In a recent episode of In Touch, we interviewed Sandi Wassmer, who at the time, we believed to be the UK's only blind female CEO. Among the very positive responses we received were a couple pointing us in the direction of two other blind women in the top job, and who would make excellent guests.

Always keen to respond to listeners' suggestions, we were delighted when Agnes Lunny and Halima Begum, CEOs of Positive Futures and Oxfam GB respectively, agreed to join us. They tell us about their journey to the positions they hold today, the challenges they've faced and what could be done so that others can follow in their footsteps.

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.’

In an episode broadcast last summer, the RNIB's CEO, Matt Stringer joined us to discuss financial pressures facing the charity and the consequent need to save millions of pounds. Since then, we have invited RNIB back to talk to us about their subsequent plans, but they declined, citing confidentiality issues. Meanwhile, In Touch has received information about a consultation exercise, said to be causing concern about jobs and future service provision among RNIB staff. We speak to Steve Tyler, who worked at RNIB for over 20 years and who held senior planning and strategy positions to get his reaction.

Being registered blind hasn't dimmed Annie Spooner's passion for baking. Indeed, since her sight loss diagnosis, she has set up her own business called Annie's Cake Creations. Reporter Hetal Bapodra visited her to find out more.

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

Natalie Doig is fascinated by myths and legends. Indeed, such is her passion for that which is "weird, wonderful and a little off kilter" that she stepped back from her career working in the disability rights sector to make a podcast about it. Called "Weird in the Wade", a recent episode explored the tale of "Blind George of Anstey". Natalie joins us to discuss Blind George and the issues the story raises about how blindness is perceived.

Also joining the discussion are Dr Rod Michalko and Professor Tanya Titchkosky. Both have studied societal attitudes to blindness and have written extensively about it. They share their feelings about Blind George and their take on what blindness actually is versus common assumptions.

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

Back in November 2021, In Touch looked at accessibility problems with touch screen payment card machines. Fast forward to 2025 and the amount of contact we're still getting about this suggests very little progress has been made.

In this episode, we talk to representatives from RNIB and the hospitality and finance industries to ask why card machines are still so high on our list of accessibility gripes. We also hear what manufacturers of these machines have to say on the matter, and we report on the development of a card which is raising hopes of a solution.

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

What are the things you don't know that you don't know?!

That was the question posed to us by blind listener Lexi Hibberd who told us that there were aspects of everyday life like eye contact and other body language which hadn't been explained to her. What else then, she asked, didn't she know?

We were so intrigued by Lexi's question that we thought we should explore it further. Joining us to do just that is blind writer and broadcaster Lyndall Bywater, audio description writer Liz Gutman, Richard Lane who lost his sight in his early 20s, and of course Lexi herself. We discuss a range of issues that arise from Lexi's question, including what it was that inspired her to ask it.

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 treatment of Geographic Atrophy (GA) or late stage dry age-related macular degeneration as it's also known, is proving to be a pretty tough nut to crack. Hopes had been high that a treatment available in the USA would also be approved for use here in the UK. However, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has rejected the application. Ed Holloway, Chief Executive of the Macular Society and Bill Best who has lived with GA for many years join us to discuss the MHRA decision.

Optomap is an imaging system which produces significantly more detailed information about the retina than had been available before. This can lead to earlier diagnosis of many eye conditions and accordingly a better chance of preventing sight loss. Dr Peter Hampson, Policy and Clinical Director of the Association of Optometrists and John Hopcroft, Clinical Services Manager at Boots join us to discuss the system and how public access to it is being improved by bringing it to the high street.

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

In Touch assesses the findings of a report that looks at the ways special educational needs care is being delivered to the children who need it. The report gives little to no mention of the challenges of specific groups of pupils and so, with the help of Rachael Hewett of the Vision Impairment Centre for Teaching and Research at Birmingham University and the Thomas Pocklington Trust's Tara Chattaway, we review the implications of a system in crisis for visually impaired pupils.

When it is your time of the month and you're visually impaired, it can be tricky to know when your period has arrived. In Touch looks at an upcoming device that is aiming to provide women with information about their menstrual cycle in an accessible way. The device and corresponding app, is called FlowSense. Muna Daud is the founder and CEO and she provides information on how the device works. Leanne Best and Tassia Leefe, both describe the unique challenges they have with their periods as visually impaired women.

Presenter: Peter White

Where do you go if you need to repair your Perkins brailler? That is the type-writer like machine that allows braillists to produce writing for school, work or leisure. Recent publicity that the UK’s last certified visually impaired repairer of the Perkins, Alan Thorpe, is looking for an apprentice to continue his work, may have left the impression that there's no one else who can repair it for you. This is not the case. We speak to the Royal National College for the Blind (RNC) about the repair service that they offer.

Peter White is rarely surprised by the different things blind people do for a living, but he was surprised by Just James, a blind professional wrestler. In Touch pays a visit to the World Association of Wrestling in Norwich to find out how James Jones developed his wrestling persona, how he goes about his fights as a blind person and to watch one of his shows. Will he win?

Presenter: Peter White

The Macular Society has a new CEO, Ed Holloway. With Macular disease being the most common form of sight loss in the UK, its important that the charity continue their work in supporting people with the condition, but also push towards more research and the discovery of new treatments. Ed Holloway describes what his plans are in these areas and other ambitions he has for the future of the charity.

Siloton are a medical equipment manufacturing company that also have big ambitions within this space. Ben Hunt is one of their co-founders and he describes to In Touch about a new form of OCT scanner they are developing, with the aim of empowering patients to conduct their own scans within the home and also to reduce NHS waiting lists.

Presenter: Peter White

Last year, we heard from two blind women about their experiences of living through the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas. In Touch has invited them back, just over a year on, to hear how their lives have been impacted since the war began. Dalal Al-Taji is from Khan Yunis in the south of the Gaza Strip and Heather Stone lives in the northern area of Tel Aviv in Israel. They speak frankly about how their lives have changed dramatically over the past year and how they are dealing with the uncertainties of being blind amongst war.

Presenter: Peter White

Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate 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 of a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.