OCTOBER NEWSLETTER No. 353
Enabling Accessibility in Libraries
The CILIP East Member Network has teamed up with the Royal National Institute for Blind People (RNIB) to deliver a workshop on how to make libraries more accessible. The 2 hour online event will cover topics such as: accessible reading materials and information, tech tips on accessibility settings on computers and smartphones, and customer service guidance on how to help customers. We hope this workshop can provide you with helpful and practical tips to help make libraries more accessible for all library users, with a focus on blind and partially sighted library users.
Social Change Fund
Does your project have the potential to transform the lives of children and young people who are blind and vision impaired? We’ll provide the fuel to ignite it.
We’re seeking applications from projects that support and empower children and young people with the tools to live independent and fulfilling lives.
Specifically, we are interested in work that builds social, digital and self-advocacy skills, so that vision impaired children and young people feel connected with each other, with their sighted peers, and with the wider communities around them. We know that provision differs across the country and particularly welcome applications from organisations who are collaborating in order to share best practice, deliver at scale or meet previously unmet need.
https://www.fightforsight.org.uk/apply-for-funding/social-change-funding/social-change-fund/
National Trust site trials technology to aid partially-sighted people
The National Trust’s 18th-century house Saltram in Plymouth has become the first outdoor cultural site in the UK to trial NaviLens, a digital navigation aid designed for partially-sighted visitors.
NaviLens is a free app that enables users to navigate spaces with minimal or no assistance. The trust hopes that NaviLens will improve access to heritage and nature for visitors to Saltram.
The technology is currently in use on transport systems across Spain and in some parts of the US and UK, as well as in some museums and UK supermarkets.
The app, currently on trial until 25 October, uses QR-style codes for visitors to detect using their phones. At Saltram, as the NaviLens app picks up nearby codes, users receive spoken-word information providing navigational and interpretative content relevant to the site’s historic garden setting.
New drug approved by use in NHS will mean thousands of people at risk of blindness will no longer have to take monthly injections
The medication, faricimab, will be offered to patients being treated for advanced retinal vein occlusion (RVO). It is estimated that more than 11,000 people will benefit from the new drug, which is so effective that just three jabs a year are needed, compared with the current monthly injections.
Research suggests 19 million British people missing routine eye tests
The number of people in the UK who are not having routine sight tests has been revealed by the organisers of National Eye Health Week.
Launched to mark the beginning of the annual awareness week, the research estimates that 19 million British people are failing to have regular eye tests.
Eye Health UK commissioned a OnePoll survey of 2000 adults in the UK, finding that people from low-income households, men, and people from minority ethnic backgrounds were most likely to have skipped a recent eye test.
Certificate of Vision Impairment (CVI)
If you have a permanent visual impairment, you may be eligible to be certified as sight impaired (partially sighted) or severely sight impaired (blind) by your eye specialist (ophthalmologist). Details below: