Magazine Scan: Illustration For Insight Magazine

I received my issue of RNIB's Insight Magazine in the post recently, and have scanned my illustration and small article to share with my readers. The article says:

Kimberley Burrows from Manchester is Insight's new Young Illustrator. Above is her winning take on the theme "Next Steps".

As winner of our competition for young illustrators, Kimberley will be producing artwork for Insight throughout 2014. Kimberley was born with sight problems due to being born prematurely. "I mainly suffered from cataracts that weren't noticed until I was 4 years old. Now I have plastic lenses and only a bit of sight in one eye," she says.

"My illustration was created using pencil crayons and fine liner, and represents me and my next steps. That includes training for a guide dog, completing my braille course and mobility training with a long cane," Kimberley explains.

As a member of the new young people's campaign group ENVISION Kimberley has also added "a picture of the Houses of Parliament to signify more campaigning in the future."


I was also approached to help with a short article introducing and explaining the campaigning network of Envision. Some of my quotes were included in the article and can be seen below.

Article reads: A campaign group for blind and partially sighted 18-30 years olds was launched by RNIB in November. The development is being led by the young campaigners themselves to ensure it focuses on their issues. ENVISION, which stands for English Network of Visually Impaired Spokespeople for the Improvement of Obstacles Nationwide, first met in June to discuss the aims of the group.

The goal is Envision is "to make a difference across England for other young sight impaired people, tackling a whole range of difficulties that are encountered on a daily basis," said 25-year-old Envision member Kimberley Burrows.

"We launched our English network along with the first campaign that we will be focusing on - the difficulties surrounding leisure and retail. There are a wide variety of issues to address in our campaign, and me and the rest of Envision are excited and enthusiastic to get started. Envision have a series of teleconferences lined up in the near future, to begin discussions detailing the next steps that we want to take with our campaign," she added.

A lottery funding application has been made to gain support to set up and develop this network before it is rightly taken over and directed by its members.

You can hear the views of the young campaigners in a YouTube video produced by RNIB at http://bit.ly/1bJPeWK

For more information about the network please e-mail campaigns@rnib.org.uk or call 020 7391 2123

I had lots of fun designing my illustration and writing my short article for Insight magazine, and I am extremely thrilled with the final results! You can learn more about RNIB's Insight magazine by clicking here, view exclusive online content here and can subscribe here (braille, audio e-mail and print formats are all available).

Insight's new issue is out now!

Envision Masterpost

I thought I would make an Envision masterpost, bringing together all of the relevant information and links, regarding the RNIB's new young campaigning network - so that everything is collected in one place. I'll also give a brief overview of the group, what we do and what our aims are. At the bottom of the post you will find important links, including our brand new e-mail address, launch micro-site and Facebook page.

What is Envision?

Envision is a new campaigning network launched by young visually impaired and blind people, aged 18 to 30, working in tandem with the RNIB. The network's name is an abbreviation, with each letter meaning 'English Network of Visually Impaired Spokespeople for the Improvement of Obstacles Nationwide'. It is the goal of Envision to make a difference across England for other young sight-impaired people, tackling a whole range of difficulties that are encountered on a daily basis.

I primarily joined Envision to campaign but to also meet with other young visually impaired people and to make new friends. It has helped me harness confidence, especially with public speaking and presenting my views to others that I wouldn’t ordinarily have had the opportunity to yield otherwise.

Envision and I recently visited the Houses of Parliament,
where we attended Parliamentary training, helping to give us an introduction to, and a better understanding of, how Parliament works and its relevance. We met with our MPs to discuss the obstacles that we face in our local areas and the things that they can do to help improve them. Our network engaged with political researchers and correspondents to obtain more insight into a typical week at Parliament - and we even met with Gary O' Donoghue! The highlight of the day for me was embarking on a tactile tour of Parliament, visiting the House of Commons, the House of Lords, the Royal Gallery, the Queen's Robing Room and the Prince's Chambers. It was an incredible experience, and something I will treasure for a long time to come.

The following day we went to the RNIB headquarters at Judd Street, where we attended a campaign workshop and met with an already established campaigning group from Scotland, to gain knowledge from their experiences and draw inspiration from the results of their previous campaigning work. We launched our English network along with the first campaign that we would be focusing on – the difficulties surrounding leisure and retail. There are a wide variety of issues to address in this area, and myself and the rest of Envision are excited and enthusiastic to get started.

Envision had a series of regional teleconferences in early December, to begin discussions detailing the next steps that we want to take with our campaign. We have decided that we want to tackle the obstacle of accessible menus in coffee shops. Each member of Envision was given the task of "mystery shopping" at each of the 4 main coffee shops, (Starbucks, Costa Coffee, Cafe Nero and Pret A Manger) to test the service, see whether they have accessible menus and know how to support a visually impaired / blind customer. You can read my results here, where I have compared and contrasted my experiences in 3 coffee shops and determined which chain was the most accessible.

The Steering Group

As there are quite a number of members of Envision already, we thought it would be best if there was a small group of core members to help coordinate and drive forward the work on Envision. It will involve a certain additional level of time commitment, including attending teleconferences and face-to-face meetings, as necessary. The steering group will work with the RNIB campaign team to:

• Contribute to the lottery bid

• Develop campaigns following
consultation with other group members

• Develop campaign resources

• External communications; writing blogs,
providing web updates, speaking at events and
representing Envision at meetings

• Internal communications; communications between
group members, chairing teleconferences

• Develop Envision; including organising
regional and national events

Those who were interested in applying for the steering group could do so by e-mail, sending in a short biography about themselves so that they could be nominated and chosen to be included within the core member group. Our steering group has 8 members, including myself, and we'll be having our first meeting in London, at the RNIB headquarters at Judd Street, on February 17th.

Roles and Responsibilities

We have discussed roles and sub-groups within the steering group itself, dividing ourselves to work more efficiently in areas that we feel we are skilled in or would like to learn more about. I personally love social media, so became one of the first members to volunteer for the communications sub-group. The groups and members are as follows:

Chairs / Co-Chairs
• Kimberley Burrows (Manchester)
• Nina Davis (Birmingham)
• Tom Church (Essex / Swansea)

Secretariat
• Lucy Hayward (Birmingham)

Communications
• Kimberley Burrows (Manchester)
• Mohammed Mohsan-Ali (London)
• Sean Barlow (Essex)
• Lucy Hayward (Birmingham)

Campaigns Planning
• Francesca Balon (Wigan / Worcester)
• Nina Davis (Birmingham)
• Naomi Stevenson (Royal Tunbridge Wells)
• Tom Church (Essex / Swansea)

Insight Magazine Article

I was approached by the RNIB's Insight Magazine in November 2013 to help write a short article regarding Envision's launch and aims. Here is the finished result!

Article reads: A campaign group for blind and partially sighted 18-30 years olds was launched by RNIB in November. The development is being led by the young campaigners themselves to ensure it focuses on their issues.

ENVISION, which stands for English Network of Visually Impaired Spokespeople for the Improvement of Obstacles Nationwide, first met in June to discuss the aims of the group. The goal is Envision is "to make a difference across England for other young sight impaired people, tackling a whole range of difficulties that are encountered on a daily basis," said 25-year-old Envision member Kimberley Burrows.

"We launched our English network along with the first campaign that we will be focusing on - the difficulties surrounding leisure and retail. There are a wide variety of issues to address in our campaign, and me and the rest of Envision are excited and enthusiastic to get started. Envision have a series of teleconferences lined up in the near future, to begin discussions detailing the next steps that we want to take with our campaign," she added.

A lottery funding application has been made to gain support to set up and develop this network before it is rightly taken over and directed by its members. You can hear the views of the young campaigners in a YouTube video produced by RNIB at http://bit.ly/1bJPeWK

For more information about the network please e-mail campaigns@rnib.org.uk or call 020 7391 2123

List of Meetings

Here is a directory of the meetings that Envision have attended so far, along with their corresponding blog posts about the progress made throughout the events.

• RNIB Parliamentary Visit: October 2013
• Steering Group Meeting: 25th February 2014
• Campaign Skills Training Day: 10th April 2014
• RNIB Campaigner's Convention: 14th - 15th June 2014
• Steering Group Meeting: 23rd October 2014

List of Teleconferences

Here is a directory of the teleconference that I have attended so far; both communications sub-group teleconferences and general steering group teleconferences. Each corresponding blog post contains the minutes I took during the calls.

• Steering Group Teleconference: 29th April 2014
• Steering Group Teleconference: 3rd July 2014
• Steering Group Teleconference: 19th August 2014
• Communications Sub-Group Teleconference: 24th September 2014
• Focus Group Teleconference (Envision & VCC's): 6th October 2014
• Steering Group Teleconference: 17th November 2014

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

Henshaws Short Film

Henshaws Society for Blind People have recently produced a short film to showcase how the lives of many different blind, visually impaired and disabled people have vastly improved after being involved with the charity - whether it be through the arts & crafts centre, the college, residential / housing support or the centres located in Newcastle, Manchester and Liverpool.

The short film includes an introduction from Paula Lane (Kylie Platt from Coronation Street) who is an ambassador for the charity, and who helped present the Pride of Henshaws Award at the Pride of Henshaws Henshaws Ball in November.

I can be seen in the video from 1:25 to 1:27, 2:19 to 2:23 and 3:51 to 3:55! I had lots of fun filming with the Braille group, and it's nice to play it back and hear some familiar voices of the friends I have made since I started going to the Manchester centre in August.

I hope you all enjoy the video!

Second Illustration for RNIB's Insight Magazine

I have now completed my second illustration for RNIB's Insight Magazine! The next issue will be focused on accessible technology and digital communication, especially in the form of computers, smartphones, tablets, apps and functionality.

I decided to depict my iPad and my favourite apps and features. These include accessibility functions such as zoom and voiceover, iBooks - which is fantastic with its accessibility and customisation of the text size, background colour, font type, inverted options and is even handy as an audiobook if you have voiceover selected from the general settings in your iPad, the internet, games, Facebook and Twitter. All of these apps have a very clean, easy-to-use layout and each one is important to me for its specific use. I will also have a small paragraph explaining my favourite apps and features, with my headshot, along with other members of Envision.

This next issue of Insight magazine will be available in February 2014. For more information about the magazine and how you can subscribe, please click here. 

Happy New Year!

I'd like to wish my readers a very Happy New Year, and all the best for 2014! Here are some of my New Year's tweets so far:

@Glittered Same to you!
— Insight Radio (@insightradio) December 25, 2013

@Glittered Thank you! Hope you had a lovely Christmas.
— RNIB (@RNIB) December 30, 2013

@Glittered Happy New Year Kimberley. Great to meet you and best wishes with the campaigning.
— Barbara Keeley (@KeeleyMP) December 31, 2013

Christmas has been absolutely wonderful, but now it's back to reality! I have a hospital appointment today to have my ears suctioned at Trafford General Hospital, and then I need to make a start on my next illustration for the RNIB's Insight magazine. It will be based on accessible technology such as iPads and iPhones, and favourite features and apps.

I'll also be doing a mystery shopper experiment in the Trafford Centre for my campaigning network, visiting the various coffee shops and seeing which places have accessible menus and, if not, the support they offer instead. We'll eventually be working towards a nationwide campaign to get accessible menus (braille, large print) into the main coffee shops and have the staff aware of how to support a blind or visually impaired customer as well.

Very busy times ahead!