 With our thoughts turning to the long school holidays, I, Dave, thought that I would write an Insight about Sightseeing from a blind person’s perspective. In last year’s VIDA Insight number 16, Going on Holiday - http://vidatraining.weebly.com/blog/16-going-on-holiday, I briefly touched upon how not being able to see the new surroundings, colours, etc makes holidays for me less enjoyable than when I could see.
Building on that Insight, an element of most holidays and day trips is ‘Sightseeing’; taking in the environment and looking at new things, be that buildings, statues, sculptures, etc. Clearly, if you have sight, then you can experience this just by looking at whatever you’re seeing, however, when you can’t see you miss out on the visual aspect – I’m pointing out the obvious, right? However, there are ways in which a vision impaired person can enjoy the same to some degree. For example, you could do some research online before you go so that you know where you’re going or what you’re going to see and read about the history, etc. Alternatively, you could just ask the person who you go with to describe or read about it (only possible if you’re with someone). Another option would be to take advantage of some great apps and then find out more when you’re there. Technology has really made living with a vision impairment so much more accessible; smart phones enable you to make calls, send texts and emails, use social media and browse the internet and much much more. There are many apps specifically for vision impaired people including some apps that are for identifying items or objects. TapTapSee, CamFind and iDentifi are 3 apps that come to mind and that I have on my phone. These apps allow you to take a photo of a two or three dimensional item from most angles and, using cloud based image recognition API technology, recognise it and tell you what it is. Some of these apps will then provide links to webpages where others will require you to use a web browser to find out more. These apps are particularly useful for statues and objects where it isn’t always obvious what they are. Depending on where you’re visiting, there might be options for you to get a touch tour (a hands on experience) or the ability to use electronic audio guides. Museums and the larger places of interest usually have audio guides (often available in different languages) enabling you to walk around and listen to information about particular objects or rooms or the history of a place at your own leisure. Another way, that doesn’t require the use of technology, is to book yourself on to a guided tour. I find these tours a great opportunity to find out about a new area without having to do the research in advance. I also find that the tour guides often know more about the local area and therefore you find out about some things that you wouldn’t necessarily find online. You don’t require sight for these (other than to follow the guide) so it’s more ‘Hearhearing’ than ‘Sightseeing’?? I’m not saying that Sightseeing is the same when you can’t see, what I’m saying is that there are other ways to appreciate something or somewhere new that don’t require sight. For anyone interested in the apps I mentioned (might be useful for people with vision too), you can read more at: TapTapSee – https://taptapseeapp.com/ CamFind – https://camfindapp.com/ iDentifi - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/identifi-object-recognition-for-visually-impaired/id1135223189?mt=8 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.
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 Vicky: We have a statement on our training quiz ‘Blind people can hear better than sighted people’ and we ask people to mark it as True or False. I’d say we get 50/50 responses – which we then discuss. For those of you wondering about the correct answer – no, people with a vision impairment can’t automatically hear better than sighted people (and there are plenty of people with a dual sensory loss – both a vision and a hearing impairment). However, many people with a vision impairment will use their hearing differently and be more reliant on that sense.
Quite often if we’re out, Dave will ask me ‘What’s that noise?’ to which my reply is sometimes ‘what noise?’ and I then have to focus on sounds around me which I had previously been oblivious to. But to Dave, without sight, noise is an important indicator of what’s going on around him. If out on his own, he will use sound to orientate himself (as well as smell) – so for example, knowing where he is when he hears the electrical drone from a telephone exchange or recognises the smell of a bakery (it’s always a bakery – funny that!) will enable him to know that he is where he is and that he’s on the right route. There is a technique that some blind people use called echolocation – where the person would make a noise (often clicking with their tongue) and, dependent on the responding echo, know how far away items are - there is a fascinating video on the BBC news website of Daniel Kish giving quite a detailed description of a park that he cannot see by relying on echolocation - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/magazine-35545476/daniel-kish-man-who-is-blind-but-can-see-like-a-bat. Dave: It is common knowledge that people with a vision impairment use their other senses more to compensate for a lack or loss of vision. I use my hearing loads, more so if I’m out on my own or with the children to ensure that I am exactly where I think I am. I use traffic noise in particular, listening out for cars so that I can gauge how close I’m getting to a particular junction or to confirm that I’m still on the pavement and heading in the right direction. Since losing Errol (my guide dog) and having to use a white cane, I have had to relearn how to use my senses in tandem, for example, I will sweep my cane and be listening out for what it’s hitting. This might be some metal railings or a wall or even finding a gravel drive. These are known as ‘landmarks’ and it is the sound that these make that I use to orientate myself, not the feel of the cane (notice I didn’t mention cars… whilst they make a great noise when you hit them, because they are a movable object they don’t make good landmarks). We’re always interested to know about other people’s experiences and thoughts. Please share these by commenting… Interested to learn more about VIDA Training? Read about our Training and Consultancy packages, specialising in Vision Impairment and Disability Awareness, Communication and Team Building or contact us for further information.  I (Dave) have been accessing services from UKVIJOBS for several years now and thought it about time to write a blog about them and encourage more vision impaired people to access them.
UKVIJOBS (UK VI Jobs) was created by and still moderated by Brendan Magill, a self-employed Business, Employment & Disability Consultant based in Worcestershire. Brendan set up these services as a side-line to his business nearly 20 years ago to support people with a vision impairment with finding work and with having access to support from other vision impaired people who were employed or self-employed through email groups and noticeboards. I commend Brendan on his dedication and time on keeping these services active. There are 3 services that make up the UKVIJOBS portfolio as follows:
UKVISE is an email discussion group specifically for anyone interested in matters relating to small enterprise or self-employment for people who are vision impaired. This group is really active and is an excellent source for advice and guidance on topics relating to (or close to) the world of self-employment. Recent threads have been about GDPR, accessible printers, web and email hosting and overnight accommodation for support workers.
UKVIEMP is an email discussion group specifically for anyone interested in matters relating to employment of people who are vision impaired. This group is less active than the UKVISE group but is another excellent source of support to people with vision impairments who are in paid employment. Recent postings to this group have been around employing support workers through the Access to Work scheme and about being disabled at work.
The last service offered by the UKVIJOBS is VISECTOR. The VISECTOR mailing list was created to provide a common noticeboard for advertising job vacancies which may be of interest to people who are vision impaired in the United Kingdom. The service is free to both list members (job seekers) and advertisers (usually employers). With job search sites becoming more accessible nowadays, this noticeboard is less active than it used to be, however, jobs are still advertised using this platform especially jobs that are for organisations or charities that work directly with sight loss – RNIB and Thomas Pocklington for example. The UKVIJOBS services can be accessed via a page on Brendan’s business website where you’ll be able to find further information about these services including how you can sign up to the email groups or post jobs on the VISECTOR noticeboard. Just visit: http://www.magill.co.uk/ukvijobs/index.html You can find out more about Brendan at: http://www.magill.co.uk/index.html 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: How much can change in a week and a bit!! When I first started writing this post – England had just beaten Panama 6 -1 in the World Cup, Lewis Hamilton returned to the top of the F1 driver standings following a win at the French Grand Prix, Andy Murray’s return to tennis since Wimbledon last year saw him have a straight sets win over Stan Wawrinka in Eastbourne and England completed a 5 – 0 win over the Aussie’s in the One Day Internationals (Cricket) – sorry, I’m not being sexist, just noted all my examples seem to be male!
So with all this sporting activity (and what a nail biting England match in the World Cup last night!!), doesn’t it encourage you to get off of the sofa and take up a sport? You don’t have to be an expert or be any good, it’s the taking part that counts… and this includes people who have a vision impairment. Back in my sighted days I used to play short mat bowls. I was actually pretty good at this and was ranked in the top 10 in Kent for a while. I played for Kent for several seasons as well as becoming only the 2nd player from Kent to be called to play for England. I have been asked recently if I was interested in taking up running and have also been invited to go to the gym with friends, however, I’m not interested in running and find gyms a bit boring. Since my sight has deteriorated, participating in sport has become less attractive. Also, getting involved in a competitive sport as a blind person would mean that I would have to travel to somewhere like London to participate – making the activity both expensive and time consuming. Maybe when the children are a bit older and I have more free time on my hands (when I’ve retired), I’ll think again about finding a local sport that I can play. However, there are some excellent organisations that are doing a great job in ensuring that sport is available for people with a vision impairment. There are 2 main charities leading the way in the UK: · British Blind Sports (https://britishblindsport.org.uk/) are a national charity providing sporting opportunities for vision impaired people across the UK. · Metro Blind Sports (https://www.metroblindsport.org/sports/) are another charity who provides sporting activities in and around London as well as promoting other UK activities via their newsletter and social media pages. There are also other smaller charities that are dedicated to a particular sporting activity such as ‘English Blind Golf Association’ (http://www.blindgolf.co.uk/) and ‘Sailability’ (https://www.sailability.org/?p=19). Vicky: Whilst Dave isn’t interested in running, I just wanted to mention the Park Runs that now happen every Saturday morning across the country (https://www.parkrun.org.uk/). These are free events to attend, and people can run or walk the 5k courses (or run and walk which is what I do!). They are operated by volunteers and there is always a volunteer who will keep the last person company be they walking or running so that no-one finishes on their own which I think is a lovely touch. They also welcome people with vision impairments and encourage people to volunteer their services as a Guide Runner – this can be anyone of any running or walking ability and they will match people accordingly. Its easy to register and, as I said, completely free to take part! So, sighted or not, there is a sport out there for you… you just need to go and find it! 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
February 2020
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