Swap With Me Event at First Bus Bolton

This afternoon I attended a 'Swap With Me' event with First Bus at their depot located in Bolton. The event was designed to give blind and partially sighted people the opportunity to speak directly with bus drivers and staff members to raise their issues and concerns when travelling via bus with a sensory, and in some cases even dual, impairment.

After introductions, the event began by discussing some of the most common challenges of bus travel, including; being unable to read the bus numbers, not seeing where the pass scanner is, the inability to identify which stop to get off at, inaccessible formats of bus timetables and schedules, dealing with too many pushchair users in the priority seating area, drivers giving too many visual signals and not identifying the correct stop to get off when asked, buses driving past, and so on. There was a two-way communication link with the staff, helping to develop solutions to the regularly occurring issues for visually impaired passengers.

After raising some of the most prominent concerns, it was time to visit the depot itself where two different models of buses were parked; a single-decker and double-decker, each with a different colour-scheme encompassing the corporate colours, therefore containing different contrasting handrails, and a different layout inside to navigate around.

Participants of the event even had the opportunity to sit inside the driver's seat and experience things from their point of view. One thing I discovered was how cut-off drivers actually are and how it feels like another world inside the cab compartment, far removed from the bus itself. With the engine running, the sound of passing traffic and background noise from the passengers of the bus, it makes it very difficult to hear - on both sides of the perspex glass, as a driver and a passenger. This really highlighted how important it is to me that drivers are as verbal as possible, rather than visual, to VI passengers.

Drivers and staff were given simulation spectacles (simspecs) to experience first-hand the different sight conditions, and how they affect vision, whilst boarding a bus, scanning a pass and making their way to a seat. They all agreed how very difficult they found the experience, even though they knew where everything was located, because of the distorted remaining vision they had adopted. Their depth perception was skewed and items were much further away than they thought when relying on what little sight the glasses gave - a much better representation than just using a blindfold. Now they have to imagine finding everything while the bus is moving!

After the activities, we returned to discussions this time focusing on how better to improve services and support First Bus blind and partially sighted customers. The main thing pinpointed by all VI attendees was that there is no such thing as giving too much help; someone will gladly say if they don't need assistance. It is better to be asked if you need help rather than to be ignored and left to struggle!

Other suggestions mentioned in the concluding debrief included better colour contrasting handrails for those with some remaining vision (either a new hi-vis colour replacing the pink and blue or adapting with hi-vis tape), using the ramp not just for those in wheelchairs but for those who find the large gap near the curb disorientating, having the drivers more aware that not all blind and partially sighted people will have a visual clue such as a cane or Guide Dog, supporting passengers by shouting the bus numbers as they board and when dropping off on a different route or drop-off point to let the VI person know about such a change. 

The event this afternoon went really well and hopefully spotlighted some of the major concerns that blind and partially sighted people in the area face on a regular basis. I hope to encounter the aforementioned improvements in the near future as the First bus drivers and staff members in attendance seemed very keen, enthusiastic and responsive to our suggestions. I have also offered to help 'mystery shop' and test out the various First buses across Manchester, taking note of the bus number and time I travelled, to provide accurate feedback of the driver and my experiences.

Great afternoon #swapwithme event @FirstManchester Bolton depot. Great support & enthusiasm from staff & campaigners. pic.twitter.com/RayZBtdjAv
— RNIB Campaigns (@RNIB_campaigns) April 19, 2015

Thank you to First Bus in Bolton for listening to the group that visited today and I look forward to working with them again in the future!

Interview on Salford City Radio

Yesterday I visited my local radio station, Salford City Radio (94.4FM), during Howard Copitch's Wednesday lunchtime show to talk about my sight loss story of losing my vision at a very young age and reveal how the Henshaws Society for Blind People charity has made a huge difference to my life over the past two years.

I've previously had media training with Chris Brophy, Co-Founder and previous Manager of the station, so was very excited to utilise the skills I learned last year as well as share my story and inform local listeners of how Henshaws can help aid and assist them through a variety of different ways; either by one-to-one skills building, peer support groups and skills based courses. Support is specially tailored to each individual to help them overcome their impairment and achieve their potential.

Mark Belcher, Community Services Manager at Henshaws, joined me in listing some of the various different groups and detailing the Pathway to Independence and how it can help those new to sight loss or new to receiving support. The confidence and independence I have today is a complete result of the Pathway and being on the radio was a fantastic way to platform the success it can give to someone.

Howard was very interested in Tami (of course!) and I was more than happy to tell Salford City Radio listeners of our partnership, how we were matched and the things we get up to on a daily basis!

Unfortunately there wasn't a livestream available at the time so I don't have a podcast to share, but I enjoyed my time on the show immensely (I even got to request a song - Duran Duran's 'Hungry Like the Wolf', if you're wondering!) and would like to say thank you to the Henshaws Marketing Team, Salford City Radio and Howard Copitch for the interview opportunity. I really enjoyed being in a radio station environment and it's certainly something I would love to do more of in the future!

Being Safe Online Module at Henshaws Manchester

Today I attended a new session at the Henshaws Manchester resource centre, called 'Being Safe Online', a module as part of the newly-established TechTalk group that I'm a member of and partake in each month. This was the second time that the session has been delivered through Henshaws and I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to tell you more about some of the topics we covered.

Being online is an amazing experience especially for visually impaired and blind people today, with the accessible technology that is currently available and is still being developed and improved every single day. The dangers of being online are rarely ever discussed when talking about the online experience though, and that is what the session strived to highlight and explore with blind and visually impaired service users. While a lot can be gained by venturing into the digital landscape, there are many negative aspects to be aware of too.

The session began with the group identifying some of the most popular icons of websites that are frequently used on the internet like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Amazon, Skype, eBay, Google and Wikipedia - all extremely useful tools in their own right which can unfortunately be abused. The tell-tale symbols of each website were described to the group and we had to name their purpose and functions, such as; communicating, shopping, gaining information and entertainment.

We touched upon some of the most common text-speak abbreviations and what they stand for, and I'm proud to say that I knew the majority of them! There were a few I'd never come across before (particularly paw - parents are watching), so that was interesting for me to learn some of the new lingo that wasn't used back in the days of my chatroom use during the early 2000's.

As a group we suggested some of the things that we may come across online (such as on the aforementioned websites) that could possibly ruin someone's positive experience. Cyber-bullying, cyber-stalking, phishing and spamming, trolling, sexting, blackmailing, identity theft, grooming, hacking, malware and viruses, and inappropriate material / attachments were the main dangers that were spotlighted. We then had to match the definitions of each to the correct term in order to gain a better understanding of what they mean and how they can happen to anybody online.

Activities were then explored in smaller groups where situations were provided, either in example e-mails, tweets, chat conversations or Facebook comments, and we had to identify the danger, what the intention was and how it can be avoided (ie: through filtering, blocking, ignoring and / or reporting).

Facebook settings were discussed and the how different levels of privacy setting affect the audience looking at the posts or photos, even in ones where someone else has been tagged, and whether certain bits of information are even needed to be provided on Facebook publicly (like marital status or interested in / looking for - and how these can actually affect the ads on the page thus driving forward a surge of potential hackers, robots and / or trolls as the audience on the page itself). Also be wary of strangers adding you on websites like Facebook or Skype who will have access to your personal information or possibly probe you for it.

Storing passwords and credit card information on shared or public computers was touched upon and highly advised against, and when shopping online using PayPal is a much safer option. The group learned about identifying spammy e-mails with clickable links within them asking for personal details like passwords to be changed or addresses, phone numbers or bank details needing to be updated. Banks will never actually ask for this information via e-mail as there is no need to.

Location services being enabled, either through Google, Facebook and Twitter, was a major concern for the group and it is always best to ensure these are switched off (particularly on a mobile device). Mentioning you are on holiday, or in a different location, publicly on social media to people you do not know or do not trust is also never a good idea!

Towards the end of the session we learned more about ads and popups and how those can be harmful with inappropriate images, especially to minors, and the module was ended on the subject of passwords and how long it takes to crack the varying strengths. The more characters that are used, including uppercase, lowercase and numerical characters, the harder it is for a hacker to crack the code. Using simple, guessable passwords on a multitude of websites can lead straight to the possibility of being hacked, with someone being able to quickly guess the password through information that they can access publicly on your social media accounts (such as birthdate, address or mother's maiden name). This was something that the group really responded to.

It's all about being aware of what people (and the internet) can be capable of and this session was a fantastic introduction to that. Some things are common sense and other things, such as learning about malware, viruses and trojan horses being cleverly disguised within downloadable links or attachments, can be learned.

TechTalk is the newest group at the Henshaws Manchester resource centre, meeting on the first Tuesday of every month, discussing the latest apps, accessible technology and products of interest - as well as sharing general hints and tips

 All levels of ability are welcome and the minutes from each meeting, including useful links to products and services, are shared via e-mail at the end of each session.

Happy Easter!

Tami and I would like to wish all of our readers
a very Happy Easter!

A wonderful Bank Holiday weekend to you all and thank you, as always, for your support so far in 2015!

Envision Steering Group Results

I mentioned in my previous Envision blog post about the election voting process for the new steering group body of the campaigning network, helping to shape and drive campaigns forward and providing a voice of the wider membership.

The polls have now closed and the results are in; I'm very pleased to announce that I will remain a member of the steering group for a second year, continuing my roles s Co-chair and Comms member. The steering group will now have 6 members, rather than the previous 8, with the new steering group consisting of:

- Kimberley Burrows
- Naomi Stevenson
- Chris Reddington
- Mohammed Mohsan-Ali
- Lucy Hayward
- Francesca Balon

A huge number of votes were received altogether and Envision would like to thank those who took the time to vote! Other members in the wider campaigning network are still encouraged to be involved; feeding into campaigns and supporting our presence online via our social media accounts.

I look forward to getting stuck in again this year and helping to promote the network through various avenues, including social media, and building upon my portfolio of already-established campaigning skills. I will, of course, be blogging about everything Envision gets up to in the next 12 months!

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