In Touch

The European Accessibility Act is a new piece of legislation that will apply to EU member countries from the end of June, but what effects might it have on the UK given that it is no longer an EU member state. The Act covers a wide range of products and services that blind and partially sighted people use daily. To help analyse this are Antoine Fobe, head of advocacy and campaigns with the Europea...

The Association of Optometrists will be asking MPs to amend what they regard as an outdated administrative task that is delaying thousands of patients getting their certificates of visual impairment. These certificates allow people to get access to essential care services after a diagnosis, but at the moment only ophthalmologists can sign them off. Adam Sampson is the Association's Chief Executive...

Times are hard for many charities, and those in the sight loss sector are no exception. In a previous episode of In Touch, we heard how Guide Dogs needed to take action to avoid a deficit of some twenty million pounds. So what form will that action take and what does it mean for jobs, services and waiting lists? We're joined by Guide Dogs CEO, Andrew Lennox who tells us about the charity's plans t...

Matt Wadsworth has, for the last decade or so, been working to make fellow visually impaired people's access to the food industry much easier. He developed the concept of Good Food Talks, which is now available as a free app, and it can provide a raft of restaurant menus in an accessible format and on the go. Matt has been working with food data management company Nutritics, to reach more provider...

Visually impaired producer of the children's television programme Mixmups, Rebecca Atkinson has created a new concept for customising television access. It is called Ultra Access and is currently available online for episodes of Mixmups. Rebecca, along with Kate Dimbleby from Stornaway, who are the interactive video company providing the technology for Ultra Access, tell In Touch whether they thin...

Over the past nine months, the RNIB, the UK's largest charity supporting blind and partially sighted people, has made some of their staff redundant and, more widely, has made changes to some of their services. They have also recently published their ambitious 10-year strategy, that aims to improve the lives of blind and partially sighted people. The charity's CEO Matt Stringer provides an update o...

In Touch dedicates this programme to the late Dr Fred Reid. His long career in academia and wider achievements make him one of the great blind all-rounders, having contributed to national campaigns that made a real difference to the lives of many blind and partially sighted people. He was also a historian, author, sportsman and lecturer at the University of Warwick. Fred tells his own story, in a...

In Touch returns to the issue of welfare reform, and how the proposed changes to benefits are likely to affect blind and partially sighted people. A panel of guests, comprising of Dominic Milne, The RNIB's Legal Rights Officer and Kevin Mulhern, visually impaired journalist and broadcaster, whose been covering the issue of benefits for visually impaired people for the best part of five decades, pr...

The charity Retina UK are seeking feedback from people with inherited sight loss conditions to learn how they can best support this community and feed into medical research. The charity primarily supports people who are living with genetic conditions, often with a progressive decline in sight. Some of these conditions are well known, such as Retinitis Pigmentosa, Usher Syndrome and Stargardt Disea...

The government has announced its plans to reform the current welfare system with the aim of saving billions. In Touch has brought together a panel of guests to try to outline how the government's plans, outlined in a Green Paper, might affect the benefits that visually impaired people receive. Presenter: Peter White Producer: Beth Hemmings Production Coordinator: Liz Poole Website image descriptio...

How much do you know about deafblindness? If your answer is "very little", it seems you're in good company. Such is the lack of research on the condition that the charity Deafblind UK has collaborated with Birmingham City University to establish a new education and research centre. Said to be the first of its kind, its aim is to both undertake influential research and raise general awareness of de...

In a recent episode of In Touch, we interviewed Sandi Wassmer, who at the time, we believed to be the UK's only blind female CEO. Among the very positive responses we received were a couple pointing us in the direction of two other blind women in the top job, and who would make excellent guests. Always keen to respond to listeners' suggestions, we were delighted when Agnes Lunny and Halima Begum,...

In an episode broadcast last summer, the RNIB's CEO, Matt Stringer joined us to discuss financial pressures facing the charity and the consequent need to save millions of pounds. Since then, we have invited RNIB back to talk to us about their subsequent plans, but they declined, citing confidentiality issues. Meanwhile, In Touch has received information about a consultation exercise, said to be ca...

Natalie Doig is fascinated by myths and legends. Indeed, such is her passion for that which is "weird, wonderful and a little off kilter" that she stepped back from her career working in the disability rights sector to make a podcast about it. Called "Weird in the Wade", a recent episode explored the tale of "Blind George of Anstey". Natalie joins us to discuss Blind George and the issues the stor...

Back in November 2021, In Touch looked at accessibility problems with touch screen payment card machines. Fast forward to 2025 and the amount of contact we're still getting about this suggests very little progress has been made. In this episode, we talk to representatives from RNIB and the hospitality and finance industries to ask why card machines are still so high on our list of accessibility gr...

What are the things you don't know that you don't know?! That was the question posed to us by blind listener Lexi Hibberd who told us that there were aspects of everyday life like eye contact and other body language which hadn't been explained to her. What else then, she asked, didn't she know? We were so intrigued by Lexi's question that we thought we should explore it further. Joining us to do j...

The treatment of Geographic Atrophy (GA) or late stage dry age-related macular degeneration as it's also known, is proving to be a pretty tough nut to crack. Hopes had been high that a treatment available in the USA would also be approved for use here in the UK. However, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has rejected the application. Ed Holloway, Chief Executive of the...

In Touch assesses the findings of a report that looks at the ways special educational needs care is being delivered to the children who need it. The report gives little to no mention of the challenges of specific groups of pupils and so, with the help of Rachael Hewett of the Vision Impairment Centre for Teaching and Research at Birmingham University and the Thomas Pocklington Trust's Tara Chattaw...

Where do you go if you need to repair your Perkins brailler? That is the type-writer like machine that allows braillists to produce writing for school, work or leisure. Recent publicity that the UK’s last certified visually impaired repairer of the Perkins, Alan Thorpe, is looking for an apprentice to continue his work, may have left the impression that there's no one else who can repair it for yo...

The Macular Society has a new CEO, Ed Holloway. With Macular disease being the most common form of sight loss in the UK, its important that the charity continue their work in supporting people with the condition, but also push towards more research and the discovery of new treatments. Ed Holloway describes what his plans are in these areas and other ambitions he has for the future of the charity....

Last year, we heard from two blind women about their experiences of living through the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas. In Touch has invited them back, just over a year on, to hear how their lives have been impacted since the war began. Dalal Al-Taji is from Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip and Heather Stone lives in the northern area of Tel Aviv in Israel. They speak frankly abo...

What a year it has been for blind comedian Chris McCausland. Having just been crowned Strictly Come Dancing's 2024 winner, Chris joins the In Touch team for a very special Christmas edition of the programme, co-hosted by 11-year-old author and YouTube star Betsy Griffin. Presenter: Peter White Producer: Beth Hemmings Production Coordinator: David Baguley Website image description: Peter White sits...

Sandi Wassmer is thought to be the UK's only blind female CEO. She heads the Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion, which is a membership organisation offering companies training and services to make their workplaces more inclusive. Sandi tells In Touch how she worked her way up to get to where she is today, how the impact of losing her vision nearly halted her career and how she no longer...

Transport for London describe what plans they have for making the London Underground system safer for blind and partially sighted passengers. This follows a recent incident involving Lord Blunkett falling between a train and the platform edge. Nick Dent, TfL’s Director of Customer Operations, describes their plans and how quickly they can be implemented. Elaine Macgougan, from Belfast, describes t...

Sir Stephen Timms is the new Labour government's Minister for Social Security and Disability. He answers your questions about issues such as benefits, access to medical information, digital accessibility legislation and more. Presenter: Peter White Producer: Beth Hemmings Production Coordinator: David Baguley Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is...