The RNIB Northern Ireland Podcast

Welcome to Episode 11, RNIB Country Director in Northern Ireland Robert Shilliday, talks to Joe Kenny about why RNIB NI are on the move from the Victoria House office on Gloucester Street in Belfast and are now on a mission to find a new and improved Belfast office space. Our Policy and Campaigns Manager Paula Beattie updates us on some of what’s been keeping her team busy over the last month. Finally, Joe catches up with fellow music artists Andrea Begley and Paula Stevenson AKA Future Her, ahead of their big gig ‘Label Me Live’ at the Black Box Belfast, part of this year’s Bounce Arts Festival.

If it matters to people affected by sight loss, then it matters to us.

If you have feedback for the team or have an idea for future content, just email: [email protected]

Join the conversation on our NI social media channels

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Welcome to episode 10of the RNIB NI Podcast ‘Setting sail with Dan Fisher on a ship they call RNIB’

Listen up, speak up, break down barriers. Search and subscribe via your preferred podcast provider today!

In this episode, we sit down with RNIB’s Chief Strategy and Public Affairs Officer Dan Fisher as he chats through some ideas and future direction of RNIB’s work, Paula Beattie from the NI Policy and Campaigns team is back talking to Allan Russell, updating us on what’s occupying her team’s agenda at the moment, and local man and water sport adventurer, Tony McKillop, shares his own sight loss story and how he balances a demanding job with a busy family life, and what he’s learnt along the way.

If it matters to people affected by sight loss, then it matters to us.

If you have feedback for the team or have an idea for future content, just email: [email protected]

Join the conversation on our NI social media channels

Find us on Facebook

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We’re also on Bluesky

and Linked In

Welcome to episode 8 of the RNIB Northern Ireland Podcast 

, Listen up, speak up, break down barriers.

In this episode we have all sorts going on. Chair of Bangor campaigning group, Ken Carson, shares his reaction to a local win  as a pedestrian crossing is finally installed on a busy stretch of Bangor road. We hear from RNIB NI Products Co-Ordinator Louise Kenny on her plans for a regular product testing group. The RNIB NI campaigns update comes by way of Policy and Campaigns Manager Paula Beattie and Connect Radio and medical student come Marathon runner, Niamh Kenny, speaks to us about her Belfast City Marathon fundraising adventure.

If it matters to people affected by sight loss, then it matters to us.

If you have feedback for the team or have an idea for future content, just email: [email protected]

Join the conversation on our NI social media channels

Find us on Facebook

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We’re also on Bluesky

and Linked In

Welcome to episode 7 of the RNIB NI Podcast ‘More than the eyes can see’

, Listen up, speak up, break down barriers. Listen and subscribe via your preferred podcast provider!

This month our Policy and Campaigns Manager Paula Beattie joins us to talk about Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS), and we report from the CBS Action event at Stormont on 9 March, we speak to Judith Potts founder of Esme’s Umbrella, a charity based in the UK that campaigns for better support for people living with CBS. We also grab a word with RNIB NI’s Community Social Action Manager Elaine Manson about how to get involved in Understanding Sight Loss Sessions both as a person with lived experience of sight loss or as a business, service or organisation in Northern Ireland.

If it matters to people affected by sight loss, then it matters to us.

If you have feedback for the team or have an idea for future content, just email: [email protected]

Join the conversation on our NI social media channels

Find us on Facebook

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We’re also on Bluesky

and Linked In

Welcome to episode 6 of the RNIB NI Podcast

Listen up, speak up, break down barriers!

This month we’re out and about with Colum Delaney from our Policy and Campaigns team. We’re talking about the types of barriers faced by the sight loss community to accessible and inclusive travel and what’s RNIB NI’s Transport Focus Group all about? 

We catch up with the Accessibility Manager at Translink Danielle Campbell, on the recent partnership work between Translink and the sight loss sector around the opening of Belfast’s new Grand Central Station.

Did anyone say RNIB NI Tech Fair? Amelia Hilton from RNIB Connect Radio brings us a review of this year’s event in Derry/Londonderry with interviews and insight from some of the visitors.

If it matters to people affected by sight loss, then it matters to us.

If you have feedback for the team or have an idea for future content, just email: [email protected]

Image shows Danielle Campbell from Translink sitting in the RNIB NI studio with podcast host Joe Kenny

         Welcome to episode 5 of the RNIB NI Podcast ‘Let’s Talk Strategy’.

Listen up, speak up, break down barriers!

In this episode, we meet Paula Beattie, RNIB NI’s Policy and Campaigns Manager who tells us all the ways you can feedback on the Northern Ireland draft Disability Strategy. We also catch up with RNIB’s Chief Strategy and Public Affairs Officer Vivienne Francis as she reflects on 2025 and what lies ahead for the charity in 2026.

Gary McGouran heads-up the Make the Call team here in NI and drops in to share details of how the Make the Call service can support you to claim the welfare benefits and other services and support that could be available to you.

You can Make the Call by phone on 0800 232 1271

Or text ADVICE to:07984 405248.

Listen up, speak up, break down barriers

It’s here, episode 2  of The RNIB NI podcast.

Did someone say new CEO, Announcing RNIB NI Technology Fair 2026, and What has the RNIB Policy and Campaigns team in Northern Ireland been up to since last we spoke? Find out in this month’s episode.

If it matters to people affected by sight loss, then it matters to us.

Get in touch with the team by emailing  [email protected]

The image shows Laura Cummings and Joe Kenny sitting in the RNIB NI studio and smiling to camera.

Join the conversation on our NI social media channels

Find us on Facebook

Follow us on Instagram

We’re also on Blueskyand Linked In