To quote from the Introduction:

“A disabled person and person with reduced mobility is defined in the Regulation as “any person whose mobility when using air transport is reduced due to any physical disability (sensory or locomotor, permanent or temporary), intellectual disability or impairment, or any other cause of disability, or age”. It is the CAA’s view, based on engagement with disability organisations, that ‘hidden disabilities’ should be considered to include, but not be limited to, dementia, autism, learning disabilities, anxiety issues, mental health conditions, visual impairments and hearing loss.

The company behind the multi award winning RoomMate, ADi Access, have been meeting with and speaking to a number of airports around the UK.

St Marys airport main terminal

The RoomMate is an electronic, wall-mounted device, which offers Blind and Visually Impaired visitors bespoke audio description in a disabled access toilet. Each unit also comes complete with a high visibility door sign to indicate that the facility has an ADi RoomMate installed. The first of these revolutionary devices being installed in St Mary’s Airport on The Isles of Scilly.

Russ Schild, Airport and Air Traffic Services Manager at St Mary’s Airport, said:

“I tried both out yesterday evening and they are great I must say.”

Passengers this morning were trying them out of curiosity and gave great compliments too.”

The RoomMate is the first of a series of devices that uses a patented (pending) technique to provide an audio description to help visually impaired users interact with more confidence in unknown environments and has been designed, initially, to describe disabled access toilets.

With no two toilets the same, each RoomMate is customised to its own facility and with no requirements on behalf of the user; a key, phone or other interface, remains inclusive to all. Further variants, including a portable solution for hotels and events, are planned for launch in 2017.

Managing Director of ADi Access, Helen Kemp, explains:

“The RoomMate is officially designated as an ‘auxiliary aid’ and is a giant step forward for blind people under the Equality Act 2010. With the CAA’s new guidelines bringing the plight of many disabled passengers into the public consciousness we are confident that more airports will see that attracting customers and users from an often forgotten section of our society is easier than they previously would have suspected.”

The Visit Britain forecast for 2017 is for 38.1 million visits, an increase of 4.0% on 2016; and £24.1 billion in visitor spending, an increase of 8.1% on 2016. Although we don’t know exactly how many will have Disabilities we do know that the more help there is for them in the Terminals, especially when using the facilities, the better.” (Source: Visit Britain)

The company are currently talking to a number of airports throughout the UK, including Heathrow, Glasgow and Bristol airport. With these talks is the confidence that the RoomMate will be installed in these airports and many more to provide a solution for visually impaired air travel passengers for many years to come.

The RoomMate has also been installed in other locations in the UK, including charities, hospitals and tourist attractions, with the hope to expand and reach more locations in future. To find a RoomMate near you and more information about ADi Access, visit www.adiaccess.co.uk.

After initially being invited to teach vision rehabilitation at the German Jordanian University in Amman, Jordan, Andrew Miller, optometry lead at charity Focus Birmingham’s Low Vision Centre, has been hugely involved in an “EU TEMPUS” project to develop vision rehabilitation training and teaching resources.

Since then, his role has developed over the course of ten trips to Jordan which have also seen him visit Palestine as part of the initiative’s ongoing work.

Andrew Miller, Optometry Lead at Focus Birmingham, with Liana Al-Labadi, Assistant Professor and Head of Optometry, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine

Andrew said of the TEMPUS project: “The programme has allowed us to form a consortium with other teaching organisations and charities across Europe and, through this, it is hoped that Focus Birmingham will share good practice between the EU and the Middle East as well as form stronger links with the partner organisations.”

“It has been hugely rewarding working on a project in countries who are striving to improve services for their people living with sight loss. Our work has raised the profile of our local organisation on an international level, and in addition it has also produced some valuable funding to reinvest in services for people living in Birmingham.”

In particular, Andrew’s work on the project has allowed Focus to develop free training resources and a website for use in encouraging and establishing new low vision services in developing countries in the Middle East as well as Africa.

He added: “Spending time teaching and writing has led to a huge increase in my awareness of issues around the cultural differences in the acceptance and management of disability. This has certainly had a significant effect on my practice back in Birmingham.”

Andrew was initially contacted in 2011 in an email from Swedish vision rehabilitation specialist and author Krister Inde.

“I had only met Krister once before and this was some time before receiving the email, so it was a huge surprise. Krister’s email told me about a project he had developing vision rehabilitation services in Jordan. He wanted an optometrist to go and teach local Jordanian optometrists the basics of low vision assessments.”

Andrew Miller teaching students at the German Jordanian University Vision Rehabilitation Center. Amman, Jordan

Andrew was concerned about the prospect of visiting Jordan, but any fears proved unfounded. He added: “At the time of the initial contact I had never been to that part of the world. Our news only had bad stories about unrest in the Middle East, and I was concerned about how hospitable the people would be to someone from the UK. But from the moment I arrived the people have been wonderful – generous and accommodating – and I never felt anything other than incredibly welcome.”

The Vision Rehabilitation course is based at the German Jordanian University in Amman and led by a French Canadian called Dr Nathalie Bussières. Teaching is divided into a diploma course and a Masters programme. Resources are understandably limited and on his first visit to Jordan Andrew found himself running a low vision assessment for a diabetic woman in a crowded university office. A visual training centre has since been established consisting of offices, two classrooms, a waiting area and a teaching optometry room which has a side room where fellow students and the patient’s family can watch examinations being carried out.

The programme has now been extended to include other students in the neighbouring Palestinian West Bank. Through the project, the An-Najah National University in Palestine has had support to develop an undergraduate curriculum and establish a low vision teaching clinic. This will allow all student optometrists at the university to get experience and training in how to manage and help patients with low vision.

“The TEMPUS project was the brainchild of Nathalie and I can take no credit for most of the initial work. My involvement at the initial stages was to find partner organisations in the UK to contribute to the project,” Andrew continued.

“We are just publishing “See More: The Low Vision Toolkit” which is a training guide designed to support practitioners looking to establish low vision services around the world. The toolkit is a step-by-step guide to help optometrists in developing countries learn about vision rehabilitation. We have had interest from people in Africa and the Middle East and we are now working to set up an accredited online course to support this learning.”

Andrew Miller with former Masters students from the German Jordanian University Vision Rehabilitation Center. Amman

Andrew has now visited Jordan on ten occasions to teach students at the university in Amman. “I find that the more I go to teach, the more I learn. My Arabic is limited to a pitiful few words but I am still bowled over by the warmth and generosity of the people there. I have also been lucky enough to travel and see Petra and Jerusalem as well as the amazing views of the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights.

“I am immensely proud to be part of Nathalie’s “flying faculty” and in the future I hope to continue my links with the department and the wonderful work they do.”

Further information about the Tempus project can be found by visiting the EU funded website www.visionme.org.

Further information about Focus Birmingham is available by visiting www.focusbirmingham.org.uk or calling 0121 478 5200, or the charity’s helpline on 0121 478 5222.

Growing up, Tammy Ruggles always wanted to be a photographer like her hero Ansel Adams, but her progressive blinding disease, Retinitis Pigmentosa, prevented her.

She couldn’t read the settings on a camera, or see in a darkroom due to the night blindness that is associated with RP.

But 2013 changed all of that, when she discovered how easy it was to use a digital camera. No settings to read; no darkroom necessary.

To practice photography, she uses a point-and-shoot digital camera set on auto, a 47-inch computer monitor, her remaining vision, and former art education. She says she couldn’t do it without today’s technology.

Tammy’s portfolio can be viewed at DeviantArt.com, and her photo books are available on Kindle at Amazon:

Portfolio: http://tammyruggles.deviantart.com/gallery/

Photo Books, Art Books, and E-books by Tammy Ruggles: amazon.com/author/tammyruggles

National disability charity, Sense, has responded to the news that the Labour Party intends to launch an early years taskforce looking into childcare provision and early-years learning.

The taskforce, announced by shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, as part of this year’s Labour Party Conference, will aim to ensure that all children and parents have access to quality, affordable childcare.

Sense, a charity which supports and campaigns on behalf of children and adults with sensory impairments and complex needs, has been calling on the Government to ensure better access to specialist early years support for disabled children. Earlier this year, Sense led an inquiry into play provision for children with multiple needs, which highlighted a number of barriers currently preventing disabled children from accessing vital early years and play settings.

Kate Fitch, Head of Public Policy for national disability charity, Sense, said:

“We welcome the news that the Labour Party intends to set up a taskforce specifically looking at access to childcare and early years provision, as it signals a recognition of the important role that these factors play in ensuring that children have the best start in life.

“Access to good quality early education plays a vital role in the development of children with complex needs; however as our Play Inquiry earlier this year revealed, all too often disabled children are missing out on the opportunities they need due to insufficient funding or a lack of appropriate settings.

“With the arrival of the new 30 hours free childcare initiative, without careful Governmental consideration and funding, families of disabled children could find themselves further side-lined as providers struggle to meet the additional costs of offering places to children with complex needs.

“In order to ensure that disabled children are not left unable to access opportunities to develop and learn, Sense is calling for a nationwide policy of early education funding for children with special education needs, that includes notional funding to help providers meet the costs of staff training or making premises accessible.

“With a new funding formula for early years set to be announced, it is imperative that both the Government and opposition urgently start working towards levelling the playing field for disabled children, which is why we look forward to working with Labour’s early years taskforce to ensure that all children have the chance to fulfil their potential.”

Members of SDV designed the garden so local blind and partially sighted people can maintain and enhance their passion for gardening. The group worked tirelessly to secure a space for the garden, and transformed it from a strip of wasteland in to a beautiful allotment space. It also acts as a place for people with sight loss to socialise in.

Emily Havercroft, Development Worker at SDV, said:

“Our summer garden party was the ideal opportunity to celebrate the launch with all the garden’s members, staff, family and friends. I’m thrilled everyone is enjoying the Optimeyes Garden and proud of all the members who have contributed to its success.

“We’re grateful to the local businesses who have supported it and we look forward to the garden, and our members, continuing to blossom.”

Claire Cawkwell, RNIB Optimeyes Project Manager, said:

“RNIB is delighted to have worked with SDV to create the Optimeyes Garden. It’s fantastic to see blind and partially sighted people from the community come together to celebrate their hobbies and support one another.”

Brian, who is partially sighted, helped create the garden. He said:

“Being involved in the Optimeyes Garden has done me such a lot of good. It gets me out of the house, which makes me feel happier and boosts my confidence.

“It’s important to have my own interests and independence, without always needing to rely on my wife. Until the garden, I didn’t have other people I could talk to about dealing with sight loss.”

Susan Ferguson officially opened the Optimeyes Garden. A local gardening enthusiast, Susan regularly opens her own garden for the public through the ‘National Garden’s Open for Charity’ organisation and is a keen supporter of SDV.

Just before she cut the ribbon Susan said:

“I know that gardening can be very therapeutic and this community garden project is a wonderful transformation.”

SDV would like to thank the following people, businesses and tradesmen for their generosity and time, without them the project could not have happened:

       Selby District Council
       DS Fencing, Darren Sowden
       Websters Fencing
       Selby Community Furniture Store and Workshop
       Selby Garden Centre
       Selby Homebase
       Plumbing Service, Danny Scott
       And of course all of our fantastic
       Garden Group Members, Volunteers, Staff, Families and Friends

The garden is part of a wider Optimeyes project led by RNIB in partnership with six local independent sight loss charities, including SDV. The project was launched to identify older people in the community living with or at risk of sight loss. It also aims to tackle loneliness and improve the quality of life for older blind and partially sighted people in Yorkshire and South Lincolnshire.

To find out more about Optimeyes please visit: http://www.rnib.org.uk/helping-older-people-take-control-through-new-lottery-funded-project.

Blind Veterans UK’s beneficiary recruitment advert in Good Housekeeping magazine, featuring veteran Cedric Hollands

National sight loss charity Blind Veterans UK has been shortlisted for a prestigious award in the sight loss sector, with the help of some of the blind ex-Service men and women it supports.

The Vision Pioneer Awards 2016, run by NB Online and the UK Vision Strategy, received more than 50 entries across all six award categories. Blind Veterans UK has been shortlisted in the category of ‘Campaign of the Year’ for its No One Alone campaign, which is a targeted effort to encourage the thousands of blind and vision-impaired ex-Service men and women in the UK to register for the charity’s free services and support. Blind Veterans UK estimates that there are currently 59,000[1] potential blind veterans that would be eligible to access its specialist support, most of whom are not currently aware of it.

The campaign team puts the veterans it currently supports at the heart of its campaign activity. The team regularly participates in national and local events and engagements across both the military and sight loss sectors, aided by a team of 13 volunteers who already receive support from the charity and are well placed to speak to potential beneficiaries. The charity attended more than 100 such events in 2015, ranging from national events like Armed Forces Day to local events such as support groups for people with macular degeneration.

Other campaign activity last year included national advertising in consumer magazines Saga, Good Housekeeping and Prima sharing the stories of some of its veterans and how they had been supported by the charity, as well as a comprehensive programme of PR activity with coverage received across TV, radio, print and online.

Lindy Elliott, blind veteran and volunteer for Blind Veterans UK’s No One Alone campaign

One veteran who has been pleased to help with the campaign is Lindy Elliott, 69, a former Wren, who lost her sight a result of diabetic retinopathy and has received support from the charity since 2012.

Lindy says: “I am delighted to hear that Blind Veterans UK has been shortlisted for a Vision Pioneer Award for its No One Alone Campaign. I am a regular volunteer for the campaign team, helping to spread the message about the support Blind Veterans UK can provide to all veterans with severe sight loss. The support the charity provides is superb, so I see this as my chance to give something back, as well as meeting some wonderful people along the way.”

Following on from all the campaign activity, the charity recently announced a record number of 875 new beneficiaries to the charity in April of this year – the most in Blind Veterans UK’s 101-year history.

Lara King, No One Alone campaign manager said: “Blind Veterans UK believes that no one who has served our country should have to battle blindness alone, and the No One Alone campaign is key to ensuring we reach as many veterans as possible. We are thrilled it has been shortlisted for a Vision Pioneer Award and hope it will help raise awareness of the charity and encourage more veterans to register for our free, services and support so that they can discover a life beyond sight loss.”

The Vision Pioneer Awards 2016 ceremony will take place on 13 June at Grange Tower Bridge Hotel, London. The No One Alone campaign has been shortlisted alongside three other campaigns.

Blind Veterans UK is the national charity for blind and vision impaired ex-Service men and women, providing vital practical and emotional support to help veterans discover life beyond sight loss. The charity has three centres in Brighton, Sheffield and Llandudno, North Wales and a network of welfare officers around the UK.

If you know someone who served in the Armed Forces or did National Service and is now battling severe sight loss, find out how Blind Veterans UK could help them discover a life beyond sight loss by calling 0800 389 7979 or visiting noonealone.org.uk.

[1] Blind Veterans UK’s Survey of the vision impaired ex-Service population, 2015-40

Blind and partially sighted readers can enjoy Julian Fellowes’s new book ‘Belgravia’ before it is published in hardback or paperback.

The ‘Belgravia’ audio book, read by actress Juliet Stevenson, will be available to read on RNIB Overdrive at the very same time as it is released each week on a special app and via Audible.

Julian Fellowes’s ‘Belgravia’ is an innovative app launching on 14 April, which brings the Dickensian serial into the digital age.  It will be available as a free download to smartphones and tablets.

This is the first time that RNIB Library has simultaneously released serialised content in this way.

Lord Fellowes is a strong supporter of RNIB and Chairman of the Talking Books Appeal. The Talking Books service provides more than one million audio books every year to people with sight loss

Julian Fellowes said: “As a supporter of RNIB for many years, I know how important it is to blind and partially sighted people to be able to experience the joys of a good story. I am especially proud and delighted that ‘Belgravia’ will be released on RNIB Overdrive, for people with sight loss to enjoy, on the same day as it becomes available to the rest of the public. This is very important to me.”

Mark McCree, RNIB Libraries and Heritage Senior Manager, said: “We’re delighted to be releasing Julian Fellowes’ new story ‘Belgravia’ on RNIB Overdrive before the hardback is even published.

“We’re excited to see a publishing model which shares the story via audio first. Our partnerships with publishers like Orion at Hachette are vital to the continuing journey of making new titles like Belgravia available simultaneously from RNIB library.”

The first two chapters are published on Thursday 14 April. The eleven chapter long story will twist and turn through cliff-hanger endings in a series of weekly instalments, released every Thursday on RNIB Overdrive. ‘Belgravia’ reaches its conclusion at the end of June, when RNIB library will have the full audio book as well as giant print and Braille versions available.

 RNIB Library is the largest in the UK for people with sight loss. RNIB Overdrive is now free to join and has over 20,000 titles alongside Belgravia. To find out if you’re eligible contact Overdrive.Mailbox@rnib.org.uk. To sign up you can call Helpline on 0303 123 9999 or to join online at http://shop.rnib.org.uk/talking-books-subscription.html.

Talking Books are also available on DAISY CD or USB stick. The complete Belgravia story will be available on these formats from 30 June, the same day it is published.