If you missed the documentary "The Blind Me" on BBC Three last night it is available to view online on the BBC iPlayer for a week.
The documentary is an interesting look at the lives of four teenagers facing the ups and downs of life and coping with blindness. It's unfortunate that programmes like this are only watched by people who have are themselves, or someone they know, is affected by the subject matter. The documenatary would show the sighted the everyday problems that the blind face, that most people take for granted.
Click here to go to the BBC iPlayer page.
Thursday, 22 July 2010
Wednesday, 21 July 2010
Disney theme parks, the good and the bad
A couple of news items caught my attention regrading the world famous Disney theme part resorts, relevant to the blind and visually impaired. They highlight opposing ways that Disney help and hinder the enjoyment of the theme parks for people with visual impairments.
The first is the news that two American visually impaired annual pass holders, Cari Shields and Amber Boggs, are filling a class action against The Walt Disney Company for an alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. They claimn a number of policies discriminate against blind and visually impaired people, 9including not allowing costumed staff not being allowed to interact with visually impaired guests who visit the park with their guide dogs.
The second story concerns how Walt Disney World and Disneyland are actively making moves to help the visually impaired (and people with other disabilites) to enjoy their attractions on a more level playing field as the fully sighted.
A newly designed hand-held device gives audio description on attractions, including rides and outdoor areas. The wireless device can detect the guests location and transmit appropriate information for the area.
The service is free for disabled guests and Disney and development partners WGNB have patented the device and hope to make the technology available outside of Disney resorts in a variety of other applications such as retail, sports events and museums. It is already being used in a number of other attraction and will receive the National Society of Professional Engineers 2010 “New Product Award” next month.
Disney does offer other services for disabled guests including brail guide books and maps and accessiblity for wheelchairs and specially designed wheelchairs for sand and aquatic attractions.
The first is the news that two American visually impaired annual pass holders, Cari Shields and Amber Boggs, are filling a class action against The Walt Disney Company for an alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. They claimn a number of policies discriminate against blind and visually impaired people, 9including not allowing costumed staff not being allowed to interact with visually impaired guests who visit the park with their guide dogs.
"Mrs. Boggs and Ms. Shields allege other violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act. They are not seeking monetary damages, but only demand that Disney provide more reasonable accommodations for the visually impaired, such as portable Braille maps of the parks, areas to cage or leave service animals during rides, reduced or free admission for service aides, keyed rather than digital lockers, Braille menus in the park restaurants, and adequate lodging for service animal while visually impaired guests visit the park."Quote from the PRWeb Online, Visabilty from Vocus web site. Read more about the story by clicking here.
The second story concerns how Walt Disney World and Disneyland are actively making moves to help the visually impaired (and people with other disabilites) to enjoy their attractions on a more level playing field as the fully sighted.
A newly designed hand-held device gives audio description on attractions, including rides and outdoor areas. The wireless device can detect the guests location and transmit appropriate information for the area.
• Detailed audio description of key visual elements, including action and scenery, for more than 50 attractions.Quote from Orlando Attractions web site. Click here for the full story.
• Amplified audio for most theater-type attractions for guests with mild to moderate hearing loss.
• Handheld captioning that enables guests to read captions while enjoying specific rides.
• Activation of closed captioning in pre-show areas where television
The service is free for disabled guests and Disney and development partners WGNB have patented the device and hope to make the technology available outside of Disney resorts in a variety of other applications such as retail, sports events and museums. It is already being used in a number of other attraction and will receive the National Society of Professional Engineers 2010 “New Product Award” next month.
Disney does offer other services for disabled guests including brail guide books and maps and accessiblity for wheelchairs and specially designed wheelchairs for sand and aquatic attractions.
The Blind Me - BBC Three 9pm
A documenary about growing up with sight loss airs on BBC Three tonight at 9pm. "The Blind Me" follows four teenagers coping with the normal issues of life with the added complication of being blind.
Growing up is hard enough for most young people, but how different would it be if you couldn't view the world through your eyes. This documentary follows four young blind people on the rollercoaster ride to adulthood as they try to work out what they want from their lives.Quote from the BBC web site.
Eighteen-year-old Dwight is seeking love and independence, Karen dreams of a career designing jewellery and blind couple Katy and Scott are facing dilemmas about their future together.
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
QAC Sight Village event, Birmingham July 12-15
The Queen Alexandra College (QAC), Birmingham is holding it's Sight Village event from today (July 13) til 15 July 2010 at New Bingley Hall, Hockley Circus in Birmingham. Exhibitors and major sponsors from around the globe will showcase new technology at the exhibition, which can aid the blind and visually impaired.
Visitors can see how mobile phones can be transformed into text magnifying CCTV devices or experience handling guide dogs. Affordable gadgets to improve accessibilty, from magnifiers, computer software and audio devices will be on show and give users the chance to compare and contrast and work out which products can fit with their personal lifestyle and disability.
The QAC are a national charity, specialising in training and education for the blind and visually impaired. They hold regular Sight Village exhibitions in England, Scotland and Ireland.
For more information click here to find out about future events, including the next Sight Village in London on 2 and 3 November 2010.
Visitors can see how mobile phones can be transformed into text magnifying CCTV devices or experience handling guide dogs. Affordable gadgets to improve accessibilty, from magnifiers, computer software and audio devices will be on show and give users the chance to compare and contrast and work out which products can fit with their personal lifestyle and disability.
The QAC are a national charity, specialising in training and education for the blind and visually impaired. They hold regular Sight Village exhibitions in England, Scotland and Ireland.
For more information click here to find out about future events, including the next Sight Village in London on 2 and 3 November 2010.
Friday, 9 July 2010
Moorfields, Glastonbury and the RNC
This is the continuing story of my vision loss. For the first part please click here.
After numerous tests, including MRI scans, field tests, blood tests, electrodes on my head and across my eyeballs (not as bad as it sounds!), liquids squirted and lights shon into my eyes and even a lumber puncture, the local eye specialists and neurologist came to a dead end with what was causing my optic nerve to degenerate. So they refered me to Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, arguably the best in the world.
Moorfields is the oldest and biggest eye hospital in the world and is internationally renowned for its comprehensive clinical and research activities. I had more tests and the specialists there told me that they too couldn't find any underlying problem or a cause and therefore treatment for my condition. As it is my nerves dying off it is extremely unlikely my sight will improve and they can't tell me if it will continue to get worse or if it will level off and I will keep my remaining useful sight.
Obviously this is quite worrying as the vision in my left eye has decreased rapidly in recent weeks, to the extent that most of my sight in this one eye is frosted. It is quite possible that my condition is congenital and has been slowly getting worse all my life. An analogy was used: that nerves have a built in lifespan and that most people have long life batteries whilst, for some unknown reason, mine are cheaper batteries that are running out quicker.
It's not until I try to do things that I have done for years that I really notice I have a problem. Sometimes reading can be difficult, watching the World Cup has becomer interesting as I lose the ball on screen because of my narrow field of vision. And it was impossible to watch Wimbledon, which to me just look liked a couple of people running from side to side, spotting the ball being luck more than actually following the game. I have learned to live with this "new normal", a phrase borrowed from Laura Lawson in her excellently written blog about her own sight loss, "Believing is Seeing".
Since 1993 I have been going to the Glastonbury Festival and this year was no exception. This year, since my vision has really deteriorated, the festival was a very different experience. Glastonbury is the biggest music and contempory performing arts festival in Europe. With nearly 200,000 people on site it is the size of a tented city. Over 1000 acts play over the last weekend of June and it has become my annual pilgramage.
Though I was able to really enjoy some great music, many of the things that colour the festival and differentiate the place from many other pretenders the the crown of best festival, I struggled with. The random street theatre acts, the madness and characters that populate the place were so difficult for me to spot, even when pointed out by friends. The multitude of eclectic stalls selling a vast varietry if wonders, the beautiful site artworks and craftwork decorations, in the main, passd me by. Watching Muse's brilliant headline set was more like watching an amazing light show than actually seeing them. I had to be told U2's The Edge had joined them on stage when I asked a friend what the cheers were all about.
Although using my white symbol cane helped amongst the crowds of people, if my sight gets too bad it might be too much for me to even get around the huge site so it was quite an emotional festival for me in the end. Especially with the final act of the weekend. Stevie Wonder headlined the main Pyramid Stage on the Sunday night and I watched with the thought I might be watching my last ever Glastonbury performance. When he ended his set with a monologue about making the world more accessable to everyone: the blind, the deaf, disabled, people of different races and religions, it felt very personal to me. I was in floods of tears.
But I have to look forward. I have been given no idea how long my limited sight will last and therefore can't fully plan or mentally prepare for "the worst", however I am looking to the future. I have applied to the Royal National College for the Blind (RNC) in Hereford, to train in Media (Radio) and Music Production. I am due to have an assessment before I start, hopefully in September and I'll update Vision Web Sight with stories of the college, the course and my progress.
The college is an amazing place with state of the art equipment, specialist tutoring and all the needs of blind or visually impaired students. The courses are vocational and not just as case of training people then leavin them to fend for themselves in the real world. The college actively helps place you in relevant work placements during and after the course. I'm really looking forward to exploring what I CAN do and not worry about what I can't.
To find out more about the RNC, click here.
It was Glastonbury Festival's 40th anniversary this year and I will be 40 later in a few months. And you know what they say, life begins at 40!
After numerous tests, including MRI scans, field tests, blood tests, electrodes on my head and across my eyeballs (not as bad as it sounds!), liquids squirted and lights shon into my eyes and even a lumber puncture, the local eye specialists and neurologist came to a dead end with what was causing my optic nerve to degenerate. So they refered me to Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, arguably the best in the world.
Moorfields is the oldest and biggest eye hospital in the world and is internationally renowned for its comprehensive clinical and research activities. I had more tests and the specialists there told me that they too couldn't find any underlying problem or a cause and therefore treatment for my condition. As it is my nerves dying off it is extremely unlikely my sight will improve and they can't tell me if it will continue to get worse or if it will level off and I will keep my remaining useful sight.
Obviously this is quite worrying as the vision in my left eye has decreased rapidly in recent weeks, to the extent that most of my sight in this one eye is frosted. It is quite possible that my condition is congenital and has been slowly getting worse all my life. An analogy was used: that nerves have a built in lifespan and that most people have long life batteries whilst, for some unknown reason, mine are cheaper batteries that are running out quicker.
It's not until I try to do things that I have done for years that I really notice I have a problem. Sometimes reading can be difficult, watching the World Cup has becomer interesting as I lose the ball on screen because of my narrow field of vision. And it was impossible to watch Wimbledon, which to me just look liked a couple of people running from side to side, spotting the ball being luck more than actually following the game. I have learned to live with this "new normal", a phrase borrowed from Laura Lawson in her excellently written blog about her own sight loss, "Believing is Seeing".
Since 1993 I have been going to the Glastonbury Festival and this year was no exception. This year, since my vision has really deteriorated, the festival was a very different experience. Glastonbury is the biggest music and contempory performing arts festival in Europe. With nearly 200,000 people on site it is the size of a tented city. Over 1000 acts play over the last weekend of June and it has become my annual pilgramage.
Though I was able to really enjoy some great music, many of the things that colour the festival and differentiate the place from many other pretenders the the crown of best festival, I struggled with. The random street theatre acts, the madness and characters that populate the place were so difficult for me to spot, even when pointed out by friends. The multitude of eclectic stalls selling a vast varietry if wonders, the beautiful site artworks and craftwork decorations, in the main, passd me by. Watching Muse's brilliant headline set was more like watching an amazing light show than actually seeing them. I had to be told U2's The Edge had joined them on stage when I asked a friend what the cheers were all about.
Although using my white symbol cane helped amongst the crowds of people, if my sight gets too bad it might be too much for me to even get around the huge site so it was quite an emotional festival for me in the end. Especially with the final act of the weekend. Stevie Wonder headlined the main Pyramid Stage on the Sunday night and I watched with the thought I might be watching my last ever Glastonbury performance. When he ended his set with a monologue about making the world more accessable to everyone: the blind, the deaf, disabled, people of different races and religions, it felt very personal to me. I was in floods of tears.
But I have to look forward. I have been given no idea how long my limited sight will last and therefore can't fully plan or mentally prepare for "the worst", however I am looking to the future. I have applied to the Royal National College for the Blind (RNC) in Hereford, to train in Media (Radio) and Music Production. I am due to have an assessment before I start, hopefully in September and I'll update Vision Web Sight with stories of the college, the course and my progress.
The college is an amazing place with state of the art equipment, specialist tutoring and all the needs of blind or visually impaired students. The courses are vocational and not just as case of training people then leavin them to fend for themselves in the real world. The college actively helps place you in relevant work placements during and after the course. I'm really looking forward to exploring what I CAN do and not worry about what I can't.
To find out more about the RNC, click here.
It was Glastonbury Festival's 40th anniversary this year and I will be 40 later in a few months. And you know what they say, life begins at 40!
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