RNIB Connect

Sight Village exhibitions are a great way to learn more about products and services designed for blind and partially sighted people in your area. Hywel Davies has been hearing all about plans for the first Sight Village North Wales.

Poppy Levinson is a designer, researcher and disability activist working across the creative industries. She applies her lives experience as a blind woman to the world of architecture and design.

She recently completed her masters in Architecture at the Royal College of Art and became Co-director at the DisOrdinary Architecture Project.

She told Amelia about her career challenges and highlights so far, and how she applies her lived experience to design.

Learn more about Poppy on her website - Poppy Levison | Blind Architecture, Designer and Activist

Learn more about DisOrdinary on their website - The DisOrdinary Architecture Project

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Quick-steps, spins and sparkles now as Vocaleyes and Step Change Studios are developing live AD for dance competitions.

Amelia spoke to audio describer Willie Elliott to learn more about his research and recommendations to bring blind and partially sighted into the action.

Step Change Studios have space in their blind ballroom classes starting on the 12th September.

Learn more on the Step Change Studios website - Step Change Studios | inclusive dance | London, UK and email [email protected] to register.

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If you’re looking for new ways to get involved in the community and make new friends, then a social club might be just up your street. Hywel Davies has been finding out the only social club in mid-Wales for blind and partially sighted people.

Mirrorbox is an interactive social art installation by I Would Be Here if I Could, co-created by people living with ME or Long Covid, carrying messages from people living with one of these conditions to places around the UK they love but can no longer visit due to their illness.

Mirrorbox will be touring a number of locations around the UK starting with the Royal Opera House in London (13-14 September 2026). Visitors are invited to listen, reflect, and write a postcard to the message sender in return.  All the audio messages are also available to listen to online via the I Would Be Here if I Could website.

RNIB Connect Radio’s Toby Davey was joined by Alison Larkman, lived-experience artist and creator of I Would Be Here If I Could and The Mirrorbox project who has ME, to find out more about mirror box and how the messages can relate to a wide audience including visually impaired people too. 

To find out more about Mirrorbox, the UK tour, listen to the audio messages online and to get involved with the project too do visit the I Would Be Here if I Could website - https://www.iwouldbehereificould.com

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See Work Differently Placements can be a great way for blind and partially sighted people to get into employment but what’s a placement actually like? David Hogg spoke to Michael Kear and Kate Charles from Vision PK to find out.

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Following on from releasing his first solo track, blind musician and producer Marshall Fairbrother has been working with the band Little Trees who hail from Nottinghamshire representing Neurodivergent and disabled communities with songs reflecting the band members own experiences of life 

Little Trees' music has been described as pop/rock that comes from the heart, full of energy and joy which can be heard in ‘Stronger’, their first single release.

RNIB connect Radio’s Toby Davey caught up with Marshall to find out more about how Little Trees came about, the make up of the band, his role in the band as bass player on their first single ‘Stronger’ and producing the track as a blind person too.

To find out more about Little Trees do visit their YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@LittleTreesband 

For more about Marshal do visit his website - https://marshallfairbrother.com

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Autumn is coming and brings with is changing leaves and beatiful birdsong.

Amelia is back with another monthly almanac to celebrate all things September.

Learn more about the birdsong and nature you can enjoy this month on the RSPB website -RSPB Bird & Wildlife Conservation Charity

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Are you one of the many people in the UK who doesn't have a will? David Hogg finds out why some people are put off writing them, why you should really have one and how will writing has become easier in Scotland

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Remember A Charity Week takes place from September 7 to September 13, encouraging people to leave a gift in their Will to causes they care about.

For charity RNIB, gifts in Wills are truly life changing. They help the charity to be there for people with sight loss not just today, but long into the future.  

Here's our Paulina Kuchorew speaking with RNIB's Head of Supporter Experience, Helen Smith. 

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