RNIB's Public Relations Team are always happy to put journalists in touch with people who have benefitted from RNIB's services, have opinions to share about being blind or partially sighted or have inspired others through their voluntary or fundraising work.
Here are a few examples of the types of stories that we have placed in the media:
From This is Croydon Today.co.uk 10 October 2011:
Partially-sighted New Addington man backs RNIB national bus campaign
A PARTIALLY sighted man is calling on bus drivers to think more about the people they are picking up - after almost being left behind because of his disability.
Tony Chandler says he, and others with poor eyesight, are being failed by bus operators, after facing a number of problems including buses not stopping, not allowing enough time to get on and pulling away before people can find a seat.
The 43-year-old, from New Addington, has given his backing to a national campaign launched this week by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) - called 'Stop for me, Speak to me'.
He said: "I have found there to be quite a few problems, and I am not the only one. It is a problem faced by a lot of partially sighted or blind people.
"When something happens on the bus, it can highlight the fact you have a condition to other people.
"It can be embarrassing, so awareness needs to be raised."
Mr Chandler was diagnosed with Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy in 2008 - a degenerative and rare condition which causes loss of central vision after part of the optic nerve becomes inflamed.
He said: "I remember waking up one morning and my eyesight was really blurred. I panicked, I tried washing my face, I put it down to tiredness, but it never went away.
"After a lot of tests I was diagnosed with the condition. Doctors struggled to find out what was happening for a while because it is so rare."
Mr Chandler, who lives in Castle Hill Avenue, now relies on public transport to get about because of his condition - but says the experience is not always positive.
"There have been times when I have heard the bus coming and put my hand out and it has gone straight past, other times they stop away from the bus stop so I end up having to work out where it has stopped," he explained.
"They sometimes don't lower the step which can be difficult to work out and in the past as soon as I am on the bus, they pull away without waiting for me to get a seat."
He added: "The other day a man who was blind, with a cane, got on and the driver just left him to it and started to pull away without a second thought.
"I got up and helped the man to a seat. The driver didn't even consider it. Some drivers are good but others just drive straight past you."
For more information or to sign up to the campaign visit the RNIB website or call 0303 123 9999.
From The Guardian Tuesday 10 May 2011, by Cameron Robertson:
'I'm blind. I want you to see what I'll lose if disability benefits are cut'
In a unique insight into a blind woman's life, Diane Marks, wearing a head-camera, shows how she will be affected by the government's proposed benefit cuts. Thousands of disabled people will march on Westminster on Wednesday to voice similar concerns
You can watch the video on The Guardian's website
From The Daily Mirror, 2nd March 2012, by Kevin Garwood:
I went to bed with a headache and woke up blind
One night in February 2000 I went to bed with a terrible headache. When I woke up the next day, I was blind.
At first I was really confused and asked my wife to put the lights on. Then I was rushed to hospital, where I remember having scans that sounded like being in a washing machine.
My pituitary gland had been destroyed by a tumour that had grown and crushed my optic nerve. I had an operation within a few hours.
What I realised after the operation was that it had saved my life but my sight was gone. I had no warning. I couldn't say - "if only I'd done this, or a doctor had done that".
Just months before I'd been to Ireland, Switzerland and the USA, and there I was, if you put me across the road I couldn't find my front door. I had to give up my job, and my passions - motorbikes and photography.
I went on a nine-week Royal National Institute of Blind People rehabilitation course. That made a big difference and I got to meet others who had lost their sight.
But I'm still adjusting and that will never stop.
If you would like to speak to someone about their personal experiences please contact
pressoffice@rnib.org.uk or call 0207 391 2223