Upcoming Projects & Events

I have lots of exciting projects and events lined up for the Autumn and Winter, and thought I would share them here so that you can have a read of what I'll be involved in during the upcoming months!

Wednesday, 27th August

Filming a video with professional dancer, Faye Huddleston, promoting Henshaws Society for Blind People's biggest and brightest fundraising campaign - Bright for Sight! Faye and I take on the 'No Mirror Make-Up Challenge' created especially for the video, applying our brightest make-up products without a mirror!

Monday, 1st September

I'll be starting my work placement, at Henshaws Society for Blind People's Manchester resource centre, with the marketing team. I'll be involved with lots of different aspects of marketing, including; updating and maintaining their social media websites, updating blog posts, sitting in on meetings and taking minutes, connecting and networking with other companies, and so on.

Saturday, 13th September

Have Your Say Day at Friends Meeting House near St. Peters Square. This is a unique and entertaining day for blind and visually impaired people to share and discuss their views and experiences, along with three guest speakers, on topics such as Braille and tactile maps, new technology, the shared space concept and crossing the road safely and independently.

Saturday, 20th September

The One Man's Vision exhibition opens at Salford Museum and Art Gallery, based on the story of Thomas Henshaw and his philanthropic work which resulted in Henshaw's Asylum for the Blind - now Henshaws Society for Blind People. I am currently Brailling out accessible labels to be displayed alongside the special objects and paintings, kindly donated by the RNIB and Gallery Oldham, and will also help to install the exhibits beforehand. You can find out more about the exhibition by visiting the One Man's Vision website here.

Wednesday, 1st October

The second Henshaws Fashion Fundraiser takes place at Alderley Edge Cricket Club in Cheshire. I'll be giving another speech at the fashion show, this time based on the make-up I wear - how I select and purchase my products, how I identify them and how I apply them with the limited vision I have without a mirror. You read about my attendance at the first event, earlier this year, by clicking here.

Thursday, 23rd October

An Envision Meeting at the RNIB HQ in Judd Street, London, to discuss the feedback identified in the coffee shop surveys - as well as to finalise our coffee shop charter, following discussion regarding presenting it to the 4 main coffee chains in the UK.

Monday, 10th November - Wednesday, 12th November

Visit to European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, with the RNIB and European Blind Union, to meet and engage with MEPs to discuss issues, such as; the accessibility of manufactured goods (including ICT) and the accessibility of apps, websites and social media.

RNIB Thank You Card Designs

Earlier this Spring, I was kindly asked to produce some new Thank You cards for the RNIB, to be sent out to donors who have recently donated to the charity.

The theme was based on repeated geometric patterns, so I came up with a few pages of ideas which I then shared in person when I visited Judd Street back in April. My designs were held onto and shared in a meeting with other staff members - and it was decided that the below design would be perfect for their cards. I used many different colours as an idea to showcase this design, and the red / orange and blue / green were favoured the most.

With this research, I was then able to come up with four different card designs using the popular blue / green geometric design and red / orange design - as well as mixing them both together! I'm really pleased with how they turned out.

Mock designs are being produced very soon, providing information about myself and my eye condition on the reverse - as well listing my association with the RNIB, as their Young Illustrator of the Year and Envision co-chair and campaigner.

I will be sure to post the cards when they have been printed in the near future!

Envision Teleconference: Tuesday, August 19th

The Envision steering group and I had a teleconference tonight to touch base with each other on how our progress is going regarding distributing the coffee shop mystery shopping questionnaire, and to also start discussion on our next steps in the campaigning process for accessible menus in coffee shops.

I have so far promoted the questionnaire through the Envision Facebook page and Twitter page and I have also used Henshaws Society for Blind People's quarterly Hello! Newsletter to present the questionnaire to service users, as well as their online e-mail mailing list.

You can help with Envision's campaign for accessible menus, in the 4 main coffee chains in the UK, by downloading the survey form here and detailing your past experiences when choosing what to purchase without an accessible menu provided. You are free to share with other visually impaired friends and family members too; the more responses, the stronger our voice!

Responses are to be sent to the Envision mailbox (envision@rnib.org.uk) by September 12th.

Here are my notes from tonight's teleconference!

• Recap of last meeting's agenda

What key points from the agenda had been signed off and completed. Action plans - discussion of the learning points from the Campaigner's Convention that have been received so far, any outstanding ones are to be completed ideally by the end of the week and e-mailed to Lindsay. These will be compiled into one document to then be e-mailed to the steering group as an attachment.

• Questionnaire

Now signed off and being distributed. Kimberley has shared it with the Henshaws mailing list, Henshaws Hello! Newsletter (Autumn edition) and through Envision's Facebook and Twitter pages, Naomi has shared it with the RLSB group and Nina will be sharing with Focus and the Birmingham Actioneers. The campaigns planning group will then sift through the responses, identify key themes, e-mail out the evidence and promote the findings to implement into our campaigning. Aim for September 12th to have all questionnaires sent back.

• Update to the wider network

Discussion around the update to be sent out to the wider Envision network which is now signed off. Agreement to keep communications regular, possibly monthly as a guideline, but be flexible to whenever seems appropriate to share important news items and issues. Rotate the duty of writing updates between each other, particularly comms and co-chairs, to provide everyone with the opportunity to write something. September 19th is penciled in for the next update.

• Charter

The bus charter used in the 'Stop for Me, Speak to Me' campaign was sent out as an attachment recently, to use as a foundation and a formula for our own coffee shop charter. We need to identify what our asks are and to think internally as to what the best mechanisms are. For example, do we just want to focus on menus or look at the whole package of the coffee shop experience? Do we want VI awareness training implemented into the manual, included in a full training day or slotting into the half-day training session?

Once identified we can build our asks around those. Cover the key areas, keep consistent to the focus and responses received in the questionnaires and be logical when pulling all of this evidence and information together under headings to then translate when presenting to providers. It was agreed to draft something for the charter and ideally have something to agree on in time for our October meeting in London. This will enable us to have the charter then signed off and put our focus into planning and lobbying the industry.

Two suggestions came up in the teleconference - one was that we could suggest that each store has a designated supporter for visually impaired people. Looking at the bus campaign, using their charter as a guide, a champion is mentioned to oversee that visually impaired people have found their seat, are aware of the bus number and destination, that drivers do not pull away from a bus stop, etc. We could use similar points, tailored to coffee shops. Another suggestion was to perhaps reach out to a contact within the environment and industry to give their input too, and to help with research in regards to what coffee shops currently provide.

• Upcoming Teleconferences

Teleconferences in the near future, include; one for the Campaigns Planning group on Monday, 15th September between 7pm and 8pm, one for the Communications sub-group held on Wednesday, 24th September between 5:30pm to 6:30pm, and the Co-chairs will have their teleconference on Wednesday, 1st October (time to be decided nearer to the date). Ideally 4 members from each group would be beneficial, though if one or two can't attend then we will try to keep things moving forward as much as possible rather than rescheduling. It just provides the opportunity to touch base with each other, though between those times do feel free to keep in touch and converse, and give input regarding important items.

• Meeting in London

Our next face-to-face meeting will be on Thursday, 23rd October from 11pm to 3pm at Judd Street. Think about the agenda and discussion points you'd like to include; discussion of drafted charter, the practicalities of how to get chains signed up to the charter and the area of focus for the next campaign.

• Next Campaign

Think about putting the question out to the wider network, in the next e-mail update perhaps, of what they think the next campaign should be focused around (employment and built environments were mentioned during the teleconference). This allows them to feel more involved and empowered, in the confidence that they have contributed. Ask that question beforehand prior to the October meeting. Follow it up again through e-mail, and even through social media, to push for more responses.

Useful Links

• E-mail • Facebook • Twitter • All Envision Blog Posts • Envision Microsite • Envision Launch • Envision Steering Group • Our First Campaign • YouTube Video • Insight Radio Interview

Skillstep: Week 12

The Skillstep course has now sadly come to an end. All 12 weeks have been completed and my portfolio is finalised and ready for accreditation.

Over the past 3 months, the group and I have massively developed our vocational skills, employability skills, social skills and IT skills; as well as expanding our social circles and making new friends. We all feel self-assured and confident in ourselves as visually impaired and blind people of varying ages and abilities and can achieve anything we put our minds to!

Our final week began on Tuesday with a visit from Elaine, based at Trafford College, who talked to us about our work placements and what skills we feel we developed from undertaking our new temporary roles along with which existing skill we put to good use. I personally felt like I was able to expand my already established social and communication skills by being in a different working environment, and also developed my care skills tremendously - which will benefit me when I become a Guide Dog owner in the very near future. We also discussed our next steps after the course comes to an end and what our aspirations are for the future.

The group and I walked from the Henshaws Manchester Resource Centre further down Talbot Road to Trafford College, and were provided with a tour of the complex by Elaine; who also gave a brief overview of some of the courses that are on offer and the different qualifications that can be achieved and accomplished through the college, if we decide to continue with further education. Prospectuses were provided to those who wanted them.

In the afternoon, Elaine opened discussions within the group of how the vocational portion, provided by Trafford College and tutored by Maureen during her Tuesday sessions, could have been improved - especially through the accessibility of the learning log and accreditation sheets, as well as the way the course was delivered to us. Suggestions and improvements were provided and will be taken on board for the new Skillstep groups in the future. 

During Wednesday morning we were visited by Helen Doyle, Research and Information Manager at Henshaws, to discuss how we found the course and what we especially enjoyed about it - as well as which areas had room for improvement. All of our feedback was positive and was recorded digitally to then be typed up into notes to implement within future courses. I personally liked the length of the course - neither too long nor too short - and I especially enjoyed the variety of topics that the Wednesday sessions provided; introducing us to some new aids and equipment and the Access to Work scheme, refreshing over Braille, the iPad, First Aid and mobility aids and techniques, a cooking session to channel our creativity and work together as a group, travelling down to the Guide Dogs Training Centre, and having visits from the Police, National Careers Service and Transport for Greater Manchester.

Wednesday afternoon Muhammed Karim, Diversities Co-ordinator from Transport for Greater Manchester, came in to talk to the group and I about concessionary passes for blind and visually impaired people and what projects they are in the process of working on in the near future to make transport more accessible to those suffering from sight loss. We were welcome to ask questions and provide suggestions and feedback for Muhammed to then take note of and feed back to the team.

On our final day, on the Thursday, we all went out to Wetherspoon's, relatively close to Henshaws, for our meal along with Skillstep co-ordinator, Julie Parrish. The Big Lottery Fund and Henshaws kindly provided our meal and first drink, and additional drinks and courses could then be purchased by ourselves afterwards. I was one of the final members of the group to leave in the evening and found it very bittersweet but lovely to be able to finish the course in such a nice way.

I'm really glad that I took part in the Skillstep course; I have taken a lot away from it and feel a lot more confident in regards to employability and future interviews especially. My favourite part of the course was definitely my work placement with Guide Dogs and I'm extremely grateful to Julie and to the Guide Dogs Training Centre for making that possible! I had such a fantastic time and learned some really valuable skills. I also really enjoyed the social aspect of Skillstep, I have some fantastic friends that I will be keeping in touch with for such a long time to come.

You can view all of my previous Skillstep posts, submitted on a week-by-week basis, by clicking here and you can find out more about the course itself by clicking here at the Henshaws website, where you can register your interest to the course via e-mail.

I want to say a big thank you to Julie Parrish, Henshaws Society for Blind People and The Big Lottery Fund for providing such an invaluable and beneficial course!

Blog Post with Henshaws: Daily Living Skills

My newest blog post with Henshaws Society for Blind People, as their resident blogger, is now available on their blog for you to read!

In my latest entry I talk about the daily living skills sessions that I previously received for 10 months, helping to improve my confidence and independence around the kitchen; through orientation of where everything is located, practicing using difference appliances and learning new techniques for preparing food.

I have recently submitted a few more blog posts and I shall share them here when they have been posted in the near future.

You can read my previous blog posts with Henshaws by clicking here!