In 2014, a visually impaired woman set up a Facebook Group to provide information, advice and support to blind and partially sighted people. Since then, VI Talk has gone from strength to strength. In addition to general issues related to visual impairment, group members discuss other issues including sport, music and cooking.

In this podcast, Tom Walker talks to Jo Fishwick who, with a couple of other visually impaired people, manages the group which now has over 3,000 members.

The Oxfordshire Association for the Blind (OAB) has just appointed a visually impaired CEO. In this podcast, Mark Upton talks to Tom Walker about his early memories in school and work. Mark also discusses his plans for OAB and shares his views on the wider visual impairment sector.

Whenever I talk to Visually Impaired people about the subject of work, it’s invariably a tale of woe. It’s estimated that 75% of blind and partially sighted people of working age are on the dole … A shocking statistic!

You do however occasionally come across some positive stories, in which Visually Impaired People have been treated fairly and received all the support they need.

Mark and Kerry Fielding who live in Blackpool started a new job recently and so far, everything is going well.

Tom Walker speaks to Lucy Edwards, the visually impaired BBC reporter and star of YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and ClubHouse, about her success on social media, working in television and presenting a live show on BBC Radio 1.

Visually impaired performer, Mandy Redvers-Rowe stars in Measuring Up at the Liverpool Everyman Theatre on October 10,2019. This podcast looks at the trials and tribulations of trying to make it as a writer. 

Tom Walker talks to Brian Switzer, a visually impaired Assistive Technology Instructor at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown Massachusetts, about preparing blind and partially sighted students for the world of work and the challenges they face when trying to find employment.

Devotees of Coronation Street will no doubt know that the character, Johnny Connor, is experiencing hallucinations caused by the little-known eye condition, Charles Bonnet Syndrome. In this podcast, Tom Walker talks to Judith Potts   from Esme's Umbrella and Nina Chesworth about their work with the Coronation Street script-writers to understand the eye condition. Judith's organisation supports people like Nina who have CBS. Judith tells Tom about the level of detail the script-writers needed to go into and Nina talks about her conversations with the actor Richard Hawley, who plays Johnny Connor. 

Finding a job isn't easy for anyone right now, but for visually impaired people, it's even more difficult. Claire Randall from Kent, who went to blind school in South Africa, tells Tom Walker about the challenges she's facing in finding employment.

A visually impaired man from Birmingham sets out his concerns that the Guide Dogs charity has lost its focus. Paul Gough Hopkins is concerned the charity is concentrating on other services rather than providing guide dogs to blind people. Pete Osborne, the charity's director of operations, responds to Paul's concerns.