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FAQs about In Touch:How many episodes does In Touch have?The podcast currently has 468 episodes available.
May 07, 2019Tactile voting provision deemed 'unlawful'A landmark High Court judgment says tactile voting devices are 'unlawful'. And a new way of getting around Gatwick Airport.Presenter: Lee Kumutat Producer: Tom Walker...more19minPlay
May 01, 2019A new method of training guide dogsTwo guide dog trainers from the Liverpool Guide Dogs Centre, Nina Swindells and Jan Johnston, tell presenter Lee Kumutat about Positive Reinforcement Training, which the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association is in the process of introducing across its twenty training schools.Lee also speaks to David Grice, GDBA’s Head of Canine Behaviour and Training, about the rationale for the new methodology. Finally, we hear from visually impaired organist, David Aprahamian Liddle. In 2002, David got the opportunity to play the organ at Notre Dame Cathedral. David tells us about how he made a braille chart to remember the organ’s layout, the rehearsal and how he felt when he had finished his recital.Presenter: Lee Kumutat Producer: Tom WalkerPhoto description: Presenter Lee Kumutat stands in between Guide Dogs trainers Nina Swindells and Jan Johnston, and guide dogs Farley and Pepper. They are in front of the parcours outside the Guide Dogs training centre in Liverpool on a sunny day....more19minPlay
April 23, 2019Three stories on accepting blindnessDave Steele was diagnosed with the hereditary condition retinitis pigmentosa five years ago. He found translating his grief and loss into poetry was cathartic for him, and quickly discovered that it helped others who were also coming to terms with visual impairment.The Colorado Center for the Blind in the United States, run by the National Federation for the Blind, offers a nine month course to people who want to learn skills for living life as a visually impaired person. At the end of the course, they must pass a final assessment. It's called 'The Drop' and involves being driven to an unknown location, handed a phone on which they can only make emergency calls and told to find their way back to the Centre.Danielle Montour completed 'The Drop' back in September. She tells us how it helped her to become more comfortable with her blindness.And Chris Fisher went from being fully sighted and studying for his pilot's licence to, four weeks later, being totally blind. Chris, always good with maintenance and building things, turned back to what he knew before losing his sight, and has built a commercially viable business as a wood turner. Chris shows Tom Walker around his workshop.Presenter: Peter WhiteProducer: Lee KumutatReporter: Tom Walker...more31minPlay
April 16, 2019Who Can Read Your Mail?Last week we reported on the concerns of some listeners that changes to the software Apple uses on its iphones and macs could compromise their privacy. We reported that by showing that a screen-reader was being used on a website, it could reveal that the person browsing was visually impaired. They'd released scant information about this new feature at the time, until the day after our broadcast. They then published a blog, with more details clarifying the new feature was not automatically enabled. Ben Mustill-Rose updates us on this development.Is reading someone's personal mail for them a data breach? Do you have to stay in a dog-friendly area in a pub if you are a guide dog owner? We clear up some legal misnomers with Cloisters barrister Catherine Casserley. And Yuen Har Tse who successfully won a discrimination case against Aviva tells us why winning the case isn't exactly a straightforward victory.Presenter: Peter White Producer: Lee Kumutat...more19minPlay
April 09, 2019Can blind people become architects?In the latest version of Apple’s software for both iPhones and Macs, a feature has been included that tells websites a screen reader is being used. A screen reader is software that takes information from the screen and turns it in to digital speech or braille. This new feature is turned on by default. While it can be turned off, some blind people argue it shouldn’t be on by default as they don’t want websites or their developers, knowing they are blind. Ben Mustill-Rose is a developer who’s blind working at the BBC. He explains how the feature works and what his, and others’ concerns are. Beyond Sight is a project challenging the tendency for architects to prioritise the visual above all else. As part of this, UCL is offering a week-long summer school to visually impaired people interested in becoming architects. The course will cover how design can incorporate other ways of imagining and creating space. We speak to Mandy Redvers-Rowe one of the course coordinators and to Carlos Mourao-Pereira a blind architect. Presenter: Peter WhiteProducer: Lee Kumutat...more36minPlay
April 02, 2019Archery and MountaineeringRetina UK formed in 1976 as a voluntary organisation and is now helping to fund and develop treatments for genetic eye conditions. But for the first time in its history, it is conducting a wide-ranging piece of research into the lives of people who have genetic sight loss. Chief Executive Tina Houllaghan explains why.Tom Walker meets a keen blind archer from west Wales, who says the sport helped him out of his depression. And the Milton Mountaineers celebrate 50 years of gaining summits with a climb up Mount Snowdon.Presenter: Peter WhiteProducer: Lee Kumutat...more19minPlay
March 26, 2019Delays to Access to Work; Guide dogs guide a visually impaired runner in half marathonRichard Kramer, the chief executive of Sense, a charity that supports people who have a hearing and visual impairment, tells Peter White about his concerns over the delays in appointing a minister for disabled people, following the resignation of Sarah Newton MP nearly a fortnight ago.Peter White talks to Kerry Fielding, a visually-impaired woman from Blackpool, who is experiencing significant delays with her application to Access to Work for specialist equipment to enable her to take up a new job in customer services.Peter also speaks to Thomas Panek, the president and CEO of Guiding Eyes for the Blind. Instead of being guided by sighted runners, Thomas recently completed the United New York half-marathon using a relay of three guide dogs.Presenter: Peter WhiteProducer: Tom Walker...more19minPlay
March 20, 2019Trial of Driverless VehiclesDriverless vehicles are being tested at the moment but at the Blind Veterans UK Centre in Ovingdean, Brighton, a six month trial for the use of visually impaired people has just got underway. Reporter Lucy Edwards went to find out what some of the blind veterans think of them.Roy Symons is turning 100 on Friday. His secret to a long life? Keep organised, keep your independence and have a tot of something strong each day. Peter White visits him in his home in Harrow to toast him on his birthday.Presenter: Lee KumutatReporter: Peter WhiteReporter: Lucy Edwards...more19minPlay
March 12, 2019Campus Cuts at Blind CollegeThe Royal National College for the Blind has sold its southern campus to Herefordshire Council. Peter asks why did it have to be sold, and why did the council want to buy it?After 25 years of providing services to visually-impaired people in Merseyside, Henshaws Society for the Blind is moving out of Liverpool. Henshaws' director of community services tells us why. Jo Parsons used to be a chef before retiring to Devon a few years ago. She has not stopped cooking though, setting up a pudding club in her local community, to fund cooking lessons for aspiring visually-impaired cooks.Yuen Har Tse is taking Aviva Financial UK to court for discrimination for not providing her correspondence in a format she can read. She tells us why she has taken this step.Presenter: Peter WhiteProducer: Lee Kumutat...more19minPlay
March 05, 2019Blind Man at the Forefront of ScienceDr Damion Corrigan wanted to be a medical doctor and when that seemed out of his reach, he took another route to working to improve medical testing. He says the field of science is opening up for prospective visually impaired scientists.Comedian Chris McCausland and actor Chloe Clarke debate whether it's a realistic assertion that all visually impaired roles on TV, in film and on stage should be played by partially sighted actors.Presenter: Peter WhiteProducer: Lee Kumutat...more19minPlay
FAQs about In Touch:How many episodes does In Touch have?The podcast currently has 468 episodes available.