Publications Archive

New Beacon, March 1999, 83(973)

Summary: The leading monthly magazine on issues concerning people with sight problems

0800 389 7568 or www.rnib.org.uk/ew

Editor: Ann Lee

© Royal National Institute for the Blind

In Depth

Low vision services in South-Devon

by John Collins, Optima Low Vision Services, and Denis Davis, RNIB Manor House

Introduction

For the past four years, the contract to provide low vision services in South Devon has been held by Optima Low Vision Services, in partnership with RNIB Manor House and Devon Social Services Sensory Loss Team.

This is a unique partnership linked to a national RNIB Centre. The developments in the Centre's low vision service have benefited the local community as well as people from all over the United Kingdom. Consequently a facility that in the past focused on the UK-wide working age population now provides an equally strong focal point for the entire visually impaired population of South Devon.

This article deals specifically with the multi-agency low vision services designed to meet the needs of the local community.

The service

The Low Vision Service runs on Mondays and Fridays - although a telephone and emergency service runs all week. On average, nine new patients and eleven follow-ups are seen each week - over 1,000 patients each year.

All new patients are referred to the service by their consultant ophthalmologist, and because the service is funded by the Healthcare Trust, the Hospital Car Service is available to transport patients to and from Manor House. On arrival, patients are greeted by a volunteer receptionist, who offers the visitor tea and coffee and the opportunity to chat in our comfortable reception lounge with panoramic sea views. This room also has a display of specialist aids, equipment and literature for people with a visual impairment.

Individuals are first assessed by a low vision therapist employed by Optima Low Vision Services. The initial element of this assessment is a full explanation of the particular visual impairment, using plain language and the aid of a model eye. This verbal explanation is then backed up by providing the patient with a leaflet about their eye condition so that they can refer to the information once they have returned home.

The second element of the assessment concentrates on establishing the individual's visual needs and aspirations, assessing their visual acuity, plotting field losses and their lighting needs. Once these data have been obtained, the therapist then predicts the level of magnification required, and then offers the patient a wide choice in the type of low vision aid (LVA) to be prescribed - hand- held magnifiers, stand magnifiers, spectacle mounted magnifiers, illuminated magnifiers, telescopic devices etc., and where appropriate anti-glare filters. In addition to the provision of the LVA of their choice, the individual is given guidance and training to maximise the use of their impaired vision as welt as the LVAs issued. This guidance and training may be as simple as demonstrating the optimum focal distance of the chosen LVA and the use of a clip board in conjunction with a stand magnifier, or a structured training session in eccentric fixation and steady eye strategies for patients with macular degeneration. For patients with a homonymous hemianopia, the team has developed a structured training programme to minimise the effect of “visual noise” and aphasia.

All new patients are given a one-hour appointment with the low vision therapist, and in ninety-nine per cent of cases the chosen LVA will be dispensed on that day. In most cases patients are given a twenty-minute review appointment within six and twelve weeks of the initial assessment. There is no limit to the number of follow-up sessions provided - these can range from one to seven sessions within any year.

Once the patient and the therapist are satisfied that the LVA and training have reached the optimum level of performance, the patient is given an “open appointment”. This means that should the individual's vision, or their goals or needs, change, they can simply phone for a new appointment.

Following the initial low vision assessment, the therapist takes the patient through to the rehabilitation officer and gives the officer a verbal report. This report will contain information about:

  • the individual's visual impairment and acuity
  • the individual's magnification and lighting requirements
  • a description of any training strategies introduced
  • recommendations about the integration of the optical aids supplied through the Low Vision Clinic and the non-optical equipment supplied by Social Services.

The rehabilitation officer then undertakes an initial assessment of the individual's social and rehabilitation need. This is particularly important since the South Devon Low Vision Service works on a four to six week waiting list, and it is estimated that at least thirty per cent of patients are not known to Social Services, mainly because we are seeing them before the BD8 process has worked through.

Following this assessment, the Rehabilitation Office can issue aids and equipment out of their stock held at the clinic, provide initial information and advice, and when appropriate make arrangements for follow-up home visits.

In other words, within four to six weeks of an individual being referred to the service they may be walking out of the Low Vision Clinic with any combination of: explanation of their particular eye condition, their chosen LVA and anti-glare filters, a task lamp, clip board, writing frame, templates, symbol cane and an information pack about other services, together with a date for the rehabilitation officer's first home visit.

For patients of South Devon Healthcare Trust who live in “New Devon” - that is, Devon excluding Torbay and Plymouth - the rehabilitation element of the services is undertaken by a member of Devon Social Services Sensory Loss Team. Torbay patients also have the opportunity to see a rehabilitation officer, but at the present time this will be a member of the RNIB Manor House Rehabilitation Team.

Service standards

The standards set for this service are extremely high. For example:

  • All new patients should receive a timed appointment within eight weeks of referral.

The average waiting time is actually five weeks.

  • 90 per cent of patients should be dispensed their chosen LVA on the day of the assessment.

The actual performance is over 99 per cent.

  • 95 per cent of patients will be seen within thirty minutes of their appointment time.

We have a 100 per cent record in this standard.

  • 90 per cent of patients must give at least a “satisfactory” rating to the service they receive from the contractor's staff during the annual patient satisfaction audit.

We actually received a 100 per cent rating.

  • At least 75 per cent of patients must indicate that they are using their LVAs during the annual patient satisfaction audit.

92 per cent indicated that they were using their chosen LVAs in the survey.

It is suggested that no other low vision service in the UK operates to such exacting service standards.

Some statistics
  • Just over 70 per cent of patients are female
  • The average age of the patients is 77 years
  • The most commonly seen visual impairments are:

    Maculopathies - 70 per cent

    Diabetic retinopathy - 9 per cent

    Glaucoma - 6 per cent

  • 65 per cent of patients use their LVAs more than twice a day
  • 62 per cent of patients use their LVA for reading correspondence
  • Hand-held magnifiers of powers between 2x and 4x are the most popular choice
  • 43 per cent of patients are dispensed more than one aid
About the partners

Optima Low Vision Services was formed in 1995 by John Collins, formerly the National Low Vision Service Manager with the Partially Sighted Society. Since its formation, Optima Low Vision Services has grown rapidly to become the UK's largest independent supplier of low vision aids, offering a next-day dispatch service to healthcare trusts, local authorities and voluntary agencies. Over the last four years Optima Low Vision Services have trained staff and set up low vision services for nine other healthcare trusts, and during 1999 are planning to establish a further six clinics. In November 1998, Optima took over the Low Vision Service for West Dorset Healthcare Trust, with the aim of transferring it into the model outlined above.

RNIB Manor House offers a range of services, including those provided by its low vision specialists and rehabilitation workers, who have a contract to provide rehabilitation services for the new Torbay local authority. Denis Davis is the Centre's Low Vision Co-ordinator. He is a qualified teacher, rehabilitation worker, and holds a Master's Degree in psychology, achieved through research which examined the relationship between low vision and mobility.

Devon Community Services Sensory Loss Team are based in Foxhole, Dartington, and in addition to providing the support at the Optima Low Vision Clinic provide a comprehensive assessment and rehabilitation service for people with a visual and hearing impairment throughout “New Devon”.

The rehabilitation worker – Training methods versus service users’ needs

Bill Wallace, Manager of the Team for Visual Impairment North, Nottinghamshire County Council Social Services, continues the debate in recent issues of “New Beacon” with proposals for in-depth research into the role and future training needs of the rehabilitation worker.

In April 1988 I succeeded in having an article published in “New Beacon” on the mismatch between training courses and fieldwork. This was in response to an earlier article by a fieldworker - Owen F Adams - which took a critical look at the future of local rehabilitation services. My article was broadly supportive of Owen Adams' position, and attempted to use the experience of several years of deploying a service to propose a model of practice, which we had worked out in Nottinghamshire, as a test frame for constructively moving the debate forward.

The response to my article was total silence from any of the national bodies involved in the training or resourcing of services for visually impaired people.

In May 1998 in the pages of the “New Beacon” I encountered another impassioned article, by John Crossland of the London Rehab Workers Group, giving his perceptions of shortfalls in both training and numbers of rehabilitation workers. The shortfalls in appropriateness in training are ascribed to the failure of those responsible for training courses to adapt their stocks of knowledge to actual real-life situations. This is a charge which any academic or training body would periodically be in line for. The question is, are we talking about a matter of degree, a change of emphasis, or disagreement about how the service is conceptualised? How would we resolve such an issue in an objective manner?

Ten years on I was prepared to let a reply to John Crossland's article lie fallow, lest I acquire a reputation as a counter-puncher - whilst in everyday management-speak we are all enjoined to be proactive. I also wonder how many users of our services find this debate useful or interesting.

However, several things have combined to motivate me to respond again.

The first is that I just plain do not think that John Crossland's attempt to stimulate discussion should be left to lie fallow in principle. He makes a range of challenging statements - which go from potentially out-of-context shots about people making tea under blindfolds (well, how do you get messages across to a politician on a pressurised schedule?) to, for me, the seminal statement under the heading “Counselling skills”: "If we are uncomfortable with people who are upset, then we are in the wrong job - very few people are going to get through this kind of experience without some kind of emotional reaction."

Within his range of statements, for me the fieldworker speaks in the message that we should be using common-sense adaptations of the discrete skills taught on courses, not reifying these skills titles unquestioningly. A period of immersion in these skills as an awareness-raising process, focusing on how visually impaired people could solve - or dare I say improvise - solutions to problems, might be a significant part of the skills-orientated agenda.

There has been no satisfactory measurement/monitoring of the actual uptake of skills. Follow-up questionnaires from course providers have limited application, and pieces of work based on a small sample group of rehabilitation workers do not suffice. Neither have enough depth or longitude.

The next reason for responding is that an invitation to participate in a questionnaire-type research project instigated by the RNIB and to be undertaken by the Tavistock Institute has recently filtered down to me. The object of this project is: To measure and map social services provision for people with visual impairments. In my period with this service I must have filled in half a dozen RNIB questionnaires. Since the days of Dr Penelope Shore's in-depth research in 1985 (which wasn't followed up) these RNIB questionnaire type attempts at research have had the common characteristic that they are shallow and betray a stilted conception of what a rehabilitation worker's job is. For example, in 1991 I was asked to complete a questionnaire for the RNIB Social Consultancy Services, the sense of which seemed to be no more than “were service users getting enough ROs/TOs and MOs'. However, the designer of the venture seemed to think this was a "... systematic investigation into issues concerning managers/supervisions of workers in this field".

We in Nottinghamshire have recently had a positive experience of the RNIB Consultancy Services (Deafblind Services) in 1997 during a six to nine month full-time survey into the needs of people who have dual sensory loss. This was the outcome of several years of wheeling and dealing to get joint Social Services and Health money to fund the project.

I have the greatest respect for the Tavistock Institute, and have no doubt that were they properly funded to do a definitive piece of research which would carry weight with the “powers that be” they would do so.

This brings us to the question: who are the “powers that be” in this area of provision of appropriately trained rehabilitation workers? So far as I can understand, there is a linkage between Department of Health, SSI (Social Services Inspectorate) and optionally RNIB.

It certainly does not put any pressure on the Department of Health that it is never being presented with any telling, definitive work about the paucity and appropriateness of training, or if universality has been achieved.

While participating in discussion groups in the recent feedback session on the SSI report “A sharper focus”, the role of the RNIB facilitators seemed to be to explain how to prioritise that shrinking resource, the qualified rehabilitation officer.

I had difficulty with two things here. The first was that we are supposed to be governed by the era of the “needs led assessment2 (which sounds indeed as if it was a phrase invented by SSI), and the second that I thought that the RNIB facilitators, while sensitive and perceptive in other respects, had a fairly conservative interpretation of what a rehabilitation officer should/could be doing in the era of Care in the Community. This document provides the general national dynamic for services for adults and older people.

When I said that there was no national model of what a rehabilitative service should look like (although during the day we were shown one or two examples of good practice which have to be the exception rather than the rule in terms of staff resources), it was put back to me that the RNIB do not pretend to define a national model in this area. Ah, but there's the rub. Everybody in the UK thinks that there is some national custodian of standards which are structured and universal in the provision of services for people who are blind or partially sighted. The exercising of the right to commission a plethora of questionnaires does not detract from this impression, but where does it lead to? One is tempted to say that if the RNIB had not existed, the Department of Health would have had to invent it. Otherwise it would have to come face to face with some hard and searching questions, such as:

  • Is the common belief in the field that it actually reduced the money which it spends on rehabilitation officer training when the Leeds and London training courses were disestablished true or false?
  • Since it set up the Training Support Grant (Visual Impairment) budget about the time of this disestablishment, have there been no increases to compensate for inflation, over several years? It is now, I believe, a static figure of £500,000 for the whole field of sensory loss.
  • Had the Department of Health any idea, given the low profile which many specialist teams have in local authorities, just how much energy small units would have to expend to get students through the bureaucratic application process?
  • Has there been any evaluation of the relative merits of the vast range of courses which the Department of Health put in its booklet as being eligible for students on Training Support Grants? For instance, in our experience only Guide Dogs for the Blind School of Vision and Rehabilitation Studies in Glasgow has fully grappled with concepts of modular training and distance learning - a route I feel many mature students will wish to follow.
  • Why is so much reliance placed on response time to new BD8s as a measurement of a services efficiency, when figures kept by a service such as ours shows that for every new BD8 there are two referrals from people experiencing difficulties at a later date? Sight loss is dealt with too much as a one-off medicalised concept rather than, at times, a deteriorating social career.

This brings me to my final reason for responding. It seems that in the last ten years things have, if anything, slid in terms of numbers of qualified rehabilitation workers. Also, recent soundings which I have taken in this area seem to indicate that, instead of the specialist team for visual impairment, the sensory loss team is the norm. Sometimes these teams are set up for good philosophical reasons. Sometimes they are configurated in this fashion because a middle manager does not know quite what to do with his dwindling VI team, and puts them together with his few specialist workers for deaf people. In the half dozen teams which I related to, none of the team leaders (with one exception involving an agency contract) was from the field of visual impairment. About fifty per cent had been social workers for deaf people. This brings out another application of the point which I made in my earlier article. "It is necessary for our field to produce the kind of worker capable of operating on several levels .... The deployment of ... resources is fairly directly related to the position in the hierarchy, credibility and advocacy skills of those who represent the various groups of clients." Many Social Service managers are sympathetic, but need to be presented with a case for development of services.

In Nottinghamshire before local government reorganisation this service deployed: two team managers, four senior rehabilitation officers, twelve rehabilitation officers and two rehabilitation assistants. Since LGR the City of Nottingham has split from us with a pro-rata establishment of workers, still trying to adhere to the same practical model which we have developed. The two county teams still have a staff establishment which in my language "bears a relationship to the job", although we could always do with more resources.

If we have good practices, these have not emanated from any national organisation (although in a recent SSI pilot survey into the needs of adults in the county we received a commendation). Our practice has been possible on the one hand because Nottinghamshire County Council has given us the staff complement which bears a relationship to the task and on the other has insisted that we keep abreast of every other unit in assimilating the procedures and fieldwork practices implicit in every current piece of national legislation, be it Care in the Community or the Children in Need aspect of The Child Care Act, in addition to our specialist VI training. Through this process we have improvised a model of service delivery at times in spite of, not because of, a plethora of national institutions.

As John Crossland knows, a significant part of the job is about co-operating with fellow professionals to help keep often elderly infirm people supported in the community. No matter what the purist debate about skills, most rehabilitation officers follow through packages of support because if we didn't do it nobody else would. I know that newly trained workers experience great stress in this area and long to express their skills in a more straightforward way than is often possible.

However, it is in this area that future work lies, and this is the reason why we need not shrink from a constructive critique. The British public has not yet been presented with a common-sense collective image of what massive demographic trends in age-related sight loss mean for helping elderly relatives cope. What is needed is a substantial, sensible, properly funded Government campaign, aimed at raising public awareness. This would then bring about an evaluation of resource factors such as national recruitment and training. For any other public service this would happen!

Having at some length listed my reasons for getting into this debate, I would like to use one of the briefer mechanisms in current “management speak” to bring this matter to a conclusion. I will do this by writing out a Mission Statement, not for me but for the Department of Health, RNIB or whoever are “the powers that be” - hereinafter referred to as “the External Funders”, in case some bright spark decides to lumber my County with the cost of the actual research, as well as the work.

Mission Statement

    The External Funders will commission an in-depth survey into:

  • The actual uses to which visually impaired participants put the skills which they are taught in rehabilitation sessions
  • The degree to which they use them, over time
  • The degree to which uptake of skills and knowledge will be possible, given that other disability, health and age related issues will be present
  • The host of therapeutic and emotionally supportive activities which take place when people are involved or brought together to make their best shakes of acquiring a skill, which may or may not be the secondary activity
  • The knowledge base which rehabilitation officers in a Social Services setting have built up by adapting their skills to help maintain elderly, infirm, vulnerable visually impaired people in the community.

    This voluntary survey will be carried out in North Nottinghamshire, where the amount of information amassed for this purpose in a decade of consistent practice should facilitate a definitive report.

    The object of this survey will be to feed back into the coherent planning for training and planning of services on a national basis.

Before writing this article I have taken soundings that at least one prestigious research body would be willing to undertake (welcome) such a project, provided there was sufficient funding to do it properly.

Sources

Adams, Owen F: 'Rehabilitation workers - Training for the twenty-first century?'. New Beacon, March 1987.

Crossland, J: 'Rehabilitation work - What's it all about'. Comment, New Beacon, May 1998.

Shore, Penelope: Local authority social rehabilitation services to visually handicapped people. RNIB, 1985.

Social Services Inspectorate: A sharper focus - Inspection of services for adults who are visually impaired or blind. Department of Health, 1998.

Wallace, W N: 'Services for visually-handicapped people - Training and fieldwork'. New Beacon, April 1988.

Letters

Raising the profile of deafblindness

John Wadsworth's article last month is a valuable contribution to the subject of deafblindness. As a hearing impaired, totally blind person I would like to add a few salient points to a better understanding of the problems.

1. It is slightly inaccurate to say that hearing impaired people have difficulty hearing. If anything they hear too much: their difficulties arise from isolating the remarks addressed to them in a room full of people talking, particularly if they use hearing aids. The way to deal with this is not to raise your voice, but to speak more slowly and, above all, clearly, bearing in mind that English is a language which is easily slurred. Moreover, blind people too often speak with their head down, addressing the floor, as it were, rather than looking at the person they are addressing or straight in front of them.

2. “Only a minor loss of high frequency hearing will make road travel extremely difficult.” This problem can be overcome by using hearing aids, something that should be insisted upon if independent travel is to be made safe. I can never understand why people are so reluctant in accepting hearing aids when they are so ready to accept glasses, unless it be because the latter are much more commonly used at all ages. The basic requirement for independent travel is to be able to hear approaching traffic when you want to cross a road, whether you have a guide dog or not.

3. Because the speech of deafblind people is often distorted, as is the signal from hearing aids, hearing impaired people find some deafblind almost impossible to understand. They should realise that is not due to intolerance, just inability.
Hans Cohn, London NW2

Development officer for deafblind services in Essex

My name is Faye Harburt and I have recently started working as development officer for deafblind people in Essex.

This post has been created in a three-year joint project between Essex Social Services, Deafblind UK and Sense, and aims to provide information and support to people with a dual sensory loss, to raise awareness of the needs of deafblind people and to raise the profile of deafblind people across the statutory and voluntary sector within Essex. I am based within the Social Services Sensory Department at St Albrights in Colchester.

All of my working life has been spent in and around Ipswich in Suffolk; and I am, therefore, not very familiar with the various clubs, groups and individuals working with deafblind people in Essex.

I aim to compile a comprehensive resource library of information about the services available in Essex and a database of individuals (children and adults) with dual sensory loss in Essex, but I will need some help. So if you have any information about clubs and groups, or know of anybody with dual sensory loss who may benefit from knowing our team, please let me know. Thank you.
Faye Harburt, Essex Social Services Department, Sensory Team, St Albrights, 1 London Road, Stanway, Colchester, CO3 5NG - Telephone 01206-714600 extension 26827; Ednet 826827; Fax 01206-761776; Minicom 01206-766259

Residential rehabilitation

The continuing debate on rehabilitation in the columns of “New Beacon” is certainly raising some important points, but another issue that requires further consideration is the place of residential rehabilitation. For some newly-blinded people, the acquisition of communication, mobility, and independent living skills can no doubt be ensured by the qualified and experienced rehabilitation officer through domiciliary and local training provision. For many, however, successful rehabilitation involves other processes of an emotional, adjustment, and psychological nature. While experts in the relevant professions can do much to help their clients negotiate their way through these problems, an enormous, but unfortunately not easily measurable, benefit can come from learning, working, and talking with people in the same position as oneself. The informal, daily contacts possible within the setting of a residential rehabilitation centre have been recognised by many clients as being a significant contribution to their own development and renewal.

Not being able to measure this benefit in an objective manner should not lead decision-makers who decide whether, how, and where new clients are to receive their rehabilitation to discount the value of a residential placement. Rehabilitation officers are uniquely well-qualified to advise clients about what is available. If we are, using the latest buzzword, to “empower” clients, then they must be able, at the very least, to make informed judgements about their rehabilitation. For this, they need information, and I would suggest that registration be accompanied by a short, single-page information sheet telling clients about their entitlement to good advice and listing the various rehabilitation services open to them. Is it the case that some are not aware that a residential placement is one option, and one where the skills and other support provided by their admirable local services can be complemented, and where interacting with and learning from other newly-blinded people will be part of the daily routine? What are the opinions of visually impaired people who have had this particular experience?
Michael J Tobin, Director, Research Centre for the Education of the Visually Handicapped, School of Education, The University of Birmingham

BIG Malawi

It was with great sadness that I read of the foundation of the Blind Initiative Group (BIG) of Malawi with its choir and its basket making and all the well-meant but anachronistic trappings of sheltered provision in the 1950s.

As the Overseas Director of Sight Savers International from 1987-92 (then the Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind) I strove with colleagues to ensure that congenitally blind children were educated in mainstream village schools and from there introduced to agriculture, and that newly blinded adults remained in the agricultural occupations which had sustained them when they had been able to see.

There was a humane if somewhat old-fashioned sheltered employment facility kept going on the basis that it was very difficult to integrate those blind people who had been segregated for many years, but this was regarded as an asset of declining utility.

The fundamental question that needs to be asked is: what has happened to community-based rehabilitation, where blind people undertake activities identical to those of their sighted peers?

I understand the great temptation when faced with the current situation in Malawi to “do something” to meet immediate needs, but this must be combined with a longer-term, sustainable community plan; neither Malawi nor aid donors can maintain blind people in sub-Saharan Africa as loss-making basket weavers and as members of choirs.
Kevin Carey, Editor, British Journal of Visual Impairment, Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex

We represent the Torch Trust for the Blind who have an ongoing work in Blantyre, Malawi, and we are writing in response to the letter in the February edition regarding the blind beggars of Malawi. They are indeed in a desperate condition, and there are so many beggars (not all of them blind) in Blantyre and Limbe that the amount they collect is very thinly spread.

We have been seeking to help these beggars over several years, by distributing clothing, white canes, braille books and writing frames etc. There are at least eighty blind men and women, many with children who have missed out on schooling through having to guide their parents each day.

While we share with the Blind Initiative Group a strong desire to give long- term help to these people rather than occasional “hand-outs”, we are concerned that some of the matters mentioned in their letter are inaccurate. A “blind choir” has not as yet materialised, though efforts have evidently been made to form one. The idea of encouraging the blind folk to produce items for sale is commendable, but the problem is that of successful marketing of such items. The beggars themselves do not see this as the answer.

We have made many visits to Malawi over the last few years, and have built up a good rapport with the beggars. At the end of last year, during a visit, they made it clear to us that their real desire is to return to their own villages. There are four good reasons for this:

1. The cost of living is considerably less in the villages than in the towns.

2. There is usually plenty of land available for farming.

3. The teenage sons and daughters would be able to help on the farm and would be much less likely to turn to crime (as tends to happen in the city).

4. In many cases the extended family system would take the responsibility on board of helping blind relatives.

5. The smaller children would be able to go to school.

Up till now, they have been unable to return to their villages because of lack of money to build a house and to buy initial supplies of seed and fertiliser for farming.

This may sound a formidable obstacle, but in fact a grass-roofed, mud-block house can be built for as little as £70, and about the same amount would start a family off in farming or a little retail business.

If you would like further information, or feel you would like to help, please contact Janet and Michael Stafford at Torch Trust for the Blind, Torch House, Hallaton, Leicestershire, LE 16 8UJ - telephone 01858-555301; e-mail: janetstafford@fastnet.com.uk
Janet and Michael Stafford

Capitals in braille

So, after many years of discussion we thankfully seem to be coming to a common sense solution. As I understand Mr Poole's explanations in the February “New Beacon”, we are now aiming for a dual arrangement where some books will have capitals and others will not. The dividing line could be drawn in terms of educational versus leisure books. Well now! This pre-supposes the braille producers making some decision about each book or category of publication. Would “New Beacon”, The Bible, “Welcome To the World Of...” etc. be leisure or education? The answer in all cases is, of course, a loud “yes”, and this leaves the whole thing back in the hands of the producers of our braille books, who can be relied upon, no doubt, to make sensible decisions and take account of customer feedback.

Presumably, if we consumers are to be permitted to vote on this dual approach, we need a prior definition of what is educational and what is leisure. Alternatively, again the common sense approach could prevail and for starters only strictly educational books, school text books and the like could be published with capitalisation. The mass of braille could remain as it is now until reader pressure brings about a change.
Roger Wilson-Hinds, Peterborough

Without belabouring details, I am delighted that it has now been shown that far too many braille readers loathe the disadvantages of full capitalisation in British Braille for BAUK, or anybody else, to dragoon them into it.

I would now like to advocate general tolerance. Many will thank Sara Morgan, “The Campaign For Real Braille” and the “In Touch” programme for bringing so much information to light, as against a minimal questionnaire with defective circulation and an electorate going down to the age of twelve.

Whilst I am sure that none of us opposed to capitalisation would grudge its use in specialised educational or legal works - to take just two examples - surely it would be equally intolerant for those on the other side of this controversy to impose their will on the braille community as a whole.

I declined kind invitations to stand for election to a fourth three-year term on BAUK as an NFBUK rep. because I was disgusted at its then dictatorial policy. I did, however, see enough to know that the Americans are flirting with a new presentation of Grade II braille, which could well make the problems of capitalisation look like a little tea party.

Heaven help us if the American United Braille Code were ever pushed through by a small clique on a similarly inadequate electoral procedure.
John Busbridge, Ilkley

As a normal visually impaired person I am sick of hearing about capitals in braille. I was never taught braille at school, as partially sighted people didn't need to learn it. Now as someone trying to learn braille, by touch, I really don't care about capitals. In the scale of things capitals in braille are really not that important. I still come across visually impaired people (or should that be blind and partially sighted people? - I'm never sure) who are missing out on benefits and services some of us expect as a right. They do not care if their “radio times” has a capital in it, but they do care if they have their home help stopped or their benefits cut. They want to be able to speak to someone when they have a problem and get access to the information they need. In fact, we are only talking about a very small minority of the blind and partially sighted population anyway.

May I suggest Mr Hornby and Ms Morgan go and meet real visually impaired people, most of whom really don't care about capitals. There are blind people in other countries (oh, am I allowed to use the word blind?) who don't have braille paper to even write capitals on. In my life I have to say cleaning the toilet and planning my dental appointments take priority over capitals in braille. Some may say that's sad - well, so what. Some of us have better things to do with our time. Far too much space has already been used in “New Beacon”, and it pains me to have to write this letter. But someone had to force a reality check.
Val Slade (An ordinary “blind” person who lives in the real world), London W1

Improving Waterloo Underground Station

At the end of January, London Underground began another stage of its £10 million programme to improve Waterloo Underground station - part of its £1 billion project to give London a Tube that's fit for the new millennium.

At Waterloo, we shall be completely refurbishing the lower level concourse and the cross passageways to the Northern and Bakerloo platforms. The whole area will be upgraded with new tiling, lighting, flooring and signs. We're also introducing Customer Help Points as well as closed circuit television cameras, which will give a major boost to security and safety.

The Shell entrance areas will also be brought up to the same high standards as those refurbished a few years ago.

Refurbishment work began at the end of January and is expected to take about nine months to complete. The work will create some inconvenience to all passengers, but visually impaired passengers should be especially aware there will be separate entrances to the Bakerloo and Northern Line ticket offices and platforms and that there will be no interchange between those Lines at the lower level.

Passengers and guide dog owners in particular are advised to travel to Charing Cross, where the interchange between the Bakerloo and Northern Lines is via two flights of stairs connected by two long subways and a ramp. An interchange is possible at Embankment, but this involves two escalators, for one of which there are no alternative stairs.

London Underground staff will be availabte to offer assistance to visually impaired passengers, and London Underground is liaising with Railtrack and South West Trains at Waterloo for their staff to offer similar assistance.

Further advice and information about these works can be obtained by telephoning London Transport's Unit for Disabled Passengers (0171-222 5600) during office hours or by telephoning London Transport's 24 hour Travel Information Service on 0171-222 1234.
Ian Seabrook, Deputy Manager (Public Transport), London Transport Unit for Disabled Passengers, 172 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9TN

The problems of sight recovery

After having had surgery to remove a malignant tumour, I completely lost my sight. I could see some light but was unable to distinguish shapes and could not read, nor walk around alone at all. I found it impossible to tell my left from my right, and couldn't remember what was in the rooms in my own house.

Four months later – imagine my surprise - I began to have some vision. It's hard to describe really, but I was out shopping with some friends and found that I could read at quite a distance some very large print on the advertising boards in a local supermarket. Sometimes I could pick up at a closer range some of the letters on a newspaper someone was holding. Now I can see shapes at a distance; anything that reflects light, such as door frames or water - light reflected off my bath-water, for example - helps me to understand what I am seeing. I find my new-found vision quite disturbing at times - for instance people's faces can disappear. I can bend down and tie my shoelaces and see the shape of my foot - yet I can't read anything close to.

I am awaiting new appointments with my ophthalmologist and optometrist to understand what has happened with my eyesight and what I might be able to do with the help of rehabilitation training and low vision aids.

It's all quite puzzling really. Is there anyone out there who has experienced this for themselves??
replies care of Gill Levy, RNIB Information & Practice Development Service, Multiple Disability/Complex Needs, 224 Great Portland Street, London W1N 6AA - telephone 0171-388 1266 extension 2049; e-mail glevy@rnib.org.uk

Insight

Westminster Round-up

Richard Holmes reports on the Welfare Reform Bill, which had its first reading last month, and the Beacon Council scheme:

Welfare Reform Bill

Ministers believe that benefits for the disabled are at present badly targeted. Their view is that the threefold increase in the numbers claiming Incapacity Benefit represents an abuse of the original purpose of the benefit.

Key points from the Bill:

Single Gateway

Every person will be required to attend "and participate in" an interview before they become entitled to certain benefits. Alistair Darling, Social Security Secretary, said that there will no longer be an "unconditional right to benefit". This approach, which is known as the Single Work Focused Gateway, will require claimants to talk through with an adviser how they may become “independent of benefit”.

Those who refuse to attend for interview will have their benefit removed, but benefit will not be removed if the claimant refuses to take a job. The Single Gateway is currently being piloted in twelve areas of the country. [See also RNIB's comments on the “Single Gateway” in the next article.]

Incapacity Benefit

This benefit will be limited to people who have paid full National Insurance contributions in one of the two previous years. Furthermore, people with occupational pensions of more than £50 a week will have their benefit cut. A new test of incapacity will be introduced for people who can do some work, but this may not be the work they have been previously undertaking.

The Bill provides for State agencies such as the Benefits Agency to be able to share information about claimants.

Commenting on this provision, Ian Bruce, Director-General of RNIB and co-chair of the Disability Benefits Consortium, said: "This makes a mockery of the Government's promise not to harm the genuinely disabled."

At the time of writing, the Bill is due to receive its second reading in the House of Commons on February 23. RNIB will brief to this and to all further stages as part of the Disability Benefits Consortium.

Beacon Councils

The Government has announced the launch of its Beacon Council scheme to acknowledge best practice in delivery of local services, including education, social services, housing, community safety, improving council tax administration.

Each council is encouraged to take part and share information on best practices. Beacon status will be awarded to forty councils in the first year. To qualify; the councils will have a proven track record in one of the following - community safety (working with others to reduce crime in town centres), education (helping to identify and turn around failing schools), housing (improved repair and maintenance, involving tenants in the process key to best value), modernising planning (updating of development plans and encouragement of local enterprise), social services (focusing especially on young care leavers), sustainable development (tackling waste), and modern service delivery (timely benefit delivery, good value for money and customer satisfaction in relation to Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit).

It should be noted that the services covered will change annually.

There will now be a consultation exercise on Beacon councils (responses invited by March 26). In April, the first Beacon councils will be selected on the basis of advice from an independent panel. Successful applicants will be announced in October. The Government will try to represent the diversity of local authorities and all councils.

“Single Gateway” scheme must be flexible, says RNIB

A substantial number of blind and partially sighted people will experience real difficulties if the Government's new programme to get people back to work - the “Single Gateway” scheme - is not flexible to their needs, says RNIB.

Gordon Dryden, RNIB Assistant Director for Education and Employment, said:

"The “Single Gateway” represents a useful starting point for looking at jobseeking and benefit issues together. RNIB is supportive of the proposal to run twelve pilot studies across the UK, but it is crucial that they are implemented sensitively and carefully if blind and partially sighted people are really to benefit from this initiative.
"We are most concerned that people with serious sight problems have enough time to obtain information in alternative formats prior to their interview.
"In addition, we do not want people who have suffered the trauma of sudden serious sight loss to be compelled to return to work before they have received the appropriate rehabilitation and are ready to make the step back into the workplace."

New employer's website and helpline

Alison McCall writes:

An innovative new service will be launched this month by Donald Dewar, the Secretary of State for Scotland. The service is partly funded through the “Employment Horizon” initiative, and is part of RNIB's “Visage” project (Visual Impairment and Standards in Adult Guidance and Employment), which runs until the middle of the year 2000.

What is the service?

The service is twofold. Firstly, a website that can provide detailed information, at the touch of a button. Secondly, a free helpline to provide an initial point of contact for all employers in the UK. The helpline's staff will be able to answer enquiries, supply further information, or send out leaflets and literature as requested.

What is the aim?

The aim is to tackle employers' lack of understanding about the employment potential of blind and partially sighted people. With the implementation and development of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), challenging discrimination at work should be a top priority for most employers. The Government funds a helpline which answers specific DDA related questions, and RNIB's accessible website and helpline will answer enquiries on the full range of employment issues, from the advertisement of positions to the access technology available.

The more informed employers are, the more consideration they can give to the employment of people who are blind or partially sighted.

  • If you have any enquiries about the service, please phone Alison McCall (Information Officer) on 0800 389 7568 or e-mail amccall@rnib.org.uk

“Access to further and higher education”: David Blunkett launches new RNIB publication

The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP, Secretary of State for Education and Employment, launched a new publication from RNIB, “Breaking down barriers”, at an event held in January.

“Breaking down barriers - Access to further and higher education for visually impaired students” provides practical guidance and advice for professionals working in further and higher education on how to meet the needs of blind and partially sighted students.

Based on the philosophy of equal access to education for all, “Breaking down barriers” highlights the barriers that learners with serious sight problems face in post-school education. Issues covered in the book include:

  • Getting around campuses
  • Being able to access information in the appropriate format
  • The importance of having adequate assessments of individual needs

“Breaking down barriers” also discusses people's attitudes and beliefs about disability - how misconceptions held about the abilities of blind and partially sighted students can prevent them from full and equal participation in education and in society as a whole.

“Breaking down barriers” was written by Jane Owen Hutchinson, Manager, RNIB Physiotherapy Support Service, Karen Atkinson - Senior Lecturer of Physiotherapy and Manager of RNIB's Resource Centre at the University of East London, and Jenny Orpwood, a former member of RNIB Physiotherapy Support Service.

  • It costs £20, and is available from all good bookshops or directly from Stanley Thornes (Publishers) Ltd - telephone 01242-228888.

New regulation discriminates against disabled learners, says Skill

A new regulation announced by David Blunkett's Department for Education and Employment creates yet more discrimination against disabled people, says Skill (the National Bureau for Students with Disabilities). From autumn 1999, people over the age of 55 will no longer be eligible for Disabled Students' Allowances (DSAs), which help disabled people afford extra costs of studying incurred because of their disabilities.

These costs can often be as much as £10,000 per year, and have until now been available regardless of age. People between 50 and 54 will now get DSAs only if they can convince government officials that they will be entering work after their course. Nine concerned organisations - including RNIB as well as Skill, British Deaf Association, Leonard Cheshire, NSF, NUS, RADAR, RNID and Scope - have banded together to press the Department for Education and Employment to reconsider this discriminatory regulation.

No disability organisation was consulted about the regulation because it was drafted and approved in secrecy, points out Skill.

"People without disabilities", says Director Barbara Waters, "can go to university any time they like, and depending on their income may get their fees paid. But if you are disabled, you will be kept out of higher education in later life because extra support costs will likely be beyond your reach."
"I am deeply disappointed that Mr Blunkett, a disabled person and champion of lifelong learning, approved a regulation that discriminates against disabled people. It must be rectified before older disabled people are barred from higher education."

Brian Hewitt Scholarship Fund

Robert Meadowcroft, Assistant Director in RNIB's Education and Employment Division, writes:

Brian Hewitt's tragically early death in July 1998 saddened his many friends and colleagues throughout the country, Brian made a massive contribution in the visual impairment field throughout his career. He had a unique blend of experience, knowledge and common sense, which were allied with a visionary, pioneering spirit.

Ever enthusiastic, Brian had an unceasing determination to find new and more effective ways of delivering services and providing support to individuals which would enable them to achieve their goals and reach their aspirations wherever possible.

The Members of the Governing Body at Manor House and RNIB Trustees were determined to mark Brian Hewitt's work and achievements in an appropriate manner. We decided to establish a Scholarship Fund in Brian's name which would seek to encourage new thinking and new ways of working in the field, particularly in those areas where Brian himself had made a major contribution.

The Brian Hewitt Scholarship Fund has been set up, therefore, to support the development of new techniques and initiatives in the rehabilitation and training fields for work with blind and partially sighted people. This will include related areas such as assessment, low vision, outreach development and new partnership approaches. It is planned to make the first award in summer 1999 for an essay or report which deals with one or more of these topics.

Further, we are already holding discussions with regard to the possibility of the award being accompanied by a memorial lecture to be given at a national conference by the author of the winning submission. It is suggested that the award panel will comprise Desmond Kettle and Michael Tobin, the Chair and Vice Chair of the Board of Governors at RNIB Manor House, and Jill Read, Centre Manager at RNIB Manor House.

The award and memorial lecture are seen as a fitting tribute to the innovative and inspirational work carried out by Brian Hewitt. Subject to the size of the scholarship fund itself, it may be possible to make the award on an annual basis.

Many readers of “New Beacon” will have known Brian either through his work at Manor House or at one of the other specialist colleges or services through which he contributed so much.

  • Further donations to the Brian Hewitt Scholarship Fund should be send to me, Robert Meadowcroft, at RNIB Education & Employment, 224 Great Portland Street, London W1N 6AA. Cheques should be made out to RNIB but with a covering note to indicate that they are to go to the Scholarship Fund.

RNIB launches AccessBooks

“AccessBooks” is a new range of titles available in electronic format and large print from the Royal National Institute for the Blind.

The initiative starts with six titles from the Penguin Classics range, with others to follow in coming months. RNIB has selected texts that are core reading material for GCSE English, but will also appeal to a wider audience.

Electronic “AccessBooks” have been designed for use on a personal computer equipped with screen reader and voice synthesis system. A full set of navigational features have been built in, and the software encrypts the content to prevent unauthorised copying.

The books are distributed on 3.5 inch diskettes. Atlases are available for users of HAL 4, 5 and VocalEyes screen readers.

Those who would like a taster beforehand will find examples which can be downloaded from RNIB's website http://www.rnib.org.uk No further software is needed as the books are self-running.

Print editions are available in 16 point unabridged, with all text and illustrations, and 24 point as text only for those who require maximum legibility.

The first six “AccessBooks” are:

“Gulliver's travels” by Jonathan Swift
TC20556 - electronic
TC20557 - 16pt large print
TC20558 - 24pt large print

“Hard times” by Charles Dickens
TC20559 - electronic
TC20560 - 16pt large print
TC20561 - 24pt large print

“Emma” by Jane Austen
TC20562 - electronic
TC20563 - 16pt large print
TC20564 - 24pt large print

“Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë
TC20565 - electronic
TC20566 - 16pt large print
TC20567 -24pt large print

“Robinson Crusoe” by Daniel Defoe
TC20568 - electronic
TC20569 - 16pt large print
TC20570 - 24pt large print

“Far from the madding crowd” by Thomas Hardy
TC20571 - electronic
TC2-0572 - 16pt large print
TC20573 - 24pt large print

  • AccessBooks are priced at £16.50 each and are available to order from RNIB Customer Services on 0345-023 153 for the price of a local call (Minicom: 0345-585 691). Or write to RNIB Customer Services, PO Box173, Peterborough PE2 6WS.

Travel barriers: Tell us your transport story!

Phil Jenkins (RNIB Communications Officer, Visual Impairment) writes:

RNIB's main area of campaigning in 1999 is transport, mobility and the environment. During May, RNIB will be launching the campaign with a call for all the parts of the journey to be accessible - not just the trains but the stations too; not just the buses but the street environment as well.

To draw attention to the barriers blind and partially sighted people face every day when travelling, the Communications and Public Policy Departments want to hear about your experiences, both good and bad, of the transport infrastructure (trains, buses, tubes, taxis, aircraft, stations, bus stops etc.).

We are seeking people who are willing to tell us their story and speak to the media to reinforce our message. We are also hoping to arrange a number of MPs to take journeys accompanied by a blind or partially sighted person to illustrate the difficulties they face.

  • If you can help, or if you have some friends who don't read “New Beacon” who are willing to help us, then please ring Phil Jenkins on 0171-391.2080 or Grant Imlach on 0171-391 2177, or email pjenkins@rnib.org.uk

Bright ideas in Nottingham

Michaela Rhodes writes:

This is the story of how an established need, a bright idea and a supportive community have resulted in a brand new device being introduced for vision impaired people.

I am a rehabilitation officer and, having spent most of my life in South Africa working for Guide Dogs, I am now based in the Resources and Information Centre at Nottinghamshire Royal Society for the Blind. Ours is a very well stocked resource centre, and we pride ourselves on being able to answer the many varied requests put to us by the 200 or so customers that come through our doors each week.

During 1998 the RNIB let everyone know that the magnetic bus boards would no longer be available, and by the end of the year they had indeed disappeared from the catalogue. These were pocket-sized black boards onto which magnetic numbers could be affixed, depending on which bus a vision impaired person wanted to catch. This was a great pity as, although there was not a great call for this item, there were nonetheless a small number of people who had found them tremendously useful.

I had been toying with an idea for a replacement for some months but, as is the case with most ideas, not done anything about it, when I was given just the prompt I needed. Dave Norman, one of our volunteers, had just completed his training with a new guide dog and was keen to get back to his post at the hospital information point. All he needed was a bus board for the 85 and 84 buses.

Coincidentally, “The Evening Post” had been running a campaign, called “Bright at night”, to cut the toll of road injuries to cyclists and pedestrians in the dark winter months. I therefore contacted the company which was producing reflective clothing for the “Post”, Tennant Plastics, with my idea. As well as producing reflective clothing, Tennant Plastics make car number plates. They were most enthusiastic to help out a local charity, suggested making the boards double-sided - and, in under a week, were able to provide me with ten boards to get the ball rolling. So Dave was on the road again!

The new board measures 3 by 7 inches, is double-sided with reflective yellow adhesive on a strong plastic base, and weighs 30 grams. Two-and-a-half-inch high numbers (the same size as those used on motorbikes) are placed on either side, thereby allowing the holder to use the same board to catch two different buses. Unlike the magnetic boards, the numbers are permanently affixed. However, as most people tend to catch the same few buses, this doesn't seem to be proving too much of a problem.

In the two months since introducing the board we have been flooded with enquiries. Many people are using them throughout Nottingham and giving us very positive feedback. Realising the importance of introducing the board successfully, we have worked closely with the two leading bus companies in Nottingham to ensure that all their drivers are made aware. Both have been tremendously helpful by including the board as part of their vision impairment awareness training as well as circulating posters to all their depots and garages.

We have circulated a news bulletin to societies, groups and associations that are likely to be interested; placed an announcement in the Talking Newspaper; and also done interviews with local media. In this way we hope to reach more people that might find the device useful.

The big advantage is that these new boards are very visible, even in dim light, due to their reflective properties. Another unique feature is that, as they are assembled at NRSB, it is possible to customise them to suit each individual. Some have been marked with braille, others have bump-ons stuck on, and some, where the customer is able to distinguish the numbers, are left as they are.

These boards are currently only available through the Nottinghamshire Royal Society for the Blind and, as they are subsidised by ourselves and Tennant Plastics, are limited to people living within Nottinghamshire. However, I hope that after reading this article you will be prompted to set up the same service in your own area. For further information or any advice on how to get started, contact the Resources Department on 0115-970 6806.

In Brief

Workbridge launch

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education & Employment Margaret Hodge will launch Workbridge Services - a specialist employment agency for blind people - on March 9 at the RSA Conference Centre in London. The launch will be attended by a wide variety of employers. The Right Honourable Lord Baker of Dorking will chair a general discussion focusing on employment opportunities.

More than 75 per cent of employable visually impaired people cannot get work. Workbridge is a joint initiative of national charities Action for Blind People and Royal London Society for the Blind, aimed at increasing work opportunities for people with a visual disability. Workbridge acts as a specialist employment agency - assisting blind people in marketing their skills to employers, helping to overcome the perceived difficulties of employing blind people and advising on special equipment or other needs.

  • For further information contact Barbara Morton, Workbridge Officer, 0171-635 7483.

Royal Mail on tape

Royal Mail's Code of Practice, “We want to help you”, sets out in detail the quality of service every customer can expect from Royal Mail, and what to do if the standards are not met.

  • An audio version is now available, tape and postage free, from: Master Transcriptions, PO Box 124, The Pantiles, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN4 8YL - telephone 01892-516157; fax 01892- c 544796; e-mail mastrans@argonet.co.uk

Webwatch

Children's books on the Net

Contributed by Chris McMillan

Children's LiteratureWeb Guide: http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/index.html

Electronic Resources for Youth Services: Children's Literature http://www.ccn.cs.dal.ca/~aa331/childlit.html

Electronic Children's Books: gopher://lib.nmsu.edu/11.subjects/Education.childlit/.childbooks

This site contains the full text of many classic works of children's literature, including “The Wizard of Oz”, “Alice in Wonderland”, “Robinson Crusoe”, “The call of the wild”, etc.

Text based material by or about an author:

Louisa May Alcott: http://www.coppersky.com/Iouisa

Lewis Carroll: http://www.lewiscarroll.org/carroll.html

Beverley Cleary: http://www.teleport.com/~krp/cleary.html

Dr Seuss: http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~ttorres/seuss.html

Arthur Ransom: http://humboldt1.com/ar/literary/

MarkTwain: http://web.syr.edu/~fjzwick/twainwww.html

PS. These are American sites, which is why I think Arthur Ransome has lost the final 'e' on his name.

American Nystagmus Network

http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~jbeall/

The site includes details of the inaugural meeting to be held in Cleveland, Ohio, July 30 to August 1. For further information or to request a brochure please e-mail Laurie Heikkila - lheikkil@nacs.net

News Extra

RNIB looks to the future

Ian Bruce, Director-General of the Royal National Institute for the Blind, invites New Beacon readers to contribute to the development of the organisation in the years beyond 2000.

RNIB runs such a wide range of services to blind and partially sighted people of all ages that it needs a Strategy to help ensure it has focus and direction. Our current Strategy, which started in 1994, is due to end in 2000. We are now beginning to think about the shape of the successor Strategy, and would welcome comments and suggestions from “New Beacon” readers.

Our current Strategy has five priorities:

  • raising awareness to challenge discrimination
  • increasing the number of people benefiting from RNIB services
  • increasing our beneficial impact on older blind and partially sighted people
  • improving the quality of what we do
  • attracting and using resources more effectively.

These were the five priorities set in 1993 after much debate aver several months in our Executive Council and Committees. As readers will know, our Committees comprise over a hundred people representing organisations of and for blind people and other interested parties such as government.

How has the world of blind and partially sighted changed since 1993? What are the implications of these changes for our existing priorities? What should our new priorities be? RNIB's Executive Council started debating these questions in December, and our Committees will be discussing these issues during the spring and summer Committee cycles, coming to decisions in late summer. So now is the golden opportunity if you wish to input as an individual reader of “New Beacon”, or indeed as an organisation. Please do write (print, tape, braille or disk) or ring Fazilet Hadi, RNIB's Director of Policy, or me over the next two months or so.

The coming period will be an exciting one. Several organisations in the visual impairment world are considering their future, not least Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. Also all the largest organisations of and for visually impaired people, including the National Association of Local Voluntary Societies for the Visually Impaired (NALSVI), are trying to establish a common National Agenda for Action so that we can complement and enhance the overall aim of our work - a world in which blind and partially sighted people enjoy the same rights, freedoms and responsibilities as sighted people. I hope you will contact us with your views.
Ian Bruce, Director-General, RNIB, 224 Great Portland Street, London W1N 6AA- telephone 0171-388 1266

Dear Welfare Rights Services

RNIB Welfare Rights Services answer readers' enquiries about welfare rights and local council social services. Each month, two letters are answered in this section - one on welfare rights and one on services.

Dear Welfare Rights Services

I have had poor sight for some years now, and on a recent visit to my optician I was told that I needed very strong glasses. I have been told that these will cost £600.

Can you let me know where I can get help towards the cost of these, as I have not worked for some years due to my poor eye sight and am claiming Incapacity Benefit and Income Support.

Reply:

You may be able to receive an NHS voucher towards the cost of your glasses, as you mention that you are receiving Income Support.

You will need to take your prescription and ask the optician to issue you with a voucher. The value given on the voucher will depend on the type of glasses you require. You may consider shopping around to find a cheaper price for the glasses you need. You may qualify for a voucher if you need powerful or complex lenses.

We have published a factsheet, which covers NHS sight tests and vouchers for glasses and contact lenses. If you would like a copy of this, please contact us on 0345 66 99 99. Copies are available in large print, braille and on tape.

Dear Welfare Rights Services

I am a 54-year-old teacher and I am planning on leaving my job as my sight has become severely impaired. My income will then be my occupational pension, and Incapacity Benefit to which I believe I will be entitled. Is it true, however, that my pension will be taken into account in the calculation for the benefit?

Reply:

At present if anyone claims Incapacity Benefit the amount that they receive will not be affected by their occupational pension. However, in the Green Paper published in autumn 1998, “A New Contract for Welfare: Support for Disabled People”, the government has proposed to change this rule for future new claimants. The proposed change is that entitlement to Incapacity Benefit will be reduced by 50 per cent of any amount of occupational pension over £50 per week. The first £50 a week of pension income will not affect benefit entitlement.

The types of payment that will be affected, if the proposals become law, include occupational pensions, personal pensions, public service pensions and permanent health insurance when arranged by the employer. However, if this change becomes law it will only affect new claims made after the regulations are implemented, which is not expected to be until 2001.

RNIB Welfare Rights Services welcome your views. If you would like to comment on the issues discussed, or if you are experiencing any difficulties yourself, please contact: RNIB Welfare Rights Services, 224 Great Portland Street, London W1N 6AA - telephone 0345 66 99 99; fax 0171-388 2034.

Leisure for All

New videos

A round-up of the latest additions to the catalogue of audio described videos

RNIB's Home Video Service is starting off 1999 with three highly acclaimed but quite diverse dramas:

Dead Man Walking

Based loosely on the actual memoirs of Sister Helen Préjean, “Dead man walking” follows the story of a nun's attempts to give spiritual guidance to Mathew Poncelet (Sean Penn), a convict on death row. Sister Helen (Susan Sarandon) is deeply opposed to the death penalty, but her sympathy for Poncelet can only extend so far, given the horrific nature of his crimes.

A powerful and thought- provoking drama. Audio described by Carol McGregor and narrated by Nigel Greaves.

Order number AV068, Certificate 15, £13.99

The Mill on the Floss

Based on the novel by George Eliot, this atmospheric and haunting film shows a young woman's struggles in life and love. Emily Watson plays Maggie Tulliver, brought up with her beloved brother Tom (Ifan Meredith) at Dorlcote Mill on the River Floss. The watermill has been in the family for 300 years, but when her father loses it to the shrewd lawyer Wakem (Nicholas Geeks), Maggie is expected to put her loyalty to the family first.

Audio description by Louse Fryer and narrated by Patience Tomlinson.

Order number AV066, Certificate PG, £12.99

Cop Land

Sylvester Stallone plays Freddy, the much-denigrated sheriff of Garrison, New Jersey - a community made up of New York cops and their families. When the young police officer “Superboy” Babbitch loses his cool and shoots at two black youths, he apparently commits suicide rather than face an official investigation, Moe Tilden (Robert de Niro) steps in to prove that "no man is above the law".

A gripping corruption drama full of big names and the inevitable shoot-out.

Audio description by Di Langford and read by Nigel Greaves.

Order number AV067, Certificate 18, £14.99

  • Coming up soon from RNIB's Home Video Service:

    “Armageddon”

    “Citizen Kane “

    Walt Disney's Classic “Lady and the Tramp”

    Walt Disney's Classic “The Little Mermaid”

RNIB's audio described videos:

Audio description fills in the gaps in films by describing facial expressions, body language and actions, enabling visually impaired people to follow what is happening and enjoy films to the full. Audio described videos will play on an ordinary video recorder, requiring no special equipment and are available for purchase or rental.

  • A catalogue containing details of all RNIB audio described videos and documentaries is available in large print, braille or tape from: Mary Flaherty, RNIB Holiday and Leisure Services, 224 Great Portland Street, London W1N 6AA - telephone 0171- 388 1266.

Audio described videos are available for purchase or rental. Videos can be borrowed for up to two weeks for £2.50. This price includes postage and packing. Alternatively, they can be purchased for the retail price shown above.

  • Contact RNIB Customer Services Department, PO Box 173, Peterborough PE2 6WS – telephone 0345-456457 (for the price of a local call).

Monet - An impression

Monet-mania is gripping art-lovers as the Royal Academy stages one of its most popular exhibitions ever, “Monet in the 20th Century”, Gioya Steinke explains her own affinity with one of the world's greatest painters.

Immersed in Monet. This is how I feel at the moment, surrounded by art books, postcards and all the notes I made in 1990 when there was a stunning exhibition at the Royal Academy in London on “Monet in the 90s - The Series Paintings”. I was completely overwhelmed at the time and could not get over the references made regarding his developing eye problems.

Anyone who has in the past endured the early operation on a cataract will know what I mean. Claude Monet's vision started to trouble him in his later years. He complained of the bright sunlight and had to wear a brimmed hat all the time.

Many of us know only too well about this. I live in a visor and am now used to people asking if I'm due for golf or tennis. My cataract started when I was aged thirty, and took ten years to develop. The household scene and the faces of my children faded and blurred a little more each day.

My despair as a mum was as deep as that of a great and famous artist who found that each day brought the loss of true colour and a haze he could not cope with. He wrote many agonising letters to his doctor and friends, and felt his life as an artist was over. His eventual operation in 1922 involved him lying flat on his back for three weeks with sandbags around his head to keep it still. I had my op. in 1959, and spent the same length of time sitting upright and having to keep my chin at a certain level.

Monet complained that, although he could see better after the operation, everything "swayed". I had the same trouble, and took travel pills to allay the nausea. Attending the splendid current exhibition at the Royal Academy in London was like visiting an old familiar acquaintance. I found, however, that my vision has dimmed and aged since the original visit in 1990, and there was only so much I could actually see. It became more of a “merging with”, and happily was sufficient to make the visit a really lovely experience.

It is quite nice to stand in front of one of the large pictures and stare at the colours without the need to know the complete scene. Incidentally, the RA will provide a voluntary guide to accompany any visitor with visual impairment, and this is a wonderful way to get to grips and appreciate what a shared viewing can be, as well as a safe walk about the gallery. But please do phone the Education Department before a Visit.

The waist-high white rails or barriers in front of the pictures are such an improvement on the usual ankle height cords that entangle our white canes and feet. One can hold on to these rails and get a sense of security, of not being pushed by the crowd around. There is a CD-Rom on loan, but so far I have not tried this. Maybe for a further visit another “immersion” in the sublime water lilies!

There is one huge canvas, probably painted when Monet's vision was at its worst. My reference book tells me that he actually squeezed paint from the tube on to the painting he was doing, literally blobbing it on. This I could see! Fat white water lilies floating down towards me. I found it fascinating, and my companion pointed out the daubs of red and yellow which were quite acceptable to my vision.

It might be helpful to know that the splendid Living Paintings Trust does have an album featuring the works of Claude Monet (album 5) and also a demonstration thermoform of the famous Japanese bridge. I took this with me and stood in front of one of the originals while I touched the raised thermo diagram and listened to the tape that goes with it. This attracted so many sighted viewers that I found myself explaining the painting to them - very amusing! If you have not tried the free library service of the LPT, now is the time to do so. The exhibition is well-lit, and there are seats to collapse in, thank goodness. I certainly needed them, as the peering and pondering on what can be seen uses up a lot of energy. Some of my favourite works are those Monet painted of London about the early 1900s. He loved the fogs and mists of the city, particularly the view of the Thames, Westminster and Waterloo bridges, and the Houses of Parliament, mostly painted through a blue-grey mist with a hazy red sun shining across the shimmery water.

For many of us, this is how our everyday world appears. Little wonder that we find so much to identify with in Monet's work. When his cataract was developing, he wrote that he couldn't stand the blue muddy mist that enveloped everything he saw and destroyed many of his paintings, "burning them with the garden leaves". Unbelievable? Not really, if one has endured similar frustration with the vision.

The Royal Academy has transformed the outside entrance, so I could hardly recognise where I was going. A huge marquee covers the whole facade. I loved it all (even though I believe the critics had much to say). There is a long café bar to the left, and then what would have been the outside steps entering the Reception hall. Then I knew where I was and had the usual help from attending staff. It's all there, especially if one has phoned for assistance.

This has been more of an impression than a review. Each visitor will find their own level of understanding of a prolific and popular artist. Mine was an “eye” and affinity one.

  • Details: Royal Academy Education: 0171-300 5861; Living Paintings Trust: 01635-299 771
  • The Royal Academy of Arts is in Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1V 0DS - telephone 0171 - 300 5664.

Leisure News & Notes

On your trike!

Eleanor Ellison (RNIB Holidays & Leisure) writes:

How about cycling with a difference, or even vive la différence? I have been contacted by a member of the East Kent District Association of the Cyclists Touring Club. He is offering regular rides on a tandem trike to any budding visually impaired cyclist in the East Kent Area. The club has over 300 members, all of whom meet regularly for “Sunday runs” through the Kent countryside and even participate in weekend jaunts to foreign parts, such as Arras in Northern France!

The trike offers more stability than a regular tandem and is ideal for use by a sighted steering cyclist and visually impaired stoker. There is even an offer of a wireless communication system and cycle helmet.

Each Sunday ride includes a pub lunch, up to a hundred miles of cycling and amiable company. However, a word of caution… padded shorts are recommended!

  • If you are interested in taking part in some cycling with the club, please contact Eleanor Ellison at the RNIB on 0171-388 1266 extension 2330.

Learn to scuba dive

Aquatetra is the Welsh National Disabled Diving Centre. It has recently become able to train individuals with a sight impairment to scuba dive, using an underwater communications system.

  • For further details contact: Aquatetra, Ty tan Y Graig, Cefn Brith, Cerrigydrudion, North Wales, LL21 9TD - telephone 01490-420 167

Bugs (Blind Using Guns)

Lyn Preston (Cornwall Blind Association) writes:

As guests of the St Austell Rifle & Pistol Club, members of the Cornwall Blind Association have recently held the inaugural meeting of the CBA Target Shooting Club. Thanks to the support of Mr Ken Nash, Vice-Chairman of the National Small-bore Rifle Association, this new club has drawn interest from all ages and both sexes.

Using a special “sight” which looks like a conventional telescopic sight mounted on the rifle, the system uses photo-electric cells to collect and measure the level of light reflected from an illuminated target. This is cleverly converted into sound which is picked up through earphones. The whiter the target, the higher the pitch.

Using this system, the sighted shooter - who may be confused by the image he is receiving visually - has no advantage over the blind shooter. Here at last is a sport which enables visually impaired people to truly compete on equal terms with anyone else.

We would hasten to stress that this activity uses guns for the sport of target shooting only - just a piece of cardboard is damaged! The Cornwall Blind Association therefore opens its “arms” to extend a welcome to anyone with severe sight loss living in the County to join Trelawney's new and vastly different, non-aggressive army!

  • For further information, please contact Lyn Preston, General Manager, Cornwall Blind Association, on 01872-261110.

Flowers by post

Alyson Larkworthy writes:

Do you send flowers? Would you like to support RNIB at the same time?

Well, it is possible through Charity Flowers Direct - fresh flowers sent by first class post. Not only will you be getting quality flowers and fantastic value for money, but all profits go to RNIB.

Flowers are the perfect gift for all occasions. And Charity Flowers Direct bouquets contain the finest blooms, freshly cut. They are grown on the island of Guernsey, famed for their perfumed and long-lasting blooms, and are sent by post with a hundred per cent guarantee anywhere in the UK or Eire.

Prices have not increased since the service was set up in 1996, and on offer is a wide range of bouquets from £7.49 to £49.99. The flowers used include sweetly perfumed freesias, long-lasting spray carnations and a variety of seasonal blooms, along with ferns and foliage.

RNIB has been participating in this scheme since the outset and has received a great deal of money, whilst people have been delighted to send flowers knowing they are also supporting RNIB.

  • If you wish to benefit RNIB using this service, please quote the code RNB02 when you order your flowers.
  • Telephone 0990 300 600 any day of the week for credit/debit card orders or a leaflet at BT cheap rate.
  • To order a large print, braille or tape version, please contact: Alyson Larkworthy, RNIB, telephone 0171-388 1266

Content author: ann.lee@rnib.org.uk

Last updated: 20/11/2008 11:13

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June's story - June Croft was told she had glaucoma after having an eye test. She was given drops to prevent further deterioration and later had an operation. 'Having an eye test is the most important thing you can do. It stopped me from going blind. People don't realise how quickly something can go wrong with their eyes. It doesn't hurt, everyone should do it.' June's full story.