On the 10th of October, the Scottish parliament passed a bill which, in part, bans parking on pavements. It is the first nationwide ban in the UK. Joe Irvin, chief executive officer of the campaign group Living Streets, says it is a win for pedestrians and blind and partially sighted people. But how will it be enforced, and does it go far enough? What is it like listening to the streets at night if you’re homeless? Hugh Huddy immersed himself in amongst rough sleepers in Cardiff, and recorded wh...
Oct 15, 2019•25 min
Burger King had to apologise after a staff member refused to read a brownie’s ingredients list to a blind woman with a nut allergy. So how should visually impaired people go about finding safe meals when eating certain foods has serious consequences? UK Hospitality safety advisor Dr Lisa Ackerley, and Philippa Lomas, a blind mum of two children with severe food allergies, share their thoughts. Descent Into Darkness by Simon Mahoney tells his sight loss story and is, he hopes, a companion guide f...
Oct 08, 2019•19 min
Lucy Edwards spent six years perfecting her beauty routine after she lost her sight, and has passed on all she learnt in a book called The Blind Beauty Guide. She gives fellow blind journalist Emma Tracey her best makeup tips. Presenter: Peter White Producer: Lee Kumutat Pictured, from left to right: Emma Tracey and Lucy Edwards standing in the In Touch studio.
Sep 25, 2019•24 min
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal has found Bobby Qureshi put his own financial interests above the interests of his visually impaired patients. Qureshi was medical director at the London Eye Hospital, now under different management, implanting a new type of lens to patients who have macular degeneration. The tribunal found patients did not receive enough information on the risks prior to having the procedure. Cathy Yelf CEO of the Macular Society which gave evidence to the tribunal from 20 cas...
Sep 17, 2019•19 min
Two visually-impaired opera singers tell us their stories. New Zealander Joanne Roughton Arnold chose singing opera over playing the violin. Alan Pingarrón from Mexico is taking part in a Royal Opera House training programme. Presenter: Peter White Producer: Lee Kumutat Reporter: Toby Davey
Sep 11, 2019•19 min
22-year-old Matthew Shiffrin contacted Lego to ask them to make instructions for their construction sets accessible to visually-impaired people. The blind Lego enthusiast had been devising his own, with the help of a friend, for ten years and making them available on his own website. The toy company has met the challenge and released instructions in a downloadable format for screenreaders, for braille, and to listen to directly online. Peter White speaks to Matthew Shiffrin about why he loves Le...
Sep 03, 2019•29 min
This is the second episode of our series examining the times in our lives as blind people when we are faced with a loss of control and power entirely caused by our visual impairment. Both programmes look at ways of gathering yourself, restoring your dignity, suppressing that sense of powerlessness, and giving you back the control everyone needs to be functioning adults. Situations like feeling loss of control because of access, orientation and/or mobility. Handing power over to someone else over...
Aug 27, 2019•42 min
This is the first episode of a two-part series examining the times in our lives as blind people when we are faced with a loss of control and power entirely caused by our visual impairment. Both programmes look at ways of gathering yourself, restoring your dignity, suppressing that sense of powerlessness, and giving you back the control everyone needs to be functioning adults. Situations like feeling loss of control because of access, orientation and/or mobility. Inability to take part in a meani...
Aug 20, 2019•28 min
Guillermo Robles took the pizza company Domino's to court because he claimed he was unable to access their website and app to order his meal of choice using the software that reads the screen aloud to him. He also claimed he was unable to take advantage of their discounts, and build his own pizza. But Domino's argues that the Americans with Disabilities act, the Ada, pre-dates the introduction of websites that was passed in nineteen-ninety, and that in any case making its website accessible woul...
Aug 13, 2019•19 min
Michael Tupper from Clitheroe in Lancashire tells Peter White about legal action he is taking against East Lancashire Hospitals Trust because they aren’t giving him details on appointments and other information in his preferred format, large print. Michael is being supported by RNIB, whose legal adviser, Sam Fothergill, provides us with the legal background of the case. We also hear from LookFest, which is a weekend festival in Hereford for blind and partially sighted young people. Reporter Lucy...
Aug 06, 2019•19 min
RNIB and manufacturer GEO are developing a smart meter that will be accessible for blind and partially sighted people. Audrey Gallagher from Energy UK tells Peter White about the meter and its accessibility features. We also hear from John Worsfold from RNIB who tells us about how the meter has been tested. The Department for Transport is conducting surveys on textured paving. Ann Frye, formerly head of the DfT accessibility unit, tells us how textured paving got started in the UK and Europe and...
Jul 30, 2019•19 min
Caroline Casey has been campaigning for more disability inclusion for the past decade. Earlier this year she took her cause to Davos – the summit for big corporations. She wants 500 CEO’s to sign up to making and acting on one commitment around disability for their company. James McCarthy from Blind in Business, a charity working to boost the employment rates of visually impaired people at entry level, says recruiters must be incentivised to increase disabled recruitment. Presenter: Peter White ...
Jul 23, 2019•19 min
For World Emoji Day the social media company We Are Social and the RNIB are collaborating to find ways to make emojis more accessible to visually impaired people. Sarah Bailey of the RNIB tells us what they've come up with so far, and we test social media expert Fern Lulham, on their uses and their meanings. The Tree of Dreams is a story about expectations, reality, fantasy and family, devised by Ipswich’s resident company of visually impaired people, with dynamic Audio Description by the intern...
Jul 16, 2019•19 min
William Phillips is a visually impaired cognitive behavioural therapy specialist who works to make CBT accessible to others with sight loss. He lays out how blind people can go about getting mental health support that suits them. There was a huge response to last week’s programme with Ashley Cox’s story about struggling to find a counsellor. We read a selection of your emails. Visually impaired actor Karina Jones stars in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s current productions of As You Like It and ...
Jul 09, 2019•19 min
From July 2019, all new electric vehicles will have sounds added to keep pedestrians safe. Transport minister Michael Ellis, gives us the government’s take. We also hear the thoughts of Jessica Schröder from the German national organisation for the blind, a member of the European Blind Union which led the campaign to add a sound to electric and hybrid vehicles. She tells us why she doesn’t think the new law goes far enough. When Ashley Cox needed help with his mental health, he went online to fi...
Jul 02, 2019•19 min
Braille readers have enjoyed magazines from Scottish Braille Press for the best part of forty years. Now the charity says it is discontinuing all of its five publications. Scottish Braille Press CEO Mark O’Donnell explains the decision. Aletea Sellers moved from one side of Birmingham to the other about four months ago. She is still waiting for help from the Guide Dogs Association to learn her way around her new neighbourhood. Erin Jepsen has two visually impaired children and reads and transcri...
Jun 25, 2019•19 min
Should blind people bother with the ironing? Blind mum Emma Williams and blind dad Allan Tweddle explain why and when you should bother and give our presenter Lee Kumatat a lesson and tips for getting it right. While some visually impaired people need a first aid certificate to move forward with education or work, some have found it hard to gain the necessary accreditation. Johny Cassidy meets Alan North, a partially sighted trainer who’s helping them to qualify. Presenter: Lee Kumutat Producer:...
Jun 18, 2019•19 min
Blind and visually impaired prisoners in the US state of Maryland have been awarded $1.4 million by the correctional service for discrimination. They successfully claimed they were not given access to information, jobs and courses to give them equality within the prison or during rehabilitation. Eve Hill, representing the group, says some have had to pay for sighted guide assistance, and others to perform sex acts to have information read to them. Tyrell lost his sight through a gunshot wound an...
Jun 11, 2019•19 min
Joy Addo, sole parent to a three-year-old, shares tips on keeping her home tidy. Dave Williams of the RNIB says they have plans to increase the number of games available in its catalogue. And VocalEyes trustee Joanna Wood, tells the story of how going to a described theatre performance, revealed more to her than what was happening on-stage. Presenter: Peter White Producer: Lee Kumutat
Jun 04, 2019•19 min
There’s evidence that board games can sharpen cognitive skills and help us to connect socially. So why are the numbers available to visually impaired people dropping? There have always been fewer games available and most of us will have had to adapt a game or do something to make it work for us. Brailling your own cards, sticking bump-ons on boards and game tokens and having clues and questions read for you by someone else. But should the onus always fall to us? Three guests discuss the barriers...
May 28, 2019•19 min
In Touch listeners share their voting experiences, and one Australian citizen tells how she was able to vote independently in the recent federal election. The European Blind Union has researched the main accessible forms of voting throughout Europe, and the results are surprising. A gym in Uckfield, Sussex has listened to the needs of one visually impaired woman, made some small changes, and enabled her to exercise comfortably and confidently. We find out how they did it. Presenter: Peter White ...
May 21, 2019•19 min
A sighted author on writing a book about a woman regaining sight. A project to tell the stories of blind women around the world. And one listener’s view on accepting her blindness. Presenter: Peter White Producer: Lee Kumutat Pictured: A blind girl learning braille in a school in India. Courtesy of the 'A Light in Darkness' project.
May 14, 2019•19 min
A landmark High Court judgment says tactile voting devices are 'unlawful'. And a new way of getting around Gatwick Airport. Presenter: Lee Kumutat Producer: Tom Walker
May 07, 2019•19 min
Two guide dog trainers from the Liverpool Guide Dogs Centre, Nina Swindells and Jan Johnston, tell presenter Lee Kumutat about Positive Reinforcement Training, which the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association is in the process of introducing across its twenty training schools. Lee also speaks to David Grice, GDBA’s Head of Canine Behaviour and Training, about the rationale for the new methodology. Finally, we hear from visually impaired organist, David Aprahamian Liddle. In 2002, David got the opp...
May 01, 2019•19 min
Dave Steele was diagnosed with the hereditary condition retinitis pigmentosa five years ago. He found translating his grief and loss into poetry was cathartic for him, and quickly discovered that it helped others who were also coming to terms with visual impairment. The Colorado Center for the Blind in the United States, run by the National Federation for the Blind, offers a nine month course to people who want to learn skills for living life as a visually impaired person. At the end of the cour...
Apr 23, 2019•31 min
Last week we reported on the concerns of some listeners that changes to the software Apple uses on its iphones and macs could compromise their privacy. We reported that by showing that a screen-reader was being used on a website, it could reveal that the person browsing was visually impaired. They'd released scant information about this new feature at the time, until the day after our broadcast. They then published a blog, with more details clarifying the new feature was not automatically enable...
Apr 16, 2019•19 min
In the latest version of Apple’s software for both iPhones and Macs, a feature has been included that tells websites a screen reader is being used. A screen reader is software that takes information from the screen and turns it in to digital speech or braille. This new feature is turned on by default. While it can be turned off, some blind people argue it shouldn’t be on by default as they don’t want websites or their developers, knowing they are blind. Ben Mustill-Rose is a developer who’s blin...
Apr 09, 2019•35 min
Retina UK formed in 1976 as a voluntary organisation and is now helping to fund and develop treatments for genetic eye conditions. But for the first time in its history, it is conducting a wide-ranging piece of research into the lives of people who have genetic sight loss. Chief Executive Tina Houllaghan explains why. Tom Walker meets a keen blind archer from west Wales, who says the sport helped him out of his depression. And the Milton Mountaineers celebrate 50 years of gaining summits with a ...
Apr 02, 2019•19 min
Richard Kramer, the chief executive of Sense, a charity that supports people who have a hearing and visual impairment, tells Peter White about his concerns over the delays in appointing a minister for disabled people, following the resignation of Sarah Newton MP nearly a fortnight ago. Peter White talks to Kerry Fielding, a visually-impaired woman from Blackpool, who is experiencing significant delays with her application to Access to Work for specialist equipment to enable her to take up a new ...
Mar 26, 2019•19 min
Driverless vehicles are being tested at the moment but at the Blind Veterans UK Centre in Ovingdean, Brighton, a six month trial for the use of visually impaired people has just got underway. Reporter Lucy Edwards went to find out what some of the blind veterans think of them. Roy Symons is turning 100 on Friday. His secret to a long life? Keep organised, keep your independence and have a tot of something strong each day. Peter White visits him in his home in Harrow to toast him on his birthday....
Mar 20, 2019•19 min
