Guidance on marketing library activities to people with sight loss

Introduction

This document gives practical advice about communicating with, and catering for, blind and partially sighted people. These guidance notes have been produced in consultation with the Right to Read Alliance, a group of 19 charities campaigning together for better access to books for people with sight loss.

The guiding principle – equal access

Commitment to the principle of equal access to information and reading services for all must be the starting point for all events. Specifically, this should underpin any marketing strategy or events aimed at blind and partially sighted people and their families and carers.

People with sight loss have particular needs in accessing print which need to be borne in mind when deciding on your activities and promoting them.

When planning your marketing information, consider the following:

  • The number of people registered as blind or partially sighted reflects only a third of those eligible to be registered.
  • Mobility is a vital issue for blind and partially sighted people and the quality of transport available will vary so information about transport should be always be included in marketing information.
  • Mobile, home delivery and postal services are important marketing tools.
  • Direct and personal contact is vital - so contact relevant local voluntary groups and council departments and use them as intermediaries to get in touch with your potential audiences.
  • Find out about your local society for blind people through NALSVI, the National Association of Local Societies for Visually Impaired People. (www.nalsvi.cswebsites.org)
  • Make good use of talking newspapers and local radio to report on successful events.
  • People with sight loss receive a lot of their information from sighted people including colleagues, other service providers, parents, teachers, carers and friends. However, it is always best to be able to deliver your message directly to blind and partially sighted people themselves.
  • With regard to school-aged children, ensure you inform and involve SEN coordinators in your authority/schools.
  • RNIB National Library Service is happy to help promote your activities through its web pages and members’ magazine. Contact Megan Gilks on 0161 355 2080 or emailmegan.gilks@rnib.org.uk with details of your event.

Practical guidance

1. Getting your message out externally

It is important to ensure that all promotion and publicity is widely targeted. You should consider marketing:

  • directly to blind and partially sighted people themselves.
  • to SEN Coordinators and Access Officers in education institutions.
  • to intermediaries such as friends, relatives, carers or partners of blind and partially sighted people.
  • to people who may be future users of accessible services if they lose their sight with age or through other circumstances.
  • to people providing local services for blind and partially sighted people, or working directly with them.
  • to community organisations of disabled and/or blind people people. These groups operate at grass roots level and can be particularly valuable in terms of getting information directly to and from blind and partially sighted people. They may also provide tape and braille transcription services at competitive rates.
  • to other voluntary and community groups such as tenants associations, social clubs and day centres.
  • Why not set up a users group of people with sight loss as part of your strategy? Or develop a list of local contacts.

2. Getting your message across to internal partners

Below is a list of local authority partners you should link up with if you want to extend your reach to blind and partially sighted people. Inviting representatives from these service areas to join your NYR Steering Group is a good way to get their input into planning at an early stage.

Health services

Blind and partially sighted people use both general and specific health care services. Providing information about NYR activities and events to GP surgeries, eye hospitals and ophthalmic practitioners is a potential communication channel.

Social Services

Social Services departments have a legal duty to keep and maintain the blind and partially sighted registers for their locality. This requires Social Services to assess and support blind and partially sighted people as they come onto the register.

Names on the register cannot be given out due to medical confidentiality and Data Protection. However Social Services departments will often be prepared to pass on relevant information to people on the register. Approaches to social service and special service teams may be most effective if made at Director level.

Low vision services committees

These are being set up following a report by the Low Vision Services Consensus Group in 1999. Their overall aim is to enable the development of less fragmented and more multi-disciplinary services, by working with local people to address local need.

There are currently 26 such committees in England and Wales, but others are being established. The committee membership may include the local Health Authority, a wide range of general and specialist health care providers, social services, individual blind and partially sighted people from a range of communities, voluntary organisations of blind and partially sighted people and specialist sector workers in the fields of education, employment, care of older people, hearing impairment, learning difficulties and multiple disabilities.

Committees with such a wide representation of interest could provide useful channels of communication with local blind and partially sighted people. For further information on Low Vision Services Committees, contact the Low Vision Implementation Office via RNIB London, Tel: 020 7391 2347.

Education services

All students enrolling in FE Colleges should have an assessment of their learning support needs, including resources and support required. In higher education also, there will be a process in place to identify special support needs, and education establishments will increasingly have specialist staff/units to provide support to disabled students.

A good example of this approach is the Manchester Visual Impairment Forum. This is a collaboration between FE, HE, the public library service, social services, RNIB and the Employment Service, which aims to improve access to information and resources for students with sight loss.

The Open University has a Disabled Students’ Association – Tel: 01908 653273.

Six Steps Champions

Your authority could have a Six Steps Champion, someone whose role is to promote the access of library services to blind and partially sighted people. Specific activities of the Champion will include:

  • Acting as a channel of communication between Reading Sight, voluntary sector and library service,
  • Sharing best practice and information through Reading Sight,
  • Informing and supporting public library staff by promoting Reading Sight to them and other organisations as appropriate,
  • Identifying local training needs to support staff in providing services to blind and partially sighted people

3. Promotional tools

Events

Special events, taster sessions and launches can be extremely effective ways of promoting services. Experience has shown that a significant factor in the success of local events is working in partnership with local societies for blind people. These partnerships also have longer term benefits and have helped promote services, reach wider audiences and develop ongoing dialogue with local blind and partially sighted people.

National Media

Relating your existing local services and events to a national story or campaign may be an effective way to raise their profile to blind and partially sighted people in general and generate extra coverage for local service developments.

National initiatives

You could tie your events in with relevant national initiatives such as World Sight Day (www.v2020.org)

Radio and television

According to the RNIB Needs Survey (1991)

  • In excess of 90% of blind and partially sighted people were radio and television owners
  • 70% of blind and partially sighted people under 55 owned video cassette recorders as did 49% over 55
  • About 20% of blind and partially sighted people listened regularly or occasionally to BBC Radio 4’s programme ‘In Touch’
  • Local BBC and community radio stations are also popular. It is also worth considering specialist community radio stations serving minority ethnic communities.

Talking newspapers and magazines

Many blind and partially sighted people subscribe to national newspapers and magazines in audio or electronic formats. These are provided by a charity called National Talking Newspapers and Magazines (www.tnauk.org.uk). Local newspapers are produced by teams of volunteers across the country. The coordinating national body is the Talking News Federation. (www.tnf.org.uk). These are a good channel for promoting your activities.

Disability press

There are a range of journals and periodicals about disability in general and visual impairment in particular. The websitehttp://www.tiresias.org/publications/serials/index.htm lists a range of periodicals concerned with visual impairment, but many of them are very specialised.

RNIB publishes several magazines for sight loss and eye health professionals, teachers and parents of blind and partially sighted children. For more details, visit the RNIB website atwww.rnib.org.uk/magazines

Printed publicity material

Make sure that your posters and other printed publicity material are accessible to people with sight loss.

RNIB’s Clear Print Guidelines (www.rnib.org.uk/seeitright) will help you achieve good design which everyone can read. Creating a ‘clear print’ document is straightforward and inexpensive, focusing on basic design elements such as font, type size, contrast and page navigation. Not only will partially sighted people benefit, but your sighted audience will find the information easier to read too.

Consider transcribing your materials into alternative formats such as braille and audio - your local blind society may be able to help (www.nalsvi.cswebsites.org) or visit the RNIB’s website atwww.rnib.org.uk/transcription

The internet and digital media

Approximately 60% of the UK population are internet users. The National Year of Reading website is a key element in our campaign, both for marketing what is happening and providing a platform for people to participate.

Many blind and partially sighted people use computers at home and work but access to the internet can be severely limited if websites are not designed properly.

Here are 10 top tips to help make sure your website is accessible to people using speech or braille output or screen magnification. Further advice is available on the RNIB’s Web Access Centre atwww.rnib.org.uk/wac

1. Use the ALT attribute to describe graphics and other non-text items

2. Ensure good contrast between text and background

3. Use style sheets to control screen appearance

4. Ensure text associated with links makes sense out of context

5. Provide a text site map

6. Ensure that the size of all text can be altered with browser controls

7. Give frames meaningful titles. Ideally do not use frames.

8. Avoid absolute positioning.

9. Warn users about new windows or pop-ups

10. Make sure all multimedia elements optional and provide a text alternative.

Accessible presentations

If you will be making a Powerpoint or slide presentation as part of your NYR event, please make sure that blind and partially sighted people in your audience do not miss out on visual information. The World Blind Union has produced some excellent guidelines on how to ensure your presentation is accessible. A copy can be obtained from Megan Gilks on 0161 355 2080 or emailmegan.gilks@rnib.org.uk for a copy.