In Touch

In Touch reflects on a specific element of the Autumn Budget that relates to the Work Capability Assessment, following concerns raised by the dual-disability charity, Sense. Their CEO, Richard Kramer explains how the proposed amendments could impact people's ability to find and maintain work and the receipt of certain benefits. We get answers to your questions: including why some visually impaired...

What are the big names from across the sight loss sector doing about the current provision of technology training? We have brought together a panel of guests from RNIB, AbilityNet, TAVIP, Visionary, Sight and Sound Technologies and rehabilitation specialists to discuss this issue. On last week's programme, we focused on why so many visually impaired people aren't able to access meaningful in-perso...

When the RNIB announced changes to the way they deliver their Technology for Life service, we at In Touch heard a lot of trepidation from listeners over where visually impaired people can now go for meaningful support with tech. We thought we'd bring together a panel of guests from some of the big names across the sight loss sector, to tease out where this kind of help can be found and, ideally, d...

The eye care support pathway is a framework developed by the RNIB and partners from across the sight loss sector. It aims to support people through the various stages of sight loss by helping them to understand those stages and signposting them to sources of assistance to navigate through each one. Rob Cooper, Director of Strategic Engagement at RNIB joins us to explain how the process will work,...

It's now two years since the publication of "The Unseen" - a report exploring domestic abuse experienced by blind and visually impaired people. Now Extant, a group of visually impaired performing artists, has adapted the report into an audio drama, and a short tour of the production starts on the 16th of October in Wolverhampton. Extant members, Ben Wilson and Georgie Wyatt join us to explain more...

When you need help or information, where is best to turn? Perhaps reaching out to peers via online methods, or perhaps finding a group that you can meet up with in-person. Has the prevalence of social media and online meetings discouraged in-person get togethers and has it meant that the quality of our interactions has been diminished? Or does it make accessing information and help from peers and...

For many years, we've been used to in-stadium commentaries on football matches for people with no or only a little sight, but Crystal Palace have become the first Premier League club to offer another permanent high-tech accessibility feature to their partially sighted fans. It is called the GiveVision device. It provides people who have some remaining vision with an enhanced view of the game, up c...

Melanie Barratt is a decorated Paralympic swimmer, having won two Golds, two Silvers and a Bronze at the Atlanta and Sydney games. She has had a long career, but her most recent feat took her away from the swimming pool and into the English Channel. Melanie recently completed the 33km swim and made history while doing it, as she is thought to be the first blind woman to have finished. Melanie tell...

New research done at Anglia Ruskin University's vision and eye research unit, suggests that people who lose their sight in early life, or indeed are born without sight, have more difficulty in judging the distance of a sound source, than those who lose their sight later in life. This seemingly counterintuitive idea piqued our interest and so Professor Shahina Pardhan, the director of the unit and...

The Paris Paralympic Games have got off to an explosive start, with many of our visually impaired athletes earning gold, silver and bronze medals. In Touch speaks to gold medal cyclist Lizzie Jordan and silver medal rower Sam Murray. We also speak to David Clarke, who is totally blind, and was appointed as the CEO of Paralympics GB fairly recently. David reflects on the legacy of the games and dis...

Steve Darling is not the first visually impaired MP, but he is the latest, after winning Torbay in Devon for the Liberal Democrats in July's general election. In Touch speaks to Steve about the excitements and challenges of taking up his new role in the Mother of parliaments. In Touch visits an archaeological dig site in Cookham, where an 8th century monastery is being excavated. Our main interest...

Everyone has to put their trust in other people from time to time but when you are blind or partially sighted, do you have to do it more often than most? For example, when asking a stranger for help on the street or in a train station, when purchasing something in a shop and in our relationships. To help us analyse this topic are three visually impaired people with differing career backgrounds, re...

Tony Sheeran tells In Touch about a recent incident when he was attempting to book a self-guided walking holiday on the Isle of Wight, along with his sighted wife and guide dog. Sheeran is an experienced walker, having conquered Mount Fuji and the Capital Ring, but when he came to book with travel operator Macs Adventure, he was initially refused the booking. Recently, the In Touch team released a...

In Touch has been hearing that many local Talking Newspapers are experiencing long delays linked to the postal service. Talking Newspapers are an essential service to blind and partially sighted people, as it keeps people informed of localised events and news. Listeners access a TN via recorded readings of the local papers by volunteers. The recordings are then put onto the listeners preferred for...

In Touch has learnt about changes happening to the RNIB's Technology for Life service that will result in major changes to how the service is delivered, and may result in staff redundancies amongst the team that has many visually impaired employees. This change is separate from a ten-year proposed plan of changes that we recently spoke to the charity's Chief Executive Matt Stringer about. These in...

Researchers from Moorfields Eye Hospital and University College London (UCL) have identified markers in the blood that may predict which Glaucoma patients are likely to continue losing vision despite treatment that aims to lower the pressure that causes their sight loss. Professor Ted Garway-Heath tells In Touch more about their clinical trial. On In Touch, we've always tried to be careful not to...

After 15 years, Cathy Yelf is retiring as the CEO of the Macular Society. Over those years, Cathy has demonstrated a great passion for and has been instrumental in generating wider awareness for macular related diseases. She has also been a regular and trusted contributor to In Touch on issues relating to the diseases. Peter conducts a farewell interview with Cathy Yelf, discussing what has change...

Like many charitable organisations, the RNIB is facing financial losses in certain areas and is having to find means of saving money across the organisation. It needs to cut around £10 million and staff have been told that redundancies will be happening. The RNIB's CEO Matt Stringer tells In Touch about the charity's current financial situation, whether any of services will be impacted and about t...

Emma Tracey has a long association with In Touch and is now the presenter of the BBC disability and mental health podcast "Access All". Emma has been speaking to politicians ahead of the general election about issues affecting disabled people. We welcome her back to tell us what she learned, including about issues specific to the blind and visually impaired community. Andrew Hesser is fascinated b...

The UK Clinical Eye Research Strategy aims to provide focal points for research and funding into eye disease, treatments and prevention. They have updated their areas of focus, based on a survey of what patients want and need. Professor Rupert Bourne is consultant ophthalmic surgeon at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, and has been the national lead on ophthalmology research for the past nine ye...

The NHS has launched a tool to try to improve bowel cancer screening for people with sight loss. The Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) can detect signs of bowel cancer and it is important to catch it as early as possible. The FIT aid tool is an adaptation which makes the standard test more accessible with a channel that enables the faecal sample to be guided into the bottle, as well as a stand that...

Alt-Text is an image description for those who use screen readers. It is an important accessibility tool that is often misused or is missing entirely, impacting on visually impaired people's experiences when consuming online content. The BBC's Johny Cassidy was instrumental in creating new mandatory training and guidance for journalists so that they can consider and begin to implement meaningful d...

Although not now new, gene therapy is an evolving procedure for the treatment of a range of eye conditions. Recent developments include an American-based trial involving a gene editing process known as CRISPR. We speak to Dr Eric Pierce and Dr Mark Pennesi, who were both involved in the trial, as well as Olivia Cook, who tells us about her experience of undergoing the pioneering treatment. Closer...

Technology often supports blind and visually impaired people to achieve independence. However, the process can also work in reverse - hindering rather than helping. We speak to listeners about their experience of booking to see their favourite acts using Ticketmaster. And is an update to an app always good news? Maybe not if you're a blind user of Sonos speakers. We look at what's caused the upset...

Victoria Harrison is the UK's first totally blind ambassador to be posted overseas. In August she will take up the role as Ambassador to the Republic of Slovenia, and will be accompanied by her guide dog Otto. Victoria tells Peter about how she got into the diplomatic service, coming up against peoples perceptions of visual impairment and her capabilities to be a diplomat, and about the positive i...