NB visited York Blind and Partially Sighted Society to find out how the charity is helping its community. Olufunmi Majekodunmi spoke to Diane Roworth, Chief Officer.
How does your charity help blind and partially sighted people?
We provide a range of services that help people to live as independently as possible, both at home and in the community. Our focal point is our Equipment and Information Centre, which is open five days a week, on a drop in basis where equipment, support and services can be accessed by anyone. We have an eye clinic liaison officer (ECLO) service at York Hospital, a volunteer home visiting service with 65 volunteers visiting people each week, a quarterly newsletter and leisure, learning and support groups.
When did the charity start?
It was established in 1979, as York and District Voluntary Society for the Visually Handicapped. It was entirely voluntary with only a small income from the RNIB Partnership agreement. We are now quite different; with 11 members of staff, (all part-time), a turnover of £230,000, a database of 1,040 members and a good reputation for providing quality services.
What do you think you do best?
We understand the day-to-day difficulties visually impaired people may face, and recognise that every person is an individual with their own level of vision, needs, support structures and personal and financial capabilities.
Our role is to try to ensure that people have information about all the support services available to them - from the onset of sight loss - and are empowered to use them if they wish. We believe it is important to maintain regular contact with all of our members and involve them in the organisation - half of our board of trustees are people with personal experience of sight loss.
What do you think you could improve on?
There is always room for improvement, but perhaps the most important new activity would be to build stronger connections with general practicioners and opticians, so that people who are experiencing sight loss could receive support as early as possible. We would also like to improve our fundraising so that we can sustain and grow our services.
You were awarded funding from the national lottery. What has this cash allowed you to do?
Our Big Lottery Fund grant has enabled us to make a real difference to the lives of blind and partially sighted people in York. As well as helping people with the practical aspects of living independently, through peer support groups and activities we have helped people to make new friends, regain and/or learn new skills and gain the confidence they need to lead an independent life. Our equipment centre now welcomes 1,800 visitors a year and 600 people have participated in a range of leisure activities such as our exercise class, new technology group and computer tuition.
How do you promote your organisation?
Getting the right information to the right people, at the right time is not easy. We are fortunate to have our ECLO who meets everyone newly-certificated as blind or partially sighted, and many people not yet eligible for registration. We invite hospital staff and teams to our centre and participate in training for GPs.
Do you work with other agencies or organisations in the area?
We do try to work with other groups when we can such as the Stroke Association and Action for Blind People. Some of our services are provided under contract to the City of York Council and our primary care trust. We are developing connections with the Health and Wellbeing Partnership Board in York, which is very exciting. Our Silver Dreams project with RNIB includes working with the Fire and Rescue Service and Age UK in York.
What concerns do people with sight loss have and how do you help with this?
In the early stages of sight loss most peoples concerns around understand their vision loss, managing the emotional impact and difficulties in seeing a positive future. This might include loss of confidence, inability to read print, problems with looking after themselves and their home, loss of employment and independent mobility.
We can help people understand their eye condition, and to overcome the limitations it may bring by exploring alternative ways of doing things, providing positive emotional and practical support and adopting a 'can do' attitude. In the longer term, we try and represent the needs of visually impaired people in the local community, and I am proud to say that the City of York Council has adopted 14 point print as their standard, which is a fantastic step forward in ensuring access to information.
What are your plans to help blind and partially sighted people for 2013?
If we can maintain our current level of services provision in today's climate, we will be extremely pleased! That aside, in April we will be starting the Silver Dreams project and we are working on a new bid to the Big Lottery Fund to continue to deliver the positive outcomes we have achieved during the last five years.
More information
For more details email Diane Roworth at diane.roworth@ybpss.org, call 01904 63 62 69 or visit the society's website.
Article published in NB magazine March 2013.