Second major survey calls for people with sight loss to review ideas for innovation of post diagnostic support for blind and partially sighted people
A woman and man talking.
This September the UK’s largest sight loss charity, The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB), is launching the second in a series of major surveys to help map out the future of support for people diagnosed with serious eye conditions.
The charity is reaching out to people with lived experience of sight loss, their loved ones, carers and professionals in the field, to get their feedback on ideas to improve post-diagnostic support . Services are currently delivered in many forms, but in some areas of the UK it is a patchy, post-code lottery.
The first survey in April this year asked about people’s experiences and ideas and this second survey seeks feedback on those ideas to see which ones people think will have the most impact and value.
The online survey has been reviewed by a panel of people with sight loss and by RNIB’s in-house accessibility team to ensure it’s user-friendly for people who may be using assistive tech like screen readers.
The survey should take between 15 minutes and half-an-hour to complete. Participants can simply review and rate 16 new ideas or if they have more time they can comment on an additional six ideas. There is space for people to give more in-depth feedback if they wish to and room for people to share thoughts on how the ideas could work in practice or be improved.
The survey is due to launch on Wednesday 3 September and remain open for five weeks until 8 October. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t complete the first survey – RNIB still wants to hear from you.
Caroline Beard, RNIB’s Head of Strategic Innovation, said: “Losing your sight can be a very traumatic experience; it can turn your world upside down and affect all aspects of your life. Unfortunately, the reality is that too many people are not getting the support they need when they need it most, with some people waiting up to a year for help and others never getting it at all. This is despite the fantastic work being done by many charities and under-resourced social services teams. We want to work towards changing this.
“We had a great response to the first survey and now we want to come back to people to share the ideas generated and gather input on which should be developed further. So if you are blind or have a vision impairment, or know someone in your family who is, then please complete the survey and share your views, which will help shape our innovation priorities at RNIB. If you work with blind and partially sighted people in some professional capacity, we also want to hear your views so we can improve existing services and develop new ways to support people.
It’s people living with sight loss and those who work with or support them who are experts on what needs to change. Ultimately this insight will help us to make sure people living with sight loss get the help they need, when they need it, in a way that works for them. So please share your views and share the survey to spread the word so we hear from as many people as possible”
If you would like to take part in the survey, please click on the following link to get started: https://thiscovery.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ehySEMU1G0HNBUW
More information about the project can be found here: https://www.thiscovery.org/landing/rnib
If you are an organisation and can assist with promoting the survey, RNIB is happy to provide additional materials, such as downloadable flyers, posters, social media posts or email templates, to make sharing as easy as possible. For more information about the project, please get in touch with Lorna Jacobs at [email protected].
