Changes at the Macular Society continue to generate a significant proportion of the contact we get from In Touch listeners. With the consultation exercise now at an end, we're joined by the Society's CEO, Ed Holloway. We discuss a range of issues with Ed, including the rationale for making the changes, what the new organisational structures will look like and what it means for those who provide the charity's services and those who use them.

Another development regarding macular disease is the clinical trial of Prima implants. The trial involves inserting a microchip with the thickness of a human hair under the retina with the aim of restoring a degree of vision. The BBC's Medical Editor Fergus Walsh joins us to explain the technology in more detail and with news of encouraging results.

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.’

Minister for Social Security and Disability Sir Stephen Timms provides In Touch with updates on the Access to Work scheme. AtW is the government programme that provides disabled people with support in the workplace; be that funding for support workers or things like specialist equipment. Throughout the course of this year, In Touch has been hearing many rumours about potential cuts to the scheme, which caused fear and anxiety amongst the scheme's recipients. Sir Stephen Timms addresses these concerns and provides updates on his recent consultations which were based on what the future of the scheme may look like.

Presenter: Peter White

The rumours continue to circulate about cuts to the government's Access to Work scheme. The scheme provides additional support for disabled people to get into and maintain work - such as specialist equipment and support workers. Following a summer of consultations, Disability Minister Sir Stephen Timms is due to begin a review of the scheme but what do we know at this point? To help dig into this is Liberal Democrat spokesman on work and pensions Steve Darling, who has been trying to seek his own answers from government about what is happening to the scheme, the RNIB and Sassy Wyatt, who is a blind freelance travel journalist and accessibility consultant. Sassy describes the issues she's facing when attempting to renew her award.

Design engineering masters student and keen space enthusiast, Abi Way is in the process of setting up a new charity called Boomerang. It aims to assist and encourage more visually impaired youngsters to pursue STEM subjects. STEM being Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Abi describes how the charity will do this and about her own accessibility barriers throughout her education that led to her trying to help other students overcome them.

Presenter: Peter White

Sight Scotland are a charity that provide support for vision impaired and blind people in Scotland. They have recently launched a report about the state of arts access across Scotland and a subsequent campaign that is calling for all venues across the country to be made accessible to visually impaired people. Scotland's culture secretary Angus Robertson has thrown his support behind the campaign but how will this all be done? To help answer that, Peter White is joined by Sight Scotland's Head of External Affairs and Campaigns Mark Ballard and Alistair Mackie, Chief Executive of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, which has already been implementing some accessibility features to better cater to their visually impaired concert goers.

When 24 year-old Haseeb Jabbar wanted to study computer science at GCSE and A-Levels, he was told that the course would be too visual and too difficult to adapt for someone who was totally blind. Despite this, Haseeb already had the skills necessary from teaching himself computer coding using screen reading software when he was a youngster and he now works for a global IT consultancy firm. Haseeb tells In Touch about his journey from being told no to achieving the career he'd always wanted.

Presenter: Peter White

Since the spring, we have been receiving a steady stream of emails from people who are deeply concerned about developments at the Macular Society. The concerns have primarily been over the plans to make a number of the Society's regional managers redundant. In the background, there have been events evolving based around a WhatsApp group chat, which included a number of the regional managers who were told they could be made redundant. In Touch speaks to one of the regional managers, following her dismissal from the charity over the WhatsApp group chat.

A few months ago, age verification checks became a requirement on certain websites under the Online Safety Act. The aim of the Act is to protect children and young people from content that is deemed to be harmful. But, In Touch heard from listeners that they are having issues with the accessibility of these age verification measures, and subsequently are struggling to access content they should be entitled to view as adults. Since we discussed this on the programme, we have heard from the The Age Verification Providers Association who offered to provide some advice on how people with visual impairments can navigate these systems. Their Executive Director Iain Corby gives some pointers.

Presenter: Peter White

The Royal Society for Blind Children has launched a new campaign called Bedtime Donations, and its aim is to generate better provision of audiobooks for visually impaired children. The idea is that people can record themselves reading children's stories into an app, where it will be published and be accessible to visually impaired children. The Society's aim is to develop the largest free service of children's audiobooks.

The Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust are calling for visually impaired people's experiences of how they received psychological support throughout their healthcare pathway. The Trust are aiming to improve provisions of psychological services that patients receive, following a diagnosis of an eye condition, and thereafter.

Presenter: Peter White

In Touch visits the Lake District and tags along to Ellie Bennet's holiday. Ellie booked a sighted guide through a free guiding service called Cambrian Visions. Cumbrian Visions provides visually impaired holiday makers with a guide to accompany them on their various activities. There is also a similar service happening in Devon, called The Cliffden Buddies, which came first. Julian Griffen, of The Cliffden Buddies and Lee Hodgson of Cumbrian Visions tell In Touch about their services and how it all got started.

For more information:

Cliffden Buddies

Presenter: Peter White

Since this summer, age verification checks are required on certain websites under the Online Safety Act. The aim is to protect children and young people from content online that is deemed inappropriate or even harmful. But In Touch has heard from listeners that they are having issues with the accessibility of these age verification measures, and that they are being applied to a wide range of sites, not just those that feature only pornographic content. In Touch discusses this issue and its wider implications.

We also discuss a recent trend that showed up on social media which appeared to feature children and young people being told by an adult to pretend to be blind, with the aim of 'winning' a large cash prize or luxury trip.

Presenter: Peter White

The ability for blind and visually impaired people to cast their vote privately and independently at elections is an issue we've followed closely on In Touch. We're joined by the head of guidance at the Electoral Commission, Charlene Hannon, who tells us about their research of the matter and how you can take part.

Our reporter, Ian Hamilton visited the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to meet some of the visually impaired artists taking part. Ian discovers what themes they're covering and learns about efforts to make the arts more accessible.

Listener input is an essential ingredient of In Touch, and this week's episode is no exception. In response to your reaction to last week's discussion about JAWS software pricing, we revisit the issue.

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

JAWS is a screen reader that allows visually impaired people to access information on their computers. It works by reading aloud information such as emails, financial information, documents and more. But the company who produce the screen reader have recently announced rises to the cost of the software, along with some of their other assistive technology products, and it has caused worry amongst its users. In Touch hears from Vispero, the parent company of Freedom Scientific who develop JAWS, Fusion and ZoomText, and to Sight and Sound who are the sole distributor of the softwares in the UK. They tell us what these new pricing models will look like for UK customers, why these changes are happening and what is the best course of action for current and new users of JAWS.

Presenter: Peter White