on and explore their MiniVision and SmartVision 2 mobile phones. We then chatted to Barclays, mainly about the current issue Dave has regarding the recent App update not reading transaction dates on the statement correctly. As always they were keen to know about this and Dave gave them a demo of what’s wrong. They promised to pass it on to their Digital Access Manager the following day – let’s hope it gets corrected soon! As the Amazon stand was quiet, we took the opportunity to have a quick listen to the new Amazon Echo Studio, a beefy smart speaker that will play streamed HD audio quality music. This sounded lovely but we were informed that presales were more than 700% greater than expected so, even though it goes on sale this month, they’ll not be available to purchase until at least February 2020, although currently showing on Amazon as retailing at £189.99 and available from 25th December 2019 – probably not one for this year’s Christmas list though. We had a brief chat with Kevin at the Look UK stand and found out about the charity, the support and information they provide to young vision impaired people and their families and their peer mentoring service for vision impaired students aged between 11 and 29. Gary was keen for us to have a look at the Synapptic TV Box. We had a demo of this from Ken at their stand. If you’re looking for a fully accessible way of watching live or catch up TV, catching up with box sets, keeping up with your emails or doing some online shopping, then this might be the ideal solution for you! Our next stop was at the En-Vision America stand where we met and had a long and interesting chat with David. He demonstrated the audible prescription service called ScripTalk, a service that has been available across the USA and Canada for several years. En-Vision are keen to bring ScripTalk to the UK and David was at the exhibition trying to raise the awareness of the product and to engage with vision impaired people and get their views on the service. We all agreed that this is a great product and a service that should be available in the UK. Its definitely something that we’ll be shouting about, demonstrating on our training and raising awareness of over the coming months. The traditional white cane has been around for years and companies have tried to bring it in to the 20th century by adding GPS and motion sensors but no-one has yet put lights in it… until now! Lighting up the exhibition halls was Dave from ‘Gizahand’ with their new illuminating long cane. This was a cool product that was designed to help a person using the long cane be more visible to other pedestrians, cyclists and drivers. Basically the bottom quarter of the traditional folding cane has been replaced with a durable opaque section that is filled with LED lights. It’s powered by a USB power bank that fits in to the top of the handle and provides over 3 hours of light from a 2 hour charge. Although a fun idea, at £129.95 + delivery, it’s another item that won’t be finding its way on to Dave’s Christmas list this year! During our rounds, we stopped off and had a long chat with Andrew from TravelEyes. It’s always great to catch up with him and we chatted loads about Amir Latif’s recent TV programme Travelling Blind and all the other things he’s now up to. Dave and Gary both entered their competition to win a trip to Burma (the offer was only available for VI people otherwise I (Vicky) would’ve been straight in there too!!). Going on one of their holidays is still something I’d love to do, but it’s just not feasible at the moment with family commitments etc. We bumped into Stella from the Macular Society, a friend and previous work colleague of both Dave and Gary’s and as well as taking the opportunity to wish her a happy birthday, we also caught up with the work they are doing. And finally we took the opportunity to sit in on the ATW Solutions seminar where we met and heard from Colin Fowler, the founder of ATW Solutions. He discussed how they can help with Access to Work (ATW) applications, propose reasonable adjustments within the workplace and provide recruitment services for employment support workers. One thing we did all notice was that the exhibition was less busy this year and that there is definitely a lack of organisations with ‘daily living’ products now exhibiting. Let’s hope that this is a blip and that next year there will be more exhibitors with a wider range of products for us to have a look and feel of! J That said we found out about some interesting products and services, enjoyed catching up with several people and will definitely be making the effort to attend again next year. Direct links to products and organisations we visited: QAC Sight Village - https://www.qac.ac.uk/exhibitions.htm Sight and Sound Mobile Phones - http://www.sightandsound.co.uk/hardware/mobile-phones.html Barclays Accessibility (Sight) - https://www.barclays.co.uk/accessibility/sight/ Amazon Echo Studio - https://www.amazon.co.uk/amazon-echo-studio-high-fidelity-smart-speaker-with-3d-audio-and-alexa/dp/B07NQCKJSH/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=amazon+studio&qid=1573214695&sr=8-1 Look-UK - https://www.look-uk.org/ Synapptic TV Box - http://www.synapptic.com/products-tvbox.aspx En-Vision America (ScripTalk) – https://www.envisionamerica.com/products/scriptability/scriptalk/ Gizahand Illuminated long cane - http://www.gizahand.co.uk/illuminated-mobility-long-cane/ Traveleyes - https://www.traveleyes-international.com/ Macular Society - https://www.macularsociety.org/ ATW Solutions - https://www.atwsolutions.co.uk/ 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.  Why are lamp-posts not soft and bendy? This is a question that I, Dave, seem to be asking myself on a regular basis at the moment.
Over the past few weeks I have come in to contact with a few metal posts whilst walking in to town. You know the type; they are the thick metal ones that usually are holding up road signs or a street lamp; the hard metal, non-forgiving ones. My assumption is that they haven’t been breeding or the council haven’t spent more money erecting new ones and that they’ve always been there and that I’ve always managed to navigate around them, be that with Errol, my old guide dog, or with my white stick. So, something has changed and, discussing this with Vicky, I can only conclude that I’m hitting these posts now due to my sight deteriorating to a point that I now don’t receive any indication that they’re there. Its weird because, if asked, I would have said that I haven’t been able to see them for ages, but whilst they haven’t been clear, we can only assume that I was getting some sense that they were there and therefore managing to avoid them whereas now I don’t even get that. No doubt that there are many people reading this and wondering what my stick is for if it’s not to help identify these posts so that I don’t walk in to them and you would be right. The white stick is designed to be swept from left to right, going just beyond the width of my shoulders, and therefore should make contact with and alert me to objects that are in my path. I would then be able to identify the object and navigate safely around it. Well that’s the theory! In practise, even when sweeping the white stick correctly, it is easy to just miss an object as you sweep and, especially if it’s just off centre and not very big (like a lamp post), not know about it until you hit it with your knee and/or shoulder or sometimes head. A few weeks ago I bounced off the post in the photo. This is a particularly hefty post situated near a bridge on the busy A23, my route to Redhill town centre. I was walking home, had just gone under the bridge and, as I came out from under the bridge I was thinking about a car on the pavement that I had had to navigate on my way in. Right at that point, I was also overwhelmed with the noise from a train passing overhead, a large lorry passing on the road creating an echo under the bridge and also the noise of a crane or mechanical equipment operating nearby and then boom… the noise of a metal pole hitting my head!! I’ve no doubt that someone in a car or walking near me would have seen it and I wouldn’t blame them if they had a small chuckle at my expense but I can tell you that it hurt… it also bent my sunglasses and split the skin above my eyebrow! So I have put this in the memory bank and haven’t hit this post since. I had also put hitting this down to the noise and nothing more. However, just this morning it happened again. It wasn’t the same post but it was on the same road! I must admit, I don’t walk in to town as often now as when I had Errol and this is partly due to not having a need to but also a bit of ‘can’t be bothered’. I would consider myself to have good cane technique and be safe with using it, however, these couple of incidences have knocked my confidence and brings home how difficult getting out and about really is. I do find that I’m having to concentrate lots more when out on my own and that I get tense in the shoulders and I’m sure that this is partly due to not really knowing if I’m going to hit anything… I wanted to share this with you all, not for sympathy, but to raise your awareness as to what it is really like for blind people using a white cane. Getting around with a white cane is slow, sometimes frustratingly so, and requires lots of concentration. I have a map of the town in my head that I recall all the time but this map isn’t just where roads are, but references key points/landmarks on a journey, pedestrian or safe road crossing points, particular areas where pavement parking is bad, etc. I also have to remember where particular shops or houses are or obstacles such as trim trail equipment in the school playground! It doesn’t stop there, I then remember where steps are, where doors are and whether they swing in or out and then what’s inside… where the reception or customer service desk is, what other hazards might be waiting, etc. This all requires a certain level of concentration and if this slips or I get distracted (this could be by a car parked on the pavement or a loud noise as in the example above, or one of those pesky A frames, anything really that I’m not expecting) then I could get injured or lost very quickly! A good example of a hazard/obstruction can be read in a Facebook post that I wrote back in June when I came across a builder’s van parked over a designated safe crossing point at the top of our road - https://www.facebook.com/705702186224015/posts/2160066160787603?s=725461053&sfns=cl 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.  Vicky: Dave and I have both read and enjoyed books 1 and 2 of this series – The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect. My book club has also read at least book 1 (we’re a pretty rubbish book club – more a wine and crisps club - so don’t put any store by the fact that many of them won’t have read any further. **Update, one of our members has read all 3 and gave this one a 10/10!!**).
The books are described as feel good and they certainly are, leaving you with a warm feeling and hope about humanity (much needed at the moment) but they are deeper than that. The books are narrated by a genetics professor, Don Tillman and the first one is about his quest to find true love. Don has never been on a second date and finds social situations hard to read, therefore he devises a chart to find his suitable match. Things understandably don’t quite go according to plan. The second book continues with his relationship. The books make you smile and even laugh, but only ever with Don the narrator and never at him. His way of describing and relating to the world may not be familiar to many of us but it is intriguing and at times enlightening. Although I would urge everyone to read all 3 books, it’s the third book that I felt was worthy of a mention on this blog as it relates to a lot of discussions held within the wider disability community and touches on subjects that we discuss in our training. Unfortunately, RNIB Talking Books have not yet caught up, so Dave has been unable to read it yet. This third book, ‘The Rosie Result’ is set later in Don’s life when he also has a son, Hudson. The book covers a year in their lives and, with lots of anecdotes along the way, uses situations and other characters to cleverly raise questions about acceptance and fitting in, making the reader consider that maybe this shouldn’t be a one-way street, i.e. it shouldn’t all be about the person in the minority feeling pressurised to fit in with the majority. There’s a great analogy at one point by a speaker talking about the social model of disability – ‘Imagine everyone used wheelchairs except you and society was designed to accommodate them, you’d knock your head on door frames and have to ask for chairs at restaurants.’ It’s a great read and one that should have us all questioning how we behave and react in society. I don’t want to ruin the story for you but a few quotes will hopefully give enough of a sense of this book to encourage you to read the series… ‘Hudson preferred to wear the summer uniform, with shorts throughout the year. The school rules specified that Years 5 and 6 boys were to wear long trousers in the cold season, other than in exceptional circumstances. Hudson had argued that as he was the only student who wanted to wear shorts, he was exceptional, and therefore should be accommodated. After extensive discussion, the school agreed.’ Talking about ABA (Applied Behaviour Analysis) ‘Psychologists and parents love it. Of course they do, because that’s who it’s for – not for the kids being trained like puppies…She’s being trained to spend her life seeking approval from others.’ ‘…a lot of people think autistic people are weird and uncaring…my parents and teachers tried really hard to help me fit in because they didn’t want people to think I was autistic and then assume those things about me…but it took a lot of work that I could have spent on other things…what I learnt is that autistic people shouldn’t have to do all the changing’ ‘I’m not a person with autism any more that I’m a person with lesbianism. I’m lesbian, I’m autistic. When I get a cold, I have a cold; I’m a person with a cold and I want to get rid of it. Medical help appreciated. But being autistic and lesbian, that’s who I am, and I’m not interested in anyone trying to cure me of who I am.’ ‘I would never have the intuitive sense of others’ emotions that supposedly is needed to deal with interpersonal problems, but I had done my best using rationality, experience and hard-won learning about human behaviour and these skills had been sufficient.’ And the final word must go to Graeme himself: ‘This series of novels was inspired and informed far more by life experiences – my own and others’ – than research. Thanks to everyone – all of you – who contributed to those.’ We urge you to read these books and let us know your thoughts! Dave: Well, all that has done Vicky is make me want to read it; it sounds intriguing and interesting. Come on RNIB… how long will I need to wait until this book is available in an audio format? 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.  We’re asked many questions on our training sessions but it’s the first time that I (Dave) have been asked this one – “Did your wife dress you this morning?” Now of course I expect my wife to dress me every morning but the reality is that she is usually still asleep when I’m getting dressed so the answer to this question is “No”.
After we had all had a chuckle, we established that the actual question she was asking was “Did you choose your clothes or does your wife choose them for you?” She wanted to know how I, or blind people, choose their clothes because she thought this must be difficult if you can’t see. It is actually a really sensible and good question and my answer was something like: “It is relatively easy for a man to choose what to wear (or me anyway). I tend to wear jeans (blue and black) and then either a polo shirt or a smart casual shirt but pretty much I can put any top with any jeans and it’ll be fine. My VIDA training shirt has an embroidered VIDA Training logo so this makes it easy to identify but I keep my training clothes together in a particular part of my wardrobe so I know where it is when I need it”. However, for women it is likely to be harder due to the array of clothes (basing this fact on my wife’s wardrobe) and the importance of matching colours, styles, etc. Ultimately most vision impaired people will have a very organised wardrobe and be fully aware of what they have in it, what colours the items are and what they go with. I do get help with pairing my socks after they’ve been washed as I like to wear stripy socks or socks with coloured toes or soles but if I didn’t have help to do this then I would use pegs to pair them when I take them off so that they come out of the washing machine together. I don’t feel it appropriate to talk about my pants… surely that’s taking it too far! :-) In years gone by people used to sew different shaped and sized buttons in to their clothes so that they could then identify what an items colour was and what it went with by the shape or size of the buttons. Obviously you had to remember the relationship of each shape and size button but for some people this really worked and some still use this method today. A few years ago RNIB released a gadget called the Pen Friend. This is a scanning gadget that is used for many purposes including food items, DVDs/CDs, important letters and much more. It is also a great gadget for identifying clothes. It works by reading labels that have a unique bar code that You scan and record a description to and when you re-scan the label it reads out the description. You can get labels that are washable, freezeable, stickable and some that attach with a tie making this a great gadget for so many things. I guess nowadays there are also new apps coming out all the time that will be able to help. The Be My Eyes app could be used to get support with identifying clothes as could the Aira service that is soon to be released in the UK; you would just need to be careful when using one of these video call apps that you had at least your underwear on!! :-) 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.  No this is not our combined age (though not far off eh Dave 😊) but equally surprising is that Dave and I (Vicky) can’t believe we’ve written and posted 100 VIDA Insight blogs over the last few years…where did all that time go?
We really hope that you’ve enjoyed reading them as much as we’ve enjoyed thinking about topics and writing them. Most of our posts have been based on our own experiences but some have been based on books we’ve read, conversations we’ve had or other articles that have got us thinking. We hope they have provided you with some insight about vision impairments. We also hope that, on occasions, they’ve made you laugh. So, just in case you haven’t been reading them or have come late to the party and only seen a few, here’s some of our highlights (of course you’re welcome to read all 100):
Please have a read of any of these that catch your interest or as I said before, feel free to read the full 100! And, please do feel free to share your experiences and thoughts by commenting… We will continue writing a monthly blog so please check in on the 15th of each month to read our latest one. 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. For my (Dave) birthday this year, Kelly, my wife, bought me a family ticket for ‘iFly’, an indoor skydiving centre in Basingstoke.
We booked up and trundled off to Basingstoke on a Tuesday afternoon (my actual birthday). The trip was pretty plain sailing other than we had to make a quick pit-stop at Fleet services so that my son could have a wee; apparently caused by the bumps on the M25! We checked in with reception, were informed that we would be part of training group number 20 which would be around 2.30 - 2.45pm and that we could wait in the viewing gallery where we could watch some other flyers. At 2.45pm we were called in to a training room with some other people, about 12 in total, where we were introduced to Dean, our instructor for the experience. We had informed the centre that I was blind so Dean already knew this before but I’m guessing my white stick also helped identify that I couldn’t see. Whilst the sighted members of our group watched a short demonstration film, Dean took me outside and gave me a 1:1 description of what I should expect, demonstrated the position that I would need to take when in the wind tunnel (using a small plastic doll with 1 leg) and agreeing on some tactile gestures that we would use. We were kitted up with a flight suit, helmet, goggles and ear plugs and then led into a waiting room next to the wind tunnel. Before they turned on the wind, Dean led me to the entrance to the tunnel and showed me the doorway and explained again what I would do to go in and then what I needed to do to leave the tunnel. He also explained that, due to my sight loss and limited communication in the tunnel, that I would have another instructor, Lewis, join us for the flight. I sat on the bench next to Kelly. By this point I had ear plugs in my ears, had a helmet on that also covered my ears and I was finding hearing and communicating difficult. This became almost impossible when the engines started up and the wind started to rush up the tunnel so all I could do was sit next to Kelly and wait my turn. One by one the others started to take their flights and we slowly shuffled along the bench towards the door. I had been put last due to needing 2 instructors but I didn’t have to wait long before I was being escorted across the short room to the tunnel entrance. My hands were placed on each side of the door so that I could get my bearings before I lifted them up above my head as we had discussed in the briefing. I could feel the pressure of the wind moving up through the tunnel and it sounded like I was sitting behind a jet engine about to take off down a runway! When Dean squeezed my wrist 3 times, another agreed signal, I let myself fall into the wind and… Well the strange thing is that was it; I knew that I was in the tunnel and my body was being suspended on a cushion of air – well more being pounded by an upward hurricane! But I couldn’t tell if I was spinning, how high I was from the floor, where I was in relation to the door or anything. I occasionally felt either Dean or Lewis give me a tug or move an arm or leg into a better position and I did brush the wall once but that was it. Soon my hands were being guided to the sides of the door and I pulled my legs down and stepped in to the waiting room. Slightly out of breath, a little wobbly on my feet and with a small amount of dribble on my chin (apparently this is normal and why the instructors wear visors on their helmets), I felt exhilarated from the experience. We repeated this process again and the second time I was taken up to around 10 – 12 feet off of the floor but I had no idea; I could have been 100 feet up and I wouldn’t have known! J I can’t describe the feeling… it was quite hard work from concentrating on body position but great fun and made you smile (and dribble). After the flights we returned to the locker room and took off our flight suits, helmets, etc. and it was nice being able to hear and communicate again. We chatted to Dean whilst he gave out our certificates and we discussed my experience. He said that most vision impaired flyers tend to do quite well as they put themselves in to the position as instructed and don’t tend to move from that position and this makes it easy to manoeuvre them around the tunnel. Dean had informed us that he worked for the Army and did the instructor job on a part-time basis when he isn’t out flying with the Army; it turns out that he is one of the Red Devil parachute display team and we were his last group at iFly for a couple of weeks as he was taking part in the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landing in Normandy in June. He also said that, if I wanted to do a tandem parachute jump that he could arrange it for me but I’m not sure if I’m quite ready to do that yet! J It was a great birthday present and I would recommend everyone to do it. People of ages 3 to 103 can fly and they can accommodate pretty much any disability – they’ve had people in wheelchairs flying before! There are some restrictions including a maximum weight limit and some medical conditions that prevent you from flying but that’s it. Thanks Kelly, it was an amazing experience and a great birthday present! 😊 You can find out more about IFly by visiting their website at: www.iflyworld.co.uk Vicky – it’s lovely to see Dave’s massive smile throughout the video of his experience – although I’m still not convinced this is an experience for me 😊 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.  Dave and I (Vicky) have recently read (Dave in audio format, Vicky in paperback) this book by Nicola Naylor about a woman with a vision impairment travelling around India. Having been enthralled by India from childhood, this was a lifelong dream for Nicola, but also being an aromatherapist in the UK, she wanted to learn more about traditional Indian medicine too.
One review I read (courtesy of Good reads) described the book as “A traveller without sight takes her dream trip, alone and unsupported, learning about alternative healing and unveiling an India few are able to experience.” Whilst the book does provide an insight into Indian medicine, massage techniques and culture, which are in themselves interesting, from our point of view, the most fascinating parts of the book were Nicola’s thoughts about juggling her desire to travel independently with accepting the support offered along the way and accepting that, if offered in the right way, this sometimes enhanced her experiences rather than diminishing them. Below are some quotes that I think demonstrate the above in Nicola’s own words. From the start of the book: “Ordinary people, all of us, can do extraordinary things but not always. All our stories are individual and personal as are the inner and outer journeys that we make. That is what makes them refreshing and engaging. I hope that my own story offers enough flavour to whet the appetite but leaves people to discover their own recipes. When I was in the early years of coming to terms with having lost my sight, I know I would have chosen to starve rather than to digest other people’s survival triumphs and ways of overcoming disability”. “I had never been able to use my cane at home because of the stark associations with blindness that it stirred up. When I first lost my sight a guide dog was the only acceptable solution. I did not imagine that I would be able to use a cane in India to guide me around: the skill and technique of doing so required training, which I had resisted. However, I had reluctantly accepted that I needed some symbol to identify my disability for those times when I needed help. But when the moment approached to take out my cane, I realised I had underestimated my anxiety.” There is one section in the book where her friend goes to ‘nip out’ of the car to sort out an arrangement without her. “This time I felt that as the purpose of the visit directly concerned me I was not going to be left in the car like a child. People have often just ‘nipped’ to do this or that and left me to wait because they thought it easier and quicker than asking me to come. It makes me feel like an inconvenient appendage, or worse still, a nuisance invalid or child.” And when an air stewardess takes her hand in order to guide her: “With the stewardess I slipped my hand free of hers and placed my fingers gently but firmly on her elbow…. All at once I felt myself back in control, and the fear subsided.” Later in the book, Nicola discusses her feelings about receiving some assistance: “I did not want Goutam to feel I was rejecting his generosity and kindness. If I stuck clumsily to the western model of independence and self sufficiency I knew I risked offending my Indian friends. …I was beginning to see that giving and receiving help altruistically, according to need and opportunity was an integral part of Indian culture, a vital interdependence in a country with so many people and so much poverty…. A thought slid round in my head about how the ties of dependence might have a strengthening as well as a restricting pull, while independence could be an isolating straight jacket, I decided I needed to discover a little more about this approach and for a while be a less intrepid, less selfish explorer.” “When I reached town I decided to take a bus to Mr. Atuna’s evening yoga class rather than go back to the club. After another vigorous class, Mr Atuna said to a class member “Arun, please be taking our guest to the bus stop.” There was no sense in which a favour was being granted, or that I was being an inconvenience, and I felt comfortable with my need for help.” To me, this and other instances in the book highlight how we all have to adapt and change to accommodate each other or our circumstances, whether this be to do with assisting or being assisted by others or understanding cultures that differ to our own. I think this is summed up by a quote from another book we have read - ‘Touching the World’ by Cathy Birchall and Bernard Smith - “What you see depends mainly on what you look for”. ‘Touching the World’ is a fascinating account of 2 people's journey around the world on a motorbike, detailing their fantastic adventures and accounts of the generosity of human nature (in general) but also the strength of character required by both of them to undertake such a journey. Cathy has RP (Retinitis Pigmentosa) and whilst the book is much more than about Cathy's blindness, it is part of everyday life for Cathy and Bernard (her sighted partner) and so is an integral part of the book. We have discussed and recommended this book on many of our training courses and wrote an insight about it last February for #WorldBookDay - https://vidatraining.weebly.com/blog/february-28th-2018. 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, know that I have spoken about apps for vision impaired people but I don’t think that I’ve done an actual review of an app for one of our Insights previously. Following a recent experience, I thought that I would share this with you…
I currently use an iPhone 8 and access it using the built-in ‘Voiceover’ (https://www.apple.com/accessibility/iphone/vision/) screen reader. Using a range of taps, swipes and gestures, I can access pretty much all of the phones built-in features as well as many apps including banking, shopping and social media apps. I also have a folder that contains several apps specifically created for vision impaired people including Microsoft’s Seeing AI (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/seeing-ai?SilentAuth=1) and Soundscape (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/product/soundscape/), Be My Eyes (https://www.bemyeyes.com/), KNFB Reader (https://knfbreader.com/) and TapTapSee (https://taptapseeapp.com/) to name just a few. Although I use a couple of these apps frequently (they all do a slightly different job), it was the Be My Eyes app that I used recently and the one that I wanted to share my experience of. The Be My Eyes website describes the app as: Be My Eyes is a free app that connects blind and low-vision people with sighted volunteers and company representatives for visual assistance through a live video call. And that is exactly what happens… a few days ago, whilst working at home, my laptop started playing up before it stopped responding completely. Similar to my phone, I use a screen reader called Jaws on my laptop but when the screen reader stops talking to me I have no idea what is on the screen or where I am. With no-one else in the house, I tried some of the other apps mentioned above to see if I could work out if there were any error messages on the screen but they just didn’t work. Finally I resorted to the ‘Be My Eyes’ app and called up one of the sighted volunteers. I was quickly connected to a lady (apologies for not getting your name if you ever read this) in Swansea. She was able, using the video connection, to direct me to point the camera to the screen and inform me that there was nothing on my desktop that was obviously causing my Jaws software not to speak. She was then able to escort me through shutting down the laptop using verbal prompts so that I could re-start it and continue with my work. The call took about 2 - 3 minutes and this included a short amount of ‘social’ chat where I found out that I was her first Be My Eyes volunteer experience, joked about her telling me that she had just got out of the shower (she quickly told me that she was dressed - not that I would have seen anything anyway) as well as me thanking her for her help. This wasn’t my first experience of using the app but this was by far the most important time I have had to use it. Previously I have tried to get someone to read the bill in a restaurant or read a label on a tub of herbs but these were really for testing purposes to see how the app worked. Currently there are 2,090,032 sighted volunteers who have downloaded the app and have signed up to be a sighted volunteer and just 124,087 vision impaired people who have signed up and use the app. This means that the chances of a sighted person actually being called up is slight but without the volunteers the app just wouldn’t work at all! If you want to be a volunteer, then just download the app and register. The app is available for the iPhone (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/be-my-eyes-helping-blind-see/id905177575?mt=8)and Android (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bemyeyes.bemyeyes) platforms. If you have a vision impairment and feel that you would benefit from using this app, then download the app (as above) and follow the steps for registering as a vision impaired person. Once registered you’re just 30 seconds away from getting sighted support! :-) Read more about this amazing app at: https://www.bemyeyes.com/ 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.  It can be hard as a sighted person to know how much of our visual word to describe (we’ve talked about this before in reference to describing scenes, etc – Insight no. 12 - https://vidatraining.weebly.com/blog/12-greyhound-in-the-roadcommunication-part-2) but following on from Dave’s post last month –‘What do you look like’ (https://vidatraining.weebly.com/blog/95-what-do-you-look-like) this is particularly relevant when talking about people.
I think, as a sighted person first meeting/working with someone with a vision impairment, you have to resist the feeling of responsibility to describe everything visual. In reality, that’s just not possible and also, in general, not helpful. I, Vicky, think there’s 2 elements to consider: 1. When describing someone (or anything for that matter), how much is your interpretation and how much is factual? 2. How useful is the information you’re trying to give? So, thinking of number 1, if I described someone as attractive to Dave, obviously that’s my opinion and, if Dave could see them, it might not be an opinion he shared. Which would suggest this is probably not the most helpful way of describing someone 😊 smiley face! But, relating to number 2, if I just described the factual basics i.e. hair colour, eye colour, shape of face etc. of what benefit is this to Dave? Also, to be accurate, would I describe this person when they were standing right in front of us? – no probably not. I think it’s easier to think about this in the way we do when demonstrating sight guiding - give the information people need to know, for example, if the grounds uneven, etc., not the colour of the walls you’re walking past! So, if we’re in a crowd and people are using a lot of facial expressions or gestures to convey their meaning, then I will describe this to Dave so that he doesn’t miss out on important elements of the social interaction, but I wouldn’t waste my time (or his) on describing the physical appearance of everyone around us. However, obviously it’s an individual thing and some vision impaired people may want more information than others so it’s always worth checking if you’re unsure. It also depends on the context. Interestingly, I have never described myself to Dave. I don’t think physical appearances are that important to me anyway, although we have laughed previously, when I’ve been moaning about an element of my appearance I don’t like, about what visual image he has of me – he’s never said, which is probably a good thing 😊 smiley face. As Dave mentioned in his post though, when he works as a Community Employment Specialist, a role I support him with, I do sometimes describe people if I think their appearance may affect their job seeking (this is not me being judgemental, just passing on visual information that employers would see). However, and I have been asked if I do this, I never describe every member of the group and how they look, it’s just not relevant. I might mention if someone looked really ill or fed up or struggled to make eye contact with anyone, as this might influence the way Dave interacts with them on that day and help him think about how best to assist them. That said, Dave picks a lot of this up from people’s voice, manner etc. Taking Dave’s point about preconceptions based on appearances, I think my upbringing and the years in the different roles I’ve done have definitely proved to me not to pass judgement on people purely based on physical appearance (don’t judge a book by the cover and all that) but obviously there are things I will notice and which I may inadvertently form an opinion on (although for me, I’m much more likely to notice whether a person is smiley or not rather than the colour of their hair). I’m sure though, Dave also does this but forms an opinion from their voice, smell etc.! Having said all of that, there are times when I just can’t help describing a visual image to Dave even when it’s not essential – there are just some things that in my opinion he shouldn’t miss out on. As an example, we were up in London crossing the road and I said to Dave “oh wow, I have to describe what I can see to you”. Basically, there was a lady walking a little way in front of us with some (very) tight Lycra trousers and an extremely wobbly bottom. We didn’t pass any judgement though, just had a bit of a giggle! Dave - So, Vicky, what do you look like? Should I describe what I think you look like based on our previous conversations? :-) Vicky – You can risk that if you’re feeling brave 😊 - smiley face 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.  Have you ever listened to the radio and subconsciously given the voice a face? Or have you read a book and, if the author hasn’t described what someone looks like, done this yourself? Well that’s what I (Dave) do nearly every day.
I can’t see any detail now but, on a good day and in the perfect conditions, still see a rough shape/outline of someone that I then build upon using their voice or from how someone might have described them. Or, if I have known the person for a while, I might even pull a face out of my memory from back when I could see them and fit that to the shape! When I think about this though, I do wonder whether the picture I create is actually of someone as I remember them rather than what they look like now. Take my parents for example, I know they’re both in their 70s but am I remembering them from when I could last see them? And the answer is, probably but I don’t know. Perhaps they don’t look anything like I think they do! Some sighted people stereotypically assume that I need to feel someone’s face in order to create a picture but I’ve never done this… well not seriously anyway. And, no matter how well someone describes themselves or someone else, I never really know how accurate my picture is of them. Do I know what I look like? I have a memory of what I looked like when I was 30 and have an impression in my mind of what I look like now but I don’t really know. I’m told every time I have my haircut that I’m getting lots of grey hair but I’ve never seen them… so I can only think that people are joking with me J So does it matter that I don’t really know what people look like? No, not really, in fact, I reckon I’m sometimes better off not seeing! J What I do know is that I don’t have any preconceptions of someone from what they look like. I get to know people from how they speak and behave and this has definitely helped when working with people in my other role as a Community Employment Specialist. Is it useful to know what people look like? This depends on the situation. If I’m supporting someone with getting back to work then it is helpful to know some things, but this is usually more around appearance and not what they look like. For example, it is useful to know if someone has lots of tattoos or wears lots of jewellery or if they have an obvious impairment. I also like to know if someone has a tidy and clean appearance as this is important when seeking work. However, for most other situations, it really doesn’t matter what someone looks like. Do I miss not seeing people? How do I answer that…? I miss not seeing and why wouldn’t I want to see what my wife and kids actually look like. However, it’s very unlikely that I’ll be able to see clearly again so, being the realist that I am, I don’t think about this very much. I live life with what I have and think I’m doing ‘alright’! (This is an ongoing joke as everything is just ‘alright’) Ultimately my life is like a huge radio programme; lots of voices with no visuals… 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.  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 owner's 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 too. 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. |
Our VIDA Insights...Following our experiences from delivering our Vision Impairment Awareness training days over the past couple of years, we know that there’s loads more that we could talk about and examples we could have shared. Whilst these won’t be a substitute for our training, they will give you an insight (hence the name!) into our thoughts, observations and experiences from each of our perspectives - Dave’s living with sight loss and Vicky’s from being a sighted person and working alongside and supporting people who have sight loss. Archives
November 2020
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