In Touch

Tom Walker talks to visually-impaired attendees of the first conference of the Partially-Sighted Society.

Presenter: Peter White

News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted. Jackie Brown wants better access to domestic white goods, which don't require sighted help to set up. Robin Christopherson from AbilityNet, suggests smart options

A question often-asked of blind and visually impaired people, by both sighted and other blind people, is "is your partner blind or sighted?" Peter White explores the reasons behind this question, and blind and visually impaired peoples' reaction to it.

Guests: Amie Slavin, Jonathan Mosen and Rob Murthwaite.

Presenter: Peter White

16-year-old Grace Marsh talks of her vision loss and her poetry aspirations. Actor Karina Jones lands an iconic role as a blind character.

21-year-old Allan Hennessey was born in Iraq totally blind. His parents applied to the UK for him to undergo laser surgery, which restored a minimal amount of vision in one eye. Later Allan and his family settled in the UK on a council estate in east London. While attending a mainstream school, he rejected all attempts to teach him to read braille or adapt to his visual impairment, preferring to rely on the support and safety net of the multicultural community in which he thrived. In high school, he was sent to a school for blind children, which he found claustrophobic and soon left. He lost his way academically in the middle years of high school and then, on a whim, decided to try for Cambridge. Allan has this year graduated with a 1st class Honours degree in law and plans to be a barrister - and he still uses no adaptations - we ask him why.

On the 21st of August, there will be a total solar eclipse in the US. This is being touted as a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity and it seems visually impaired people are not to miss out. NASA has sponsored the making of a tactile book depicting the different stages of the eclipse. There is a smartphone app people can try that allows the user to trace their finger over a picture of the eclipse, and the phone will play a sound or vibrate according to the intensity of the lightness shown on the screen. Harvard University has been working on a project to stream the sound of the eclipse to visually impaired people over the internet from Wyoming, one of the14 states with a ringside view of it. We speak to Allyson Bieryla from Harvard University about the project.

And finally, we ask Virgin Media whether they really meant to send out a form for visually impaired people to have their doctor fill out declaring their visual impairment before they could receive their bill in braille.

In August 2016 it became mandatory for health and social care providers to offer patients written information in whichever format they required - whether that be via text, email, braille, audio or large print. The implementation of what is called the Accessible Information Standard has recently been reviewed with mixed results. We put some listeners' experiences of getting required information in a required format from the NHS to Olivia Butterworth from NHS England.

Peter White talks to Vanessa Potter about her book, Patient H69 about her experience of losing her sight over 72 hours, and what it was like learning to see again.

Presenter: Peter White

What's the best approach when it comes to holidays for blind and partially sighted people? TravelEyes is a company which takes both blind and sighted people on holiday - the visually impaired traveller pays full price, and the fully-sighted person pays up to 50% of the full cost and agrees to guide and describe the attractions for the visually impaired travellers. But what if you have an additional need like a hearing impairment? The travel company says that in some cases, customers who have an additional need will have to take someone along as a carer. Peter White speaks to the company's founder Amar Latif about this policy.

Circus Starr provides children who wouldn't normally have the opportunity to experience the circus a chance to do so... and they've audio described the experience for young audience members. We find out from a professional audio describer how narrating a performance for children differs from adults.

Presenter: Peter White

A look at the range of specialist and non-specialist gadgets available for identifying objects and travelling around. Joining Peter to share their experiences of solutions offered by technology are guests Jackie Brown, the incoming chair of the British Computer Association of the Blind, and Dave Williams, a freelance trainer on technology.

If you'd like to find out more about the products discussed in tonight's programme please call the Radio 4 Action Line on 0800 044 044 for the next 24 hours and ask for the Factsheet.

Producer: Lee Kumutat

Two listeners to In Touch talk about some of the obstacles they faced when looking to move. Danielle Burgess is looking for a new home to rent, and is discovering how separate she feels from the process because everything needs to be described to her.

Ben Rendle, his visually impaired partner and their family recently bought a flat off-plan and had to find a way of envisaging it for himself.

Penny Melville-Brown has baked all her life, and didn't stop when she lost her sight seventeen years ago. She has recently won an international prize which will see her baking all over the world to show how blind people can bake.

Producer: Lee Kumutat

Cyrus Habib lost his sight when he was eight, and in January this year aged 35 took up an elected position as Lieutenant governor of Washington State in America. He talks to Peter White about walking the fine line between sympathy and empathy when campaigning, and how technology is helping him do his job.

Listener Nick Adamson has been working for the same company in the same role for the last 12 years. He has no immediate plans to change jobs, but says contemplating a career move when you're blind throws up many challenges.

Presenter: Peter White