In Touch

New data suggests that hundreds of ophthalmology patients are experiencing avoidable and irreversible harm to their vison by not being able to access NHS appointments. Over 70% of optometrists in the UK have also said they have seen a patient in the last six months who had experienced a delay to treatment of 12 months or more. Ophthalmology within the NHS is one of the biggest outpatient specialty and is experiencing severe pressure under patient need. So could a nationalised eye health strategy from Government be the answer? The Association of Optometrists and the Macular Society think so. We speak to Farah Topia, Optometrist and Clinical Advisor for the AOP and to the Macular Society's chief executive, Cathy Yelf.

The CSUN Assistive Technology Conference in California concluded last week. It is the world's largest event dedicated to exploring new ways technology can assist people with disabilities. Dave Williams from the RNIB was in attendance and he tells us what kind of exciting new technologies are in development.

Presenter: Peter White

Network Rail's Rupert Lown gives clarification as to when all tactile paving installation works will be completed across the entire UK train network.

Extant Theatre are a performing arts company that put visual impairment at the heart of all they do. One of their most recent renditions is a pantomime that is touring throughout March: the Super Power Panto. We sent along opera singer Bethan Langford to a performance in Wolverhampton during the first leg of its tour and she joins us to share her thoughts. Extant Theatre is run by visually impaired artistic director, Maria Oshodi. She joins us to give a little insight into her long career as a playwright and what the future looks like for Extant Theatre.

Remaining Super Power Panto dates:

Presenter: Peter White

The Islamic Republic of Iran has seen widespread protests in recent months following the death of Mahsa Amini in custody. The news of the brutality of the regime against its protesting citizens has been widespread; we discuss how some protesters are being purposefully shot in their eyes and blinded. Khosro Isfahani is from the BBC's Monitoring Service and has been following the developments in Iran since the beginning, he provides us with a wider image of what is currently happening in Iran and explains the potential reasons behind these eye shootings.

We hear from two film makers, Tim Burton and Danielle Sellwood, who have recently held accessible screenings of outdoor adventure films at the Sheffield Adventure Film Festival. Both have been making a conscious effort to include accessibility features on the films that they make, be those closed captions and audio description. Danielle and Tim tell us how including AD on outdoor adventure films may encourage blind and partially sighted people to get more active. Fern Lulham also joins us and provides a wider analysis of current AD provisions on movies.

Presenter: Peter White

Eleanor Burke recently travelled to Ireland via Gatwick Airport with her guide dog. She has made this journey many times before but this time was held up for an hour in the security area by a member of staff that was not satisfied with her guide dog's documentation. We invited her onto the program to tell us what happened. Adam Jones is Gatwick's Head of Passenger Services, he explains the steps they will be taking to ensure this does not happen to other guide dog owners.

Avanti West Coast are trialling a new WhatsApp messaging service, called Travel Companion, that will allow disabled passengers contact someone for help before, during and after their train journeys. Ricky West and Martin Byrne are both visually impaired and are working on the service, they tell us what people can expect from it. The number to contact the service is 07980037037.

And an update on the state of the tactile paving installations across the UK's rail network.

Presenter: Peter White

With the ongoing war in Ukraine, the European Blind Union have been looking for ways to help the visually impaired that have stayed in the country and those that have moved to neighbouring countries. Their Executive Director is Lars Bosselmann and he tells us about some recent financial aid the EBU sent into Ukraine. He tells us what this money went towards, and about what the EBU's plans are to continue assisting the visually impaired dealing with the war.

Olga and Denys Petrov are a Ukrainian blind couple that evacuated to Poland ten days after the war began. We spoke to them soon after they moved; with a five-year-old daughter, seven animals and Olga was pregnant at the time. She has now had their baby and so we catch up with them to see how things are going and what their plans are when it comes to returning to Ukraine.

The Royal College of Ophthalmologists is the representative body of the ophthalmic profession in the UK. We've invited them onto the programme to give us some insight into what is best practice when delivering medical news about your eyes. Stephen Kaye is their Vice President and he tells us about the kinds of training that ophthalmologists get in this area, about whose role it is to give information on after care services and we discuss the importance of the Eye Clinic Liaison Officer.

Presenter: Peter White

Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image, wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three individual white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word Radio in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one of a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.

Valentine's Day is a day for love! And so we've invited two visually impaired people and their sighted partners to talk about how sight loss impacted the dynamics of their relationships, about the assumptions that other people make; that the one who can see in the relationship must be the carer and we touch upon the element of falling back in love with yourself after sight loss.

Presenter: Beth Hemmings

Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image, wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three individual white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word Radio in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one of a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.

New College Worcester is a residential and day school for pupils who are blind or partially sighted. In September 2022, they appointed a new principal, Rachel Perks. We invited her onto In Touch to talk about her ambitions for the role, what the future holds for the school and about the school's recent Ofsted reports.

We take a look at some of the smaller guide dog organisations, whose aims are to help beat the backlog for those waiting for a new guide dog. Neil Ewart is from The Seeing Dogs Alliance and he tells us about what their organisation offers and how it differs from the UK's leading organisation. Stephen Anderson received his first guide dog from The Seeing Dogs Alliance and he tells us what that process was like. And Abigail Hughes is from Pawtected. Pawtected encourage their members to self-train their pet dogs into assistance dogs. She explains how the process works.

Presenter: Peter White

Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image, wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three individual white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word Radio in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one of a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.

The Access to Work scheme is essential for helping disabled people get into and stay in work. It can provide help with equipment and travel and human assistance, in the form of support workers. But the RNIB has found that there has been a huge increase in the backlog and long waiting times to receive support. This can result in jobs being put at risk, as some employers simply cannot wait to have the position filled. We assess the impact of these delays with Melinda Hanvey and Samantha Leftwich, who have both experienced delays in their support packages. We also speak to David Newbold, who is the Director of Sight Loss Advice at the RNIB, about what the organisation is doing to help tackle the problem.

Clarke Reynolds is a visually impaired artist who works with braille and he currently has a solo exhibition at the Quantus Gallery in London. Clarke explains what people can experience at his first solo show and gives insight into his interesting life story.

Presenter: Peter White

Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image, wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three individual white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word Radio in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one of a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.

This week, we put guide dog waiting lists under the spotlight.

John Welsman is canine affairs lead for the charity "Guide Dogs". He joins us to discuss waiting times and the outlook for those on the list. We're also joined by BBC news reporter Sean Dilley who shares his feelings following the retirement of Sammy, his faithful guide dog of over eight years. And we speak to Isabel Holdsworth who tells us about the experience of training her own guide dog.

We also take another trip into the world of blind sport.

Nathan Tree is a keen blind ice hockey player. We report on an event he recently hosted in Oxford which gave visually impaired people the opportunity to get on the ice and try it out for themselves. We hear from some of those who gave it a go and also from Nathan about his ambitions to raise the profile of the sport.

Presenter: Peter White

Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image, wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three individual white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word Radio in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one of a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.

This week sees the latest in our occasional series of discussions about audiobooks. Peter White is joined by guests Jackie Brown and Dave Williams. Jackie and Dave have much in common - both having supported other visually impaired people in the use of technology, but more importantly for this episode - both are avid readers.

Our trio take a broad approach, discussing not only storylines, but also issues such as narration and the merits (or otherwise) of audiobooks generally. Each has chosen a specific book, namely:-

The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles, narrated by Edoardo Ballerini, Marin Ireland and Dion Graham;

Dead Simple, by Peter James, narrated by Tim Bruce, and;

One Summer, written and narrated by Bill Bryson.

But who chose which book, why did they choose it and is their opinion shared by their fellow book lovers?

Links to audio books discussed in this episode:

The Lincoln Highway: https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/The-Lincoln-Highway-Audiobook/1473593190

Dead Simple: https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Dead-Simple-Audiobook/B01CT46ECC

One Summer: https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/One-Summer-Audiobook/B00E992WFO

Audio credits:

Presenter: Peter White

Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image, wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three individual white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word Radio in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one of a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.