In Touch

At the age of 14, Israel Martin’s life was on the verge of going off the rails. Growing up in Newham in East London, Israel was a member of a gang which committed crime and got involved in fights. When he started to lose his sight, his life changed, but not as he would have originally expected it to.

Also, Peter White meets visually impaired dancer, Janet Salt from South Manchester. Janet led a very busy life until she started to experience depression. Janet tells Peter about how, with the help of ballroom dancing, she regained her confidence.

Presenter: Peter White

Due to a long fought-for change by member states to EU legislation, the UK government now has discretionary powers to abolish VAT on all ebooks. The CEO of the Publishers’ Association says that no VAT would help people on low incomes including some visually-impaired people for whom these are essential.

Reporter Tom Walker looks in to why Ofcom ruled that a London shock jock overstepped the mark when he derided a visually-impaired man for wanting to be the first person to train with a guide-horse in the UK.

Tom Walker also asks Allan Tweddle, a candidate in the recent local elections, whether a grant for aspiring visually-impaired politicians which is to be-reinstated in 2019, would have been of use to him.

In Your Pocket, a one-buttoned smartphone, will now be able to video call with a volunteer assistant. Roger Wilson-Hinds tells us why In Your Pocket and Be My Eyes app are teaming up.

Presenter: Peter White

Going to university presents special challenges if you are blind or visually impaired. It may be your first time away from home. You have to learn a whole new level of independence from finding your way around unfamiliar spaces, to decoding lectures and fitting in with your new friends. Peter White talks to three students about their experiences.

The early symptoms of a rare form of Alzheimer's disease, known as Posterior Cortical Atrophy, presents problems for people in seeing and making sense of the world. The disease starts in the visual cortex at the back of the brain. Its impact is devastating and its progression is aggressive. Doug Banks, who is 58 and has PCA, likens it to looking through a shattered mirror. He talks to Peter White about the other ways it affects his life. Alzheimer's Research UK's chief medical officer David Reynolds tells us what's happening to Doug's brain.

College student and young actor Ellie Wallwork has had her big break. She is to play the lead guest role in Sunday's episode of Dr Who. She tells Peter White how she got the part and where acting fits into her future aspirations.

Presenter: Peter White

In 2012 Simon Rockman set up a simple-to-use mobile phone service aimed at the older visually impaired person. Fuss Free phones had one button, which put your call through to a call centre and they would either phone someone or text them for you. Now Fuss Free Phones has closed. Peter White asks Simon Rockman what went wrong and will any customers be left out of pocket?

Reporter Tom Walker meets Juliette Parfitt who began losing her sight in her early twenties. Since then she says she has struggled to find age-appropriate information and services and feels it is an age-group whose problems are sometimes overlooked. One solution for Juliette might be a Facebook group called VI Talk. It has over two-and-a-half thousand members who share stories and tips and tricks on how to cope with life as a visually impaired person. Jo Fishwick from VI Talk tells us about it – and the seven other spin-off groups ranging from information on blind sports, to a book club.

Presenter: Peter White

On the centenary of Armistice Day, over 100 blind veterans assembled at Horse Guards Parade in London. Some were blinded in action. However, most started to lose their sight well after their service had ended.

Reporter Dave Williams went to talk to them as they assembled for this historic event - we hear just some of their stories.

Also, Peter White visits 97-year-old blind veteran Peter Van Zeller. He is a resident at a Blind Veteran’s UK care home, and shares the story of when he first discovered a previously-unknown family connection to the home, and the charity.

Presenter: Peter White

Over the next 12 months, In Touch is planning a series of stories and interviews looking at the changing landscape of our streets, and the ways in which councils, rehabilitation trainers and technology can help visually impaired people cope with this fast-changing picture. Professors Anna Lawson and Rich Romano are both leading on different projects looking at the future of towns and cities. Prof Lawson’s is focusing on the elements that cause people to feel excluded from the streets, while Prof Romano’s is looking at using virtual reality and digital means of putting planning in to the hands of the people.

National Braille Press, a non-profit organisation in the United States, offers a prize of up to 20,000 US dollars to people inventing new ways of getting braille and tactile information in to the hands of visually impaired people. Peter White speaks to President of National Braille Press Brian MacDonald, and 2015 winner Betsy Flener.

Presenter: Peter White

What help can you get if you struggle to recycle your rubbish? Listeners talk about the problems they have with recycling their rubbish: from knowing which bin to put the right rubbish in, to finding it again once it has been collected. We talk to Wayne Priestly from the Association for Public Service Excellence about what help visually impaired-residents can expect to receive from their local council.

Professor Christopher Tyler from London City University believes he has found evidence artist Leonardo da Vinci had an eye condition called Strabismus – where the eyes are misaligned. He thinks this may have had an impact on the way Da Vinci represented three-dimensional art on a canvas. Ross King, biographer of Claude Monet, says Monet's cataracts impacted his work later in life.

Presenter: Peter White

Last week the Royal National Institute for the Blind announced the closure of the Pears Centre, a children's home and school, run by the charity.

And we'll find out how best to wow the audience if you're doing public speaking. We'll report from a new course being run by Blind Veterans UK designed to help servicemen do speeches and presentations - both to help in the jobs market and to act as ambassadors for the organisation. Learn more about how to engage an audience and how to make the most of your body language.

Presenter: Peter White

A school for visually impaired children with additional disabilities is being closed.