In Touch

Listeners tell us why they think their sighted running guides should receive a medal on completing the London Marathon. Organisers tell us these policies are under review. The BBC's technology reporter Rory Cellan-Jones has been to Cambridge to see a new tactile innovation for helping teach visually impaired children how to write computer code. Listener Annie Rimmer has got back to In Touch to sha...

Dame Joan Plowright was discovered as a stage actor in the late 1950s before going on to have a stellar career – starring in The Country Wife, A Taste of Honey and as Saint Joan. She became Lady Olivier on marrying Sir Laurence Olivier in 1961. They were married until his death in 1989. Dame Joan took parts in film and television production up until 2014 when her worsening eyesight compelled her t...

Icons is an epic new history series for BBC Two profiling great people from seven different fields of human endeavour. It asks you to vote for your favourites, and ultimately decide who was the greatest person of the 20th century. Icons: Activists is on BBC Two, Monday 21 June, @ 9pm. If you want to find out how to vote for Helen Keller or any of the other nominees featured in the series then go t...

In 2013, Norway's equivalent Equality and Human Rights Commission was given the authority to fine both public and private sector organisations if they didn't make their websites usable to a certain standard. There are suggestions from campaigners in the UK that the same approach should and could be adopted. Robin Christopherson from AbilityNet believes it is something that would work in the UK. Ma...

Sally Clay’s recommended audiobook: Before I Go To Sleep by SJ Watson Ryan Kelly ‘s audiobook recommendation: The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North Peter White’s audiobook recommendation Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh Presenter: Lee Kumutat Producer: Peter White

At the age of 14, Israel Martin’s life was on the verge of going off the rails. Growing up in Newham in East London, Israel was a member of a gang which committed crime and got involved in fights. When he started to lose his sight, his life changed, but not as he would have originally expected it to. Our reporter, Tom Walker, has been speaking to Israel at the Royal National College for the Blind...

Due to a long fought-for change by member states to EU legislation, the UK government now has discretionary powers to abolish VAT on all ebooks. The CEO of the Publishers’ Association says that no VAT would help people on low incomes including some visually-impaired people for whom these are essential. Reporter Tom Walker looks in to why Ofcom ruled that a London shock jock overstepped the mark wh...

Going to university presents special challenges if you are blind or visually impaired. It may be your first time away from home. You have to learn a whole new level of independence from finding your way around unfamiliar spaces, to decoding lectures and fitting in with your new friends. Peter White talks to three students about their experiences.

The early symptoms of a rare form of Alzheimer's disease, known as Posterior Cortical Atrophy, presents problems for people in seeing and making sense of the world. The disease starts in the visual cortex at the back of the brain. Its impact is devastating and its progression is aggressive. Doug Banks, who is 58 and has PCA, likens it to looking through a shattered mirror. He talks to Peter White...

In 2012 Simon Rockman set up a simple-to-use mobile phone service aimed at the older visually impaired person. Fuss Free phones had one button, which put your call through to a call centre and they would either phone someone or text them for you. Now Fuss Free Phones has closed. Peter White asks Simon Rockman what went wrong and will any customers be left out of pocket? Reporter Tom Walker meets J...

On the centenary of Armistice Day, over 100 blind veterans assembled at Horse Guards Parade in London. Some were blinded in action. However, most started to lose their sight well after their service had ended. Reporter Dave Williams went to talk to them as they assembled for this historic event - we hear just some of their stories. Also, Peter White visits 97-year-old blind veteran Peter Van Zelle...

Over the next 12 months, In Touch is planning a series of stories and interviews looking at the changing landscape of our streets, and the ways in which councils, rehabilitation trainers and technology can help visually impaired people cope with this fast-changing picture. Professors Anna Lawson and Rich Romano are both leading on different projects looking at the future of towns and cities. Prof...

What help can you get if you struggle to recycle your rubbish? Listeners talk about the problems they have with recycling their rubbish: from knowing which bin to put the right rubbish in, to finding it again once it has been collected. We talk to Wayne Priestly from the Association for Public Service Excellence about what help visually impaired-residents can expect to receive from their local cou...

Last week the Royal National Institute for the Blind announced the closure of the Pears Centre, a children's home and school, run by the charity. The Pears Centre will shut in November after Ofsted raised significant concerns about the management of the Specialist Learning Centre. The children at the centre will need to find new placements. We get reaction from Hardeep Rai, a parent, whose son is...

A school for visually impaired children with additional disabilities is being closed.

Tom Walker talks to visually-impaired attendees of the first conference of the Partially-Sighted Society. Anita Plant, CEO of the PSS talks to Peter White about the charity's relaunch. RNIB Optometrist Louise Gaw talks to Cheryl Gabriel about the way lighting can help someone with low vision, make the most of their residual sight. Louise stresses the importance of getting professional help from a...

News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted. Jackie Brown wants better access to domestic white goods, which don't require sighted help to set up. Robin Christopherson from AbilityNet, suggests smart options which use apps, speech and wifi to enable a blind person to take control of their domestic appliances. Jackie is concerned however, that not everyone is comfortab...

A question often-asked of blind and visually impaired people, by both sighted and other blind people, is "is your partner blind or sighted?" Peter White explores the reasons behind this question, and blind and visually impaired peoples' reaction to it. Guests: Amie Slavin, Jonathan Mosen and Rob Murthwaite. Presenter: Peter White Producer: Lee Kumutat.

16-year-old Grace Marsh talks of her vision loss and her poetry aspirations. Actor Karina Jones lands an iconic role as a blind character.

21-year-old Allan Hennessey was born in Iraq totally blind. His parents applied to the UK for him to undergo laser surgery, which restored a minimal amount of vision in one eye. Later Allan and his family settled in the UK on a council estate in east London. While attending a mainstream school, he rejected all attempts to teach him to read braille or adapt to his visual impairment, preferring to r...

In August 2016 it became mandatory for health and social care providers to offer patients written information in whichever format they required - whether that be via text, email, braille, audio or large print. The implementation of what is called the Accessible Information Standard has recently been reviewed with mixed results. We put some listeners' experiences of getting required information in...

What's the best approach when it comes to holidays for blind and partially sighted people? TravelEyes is a company which takes both blind and sighted people on holiday - the visually impaired traveller pays full price, and the fully-sighted person pays up to 50% of the full cost and agrees to guide and describe the attractions for the visually impaired travellers. But what if you have an additiona...

A look at the range of specialist and non-specialist gadgets available for identifying objects and travelling around. Joining Peter to share their experiences of solutions offered by technology are guests Jackie Brown, the incoming chair of the British Computer Association of the Blind, and Dave Williams, a freelance trainer on technology. If you'd like to find out more about the products discusse...

Two listeners to In Touch talk about some of the obstacles they faced when looking to move. Danielle Burgess is looking for a new home to rent, and is discovering how separate she feels from the process because everything needs to be described to her. Ben Rendle, his visually impaired partner and their family recently bought a flat off-plan and had to find a way of envisaging it for himself. Penny...

Cyrus Habib lost his sight when he was eight, and in January this year aged 35 took up an elected position as Lieutenant governor of Washington State in America. He talks to Peter White about walking the fine line between sympathy and empathy when campaigning, and how technology is helping him do his job. Listener Nick Adamson has been working for the same company in the same role for the last 12...