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IN TOUCH – Pressure on sight loss charities, Using video conferencing when you're visually impaired

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TX:Ìý 14.04.20Ìý 2040-2100

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PRESENTER:Ìý ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý PETER WHITE

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PRODUCER:Ìý ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý MIKE YOUNG

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White

Good evening.Ìý Tonight, charities are being offered £750 million by the Chancellor but how are sight loss charities coping during the coronavirus crisis and will this cash be enough to help them survive?Ìý The blind workers who exactly a hundred years ago marched under the banner ‘Justice not charity’.

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Clip

They got to see Lloyd George in Downing Street and they were very forceful, they put forward a case for state aid because that’s what all this was about.

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White

A hundred years on we retrace their steps with a man who’s studied their campaign.

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And also tonight, so many of us are working entirely from home right now, me included, we hear about the dos and don’ts of video conferencing.

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But first, the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has announced a £750 million package to keep struggling charities afloat during this epidemic.Ìý Income has been shrinking rapidly with things like charity shops forced to shut their doors.Ìý At the start of this year we focused on the efforts of smaller local sight loss charities in the UK.Ìý Well, Jenny Gage, from Sight Concern in Worcestershire, spoke then and we’ve asked her to come back on to the programme again, to tell us what things are like now.

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Gage

It’s really challenging at the moment.Ìý An awful lot of our events have had to be cancelled, people who were fundraising on our behalf – so, perhaps running marathons or getting involved in sponsored events – all of those are cancelled.Ìý We, as an organisation, have quite a lot of space in our building that we rent out or lease out and unfortunately people aren’t able to hire the rooms from us.Ìý We’re concerned about how we will be able to fundraise on a long-term basis, whether many of those grants and trust funders will have exhausted some of their funds and not able to support organisations on a long-term basis.Ìý Those charities that have got very few reserves are potentially having to use up those reserves at the moment.Ìý It’s really difficult if you have to make a decision as to whether you shut your charity immediately and you’re not able to help the blind and partially sighted people in your area or you use your reserves and risk not being able to survive over the next six to 12 months, these are really real and difficult conversations that people are having to have at the moment.

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White

That’s Jenny Gage from Sight Concern in Worcestershire.

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Well, around two-thirds of this kind of smaller blind charity belong to an umbrella group called Visionary.Ìý Well, I asked its Chief Executive, Fiona Sandford, what she made of the promise of support from the Chancellor.

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Sandford

I think it’s really important that the charities find out relatively quickly how they can access this money and when, crucially when they will access it.

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White

And how urgent do you think that is?

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Sandford

It is very urgent, yes, a lot of charities, as we’ve heard from Jenny, are really beginning to struggle as fundraising events are understandably cancelled.

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White

Despite that, I gather there are some examples of the local organisations being able to offer quite a lot of help.Ìý I mean what sort of thing is managing to go ahead?

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Sandford

There’s lots going ahead, Peter, do you know as you know I’m a big advocate for the local sight loss charities.Ìý There are a lot of examples of them being very creative in how they’re continuing to support and deliver services to quite often very lonely and isolated people.Ìý London Vision, for example, have created a Covid-19 page on their website, which has got lots of really interesting and fun links and resources and they range from things like how to get accessible settings on your TV, there’s information on there about how to stay active, there’s some exercises, there’s a lot of information about shopping.Ìý Eyesight Cornwall have worked with the local hospital eye department, as all sort of non-critical ophthalmology services have been cancelled, Eyesight Cornwall have now got the list of people and they’re doing virtual assessments over the phone and sending them out low-vision equipment from their stocks.Ìý

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Obviously, it’s really important at this time to continue to care for your eyes and not ignore eye health issues.Ìý So, for example, Berkshire Vision have been funded by their own CCG and they’re providing door-to-door transport for people who need to attend critical eye appointments, like, for example, for their injections for wet macular degeneration that still need to be done.

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White

How do you see the future of the finances, particularly those smaller sight loss charities, how difficult will it be for them to survive?

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Sandford

Well as Jenny has already outlined there’s no doubt that it is difficult and it is a challenge for, particularly, I suppose, the smaller organisations but let’s not forget the big ones too.Ìý Everyone’s facing difficulties, particularly as the fundraising events are cancelled, and we don’t know how long that will be the case for.Ìý What I would urge people to do is if you do support your local charity continue to do that, they are continuing to develop and deliver services for people.Ìý As I said with you before, Peter, these organisations have sustained themselves and lasted through very troubled times, sometimes for well over a hundred years, so my hope is that they’ll continue to survive throughout this too.

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White

Fiona Sandford, Chief Executive of Visionary.

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Now one part of working life which has exploded, as a result of the coronavirus lockdown, is the use of video conferencing.Ìý It gives a solution to the problem posed by social distancing that enables meetings and other events to go ahead, where that wouldn’t otherwise have been possible.Ìý And of course, families and friends can use it too, to feel closer together.

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Most smartphones, tablets, laptops do have inbuilt cameras and microphones, which you can use.Ìý But given the obvious visual element, how well does this work if you’re blind or partially sighted?

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Fern Lulham uses video conferencing quite a bit, so I asked her to record a recent telly get together and walk us through the dos and don’ts.

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Lulham

Right, so we’ve got Kirsty which is great.Ìý Hi Kirsty.

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Kirsty

Hello.

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Lulham

Right, Anthony’s just joining us.

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Anthony

Hello.

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Lulham

Hi Tom.

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Tom

Hello everyone, how’s everyone doing?

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Anthony

Fine thanks.

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Tom

Looking very dapper, Anthony…

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Lulham

Usually I don’t use it that much, only really to contact international friends that I’ve made, I studied abroad so I have some friends that live in different countries, so I might talk to them.Ìý But nowadays, of course, because we’re in social isolation, I’m using it not only for talking to my friends but also to talk to people when I’m having business meetings with them or leisure – I use it for my public speaking club, for example.Ìý So, it’s just a really good way to communicate with people when you can’t physically be with them.

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White

So, that makes it very clear what advantages there are.Ìý What are the problems?Ìý What do you have to do in order to make sure that, as it were, that you’re using it on equal terms?

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Lulham

What you will notice, as soon as you start a video call, is that you can see your own face pop up on the screen, if you have any useful vision.Ìý Everyone feels quite self-conscious about how they look on a video call because it’s not always the most flattering angle.Ìý And for me I do have some useful vision, although I am registered blind, and that feeling of self-consciousness is only exacerbated by having to peer right into the screen to see what’s going on.

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White

There’s often quite a lot going on as well in video conferencing, isn’t there, so are you able to make the same use of it as everybody else?

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Lulham

There are some visual parts, sometimes people will make a visual signal to their camera, which obviously, you probably won’t be able to see and then if people use documents, as well, so if you’re in a business meeting and you have some minutes, for example, you might not be able to enjoy the same sharing of screens as everyone else can and even if you have voiceover you’re then trying to listen to the voiceover at the same time as you’re trying to have the conversation with everyone on a big video conferencing call.

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Kirsty

I’ve got the minutes here.

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Anthony

Can you make it bigger?

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Kirsty

Ooh, um…

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Lulham

There we go, now they’re bigger.

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Tom

I can only see four and five.

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Kirsty

It’s scrolling through…

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White

We’ve been talking here about rather, what you might call, slightly formal situations.Ìý What about, though, with family and friends, those things aren’t difficult then are they?

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Lulham

Those things are slightly easier then but there are other issues that can still make you feel isolated.Ìý A lot of people will have a big video conferencing call with all of their family and things might be going on in the background – so like the dog might come on the screen or the baby might be doing something funny – and everyone’s laughing but you don’t know why and you can’t join in with the joke and it can make you feel even more isolated.

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White

So, key dos and don’ts.Ìý First of all, for blind and partially sighted people.

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Lulham

Don’t feel bad about asking for what you need.Ìý It’s even more important in these situations to be able to participate just as much as everyone else, so voice any concerns that you have and don’t feel guilty about that.Ìý Try not to multitask when you’re on the call because concentration is very important, especially if you can’t see.Ìý And if you’re sitting in your own home it’s easy to get distracted by other things and want to check your emails while you’re on the call but if you try and do that, you’re not going to do either in a very good way.

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For the dos, think about familiarising yourself with how the platform controls work before you come to use it.Ìý Of course, let the organisers know that you have a visual impairment, so that they are aware of that and can help you.Ìý And one thing that I did was I marked out a position, so that I knew where I would be seen on the screen, so I wasn’t embarrassed about not being on the screen or not fitting on the camera, like I should be.

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Nigel

We’ve got to just trim up the timings to suit the new format.

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Kirsty

Yeah, so that would be really good, as you say Nigel, kind of really focusing on those sorts of things at the next meeting.Ìý We can kind of gauge what specific things…

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White

And what about sighted people – key things?

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Lulham

Don’t forget that you have a visually impaired person on the call, really try and be aware of that and try and include them as much as you possibly can.Ìý Also, refer to their disability as little as you can, unless it’s completely necessary, don’t highlight it.Ìý I was on a call where I was leaning really close to the screen and someone said – Oh, Fern, you obviously can’t see the screen very well – something like that and it just made me feel even more self-conscious about the fact that I had to do that, than I did already.

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And some dos for sighted people?Ìý Check in with visually impaired people that might be on the call, give them a chance to maybe practice with you beforehand, so that you can iron out any problems that might occur.Ìý Offer to send them any braille or large print documents that you might be using in advance, so things like minutes, so that they can follow along without having the problem of sharing your screen and not being able to see.Ìý And just be aware of them and try to include them as much as possible.Ìý As with everything, it’s going to be a bit of a learning curve and we’re all trying to figure it out together but the best way that we can communicate with each other and try and help each other is going to really solve a lot of problems.

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White

But at the present time, really handy for you, I mean are you using it for friends and family, as well as business stuff?

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Lulham

Yeah, I am.Ìý And it’s such a nice way to get in touch.Ìý It was my birthday on Sunday and it would not have been the same if I couldn’t jump on a video call and just say hi to all of my friends and family that way.

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White

Fern Lulham.Ìý

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And if you’ve been video conferencing yourself, maybe for the first time, well tell us how it’s worked for you.

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Now last week, on this programme, we heard about the suspension of the RNIB’s braille library lending services.Ìý They told us that you can ask, via their helpline, for a free Orbit Reader with a refreshable braille display, so that you could read digital books instead of hard copy braille.Ìý

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Jane Sellers was one of those people who got in touch with us about that by email.Ìý Now she’d been told, by the helpline, that these readers were only available for the under-25s or people over 70.Ìý Well, we chased up the RNIB and they assure us that they are now being given to library members whatever their age.

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Thanks, also, for your emails reminding us of the centenary of what became known as the Blind March.Ìý A hundred years ago today, around 170 blind campaigners were heading for London, from three different starting points – Manchester, Leeds and Newport in South Wales – under the banner ‘Justice not charity’.Ìý

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Well Frank Salt, from Rochdale, blind himself, has made himself something of an authority on the history of the march and he’s been telling me about it.

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Salt

The National League for the Blind was established at the end of the previous centenary and most of the blind people in those days, if they did do any work at all, they did them in workshops.Ìý And the main aim really for this was to get something on to the statute book so that the government could get involved in, not protecting, but certainly augmenting their wages and seeing blind people working in open industry, rather than in protected workshops.

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White

So, what were conditions like?Ìý I mean what had driven them to march?

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Salt

It was quite arduous then.Ìý And if you take then some of the occupations, traditional if you like, of the day of picking rope and deburring castings and then add to that that these people use their fingers to read, like you do yourself, then there was quite a lot of unrest and some of the workers just wouldn’t do the job because it was ruining their education possibilities.Ìý There wasn’t much braille around at the time but they wanted to read and obviously with sore fingers they couldn’t.

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White

Now they started from three different points and they met at Leicester and the march actually did create a good deal of interest didn’t it?

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Salt

It did and today, the 14th, is when the whole – all the columns came together in Leicester.Ìý The papers did – the Leicester Mercury certainly did say that the crowd was subdued, they were all quite prepared to watch a parade with marchers and a band playing and everything but once they saw the condition that some of these men were in, because they’d been on the road for 10 days by then and in atrocious weather, they talk about women with tears running down their faces and some of them were – as a group of men would always be – once they’d finished the day they’d have a little drink.Ìý There is a story of some of them finishing up sleeping it off in the cells, they weren’t arrested, they were just gathered up because they couldn’t get them home, so they slept in a cell.

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White

I reckon they needed a drink by that stage in the march.

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What about the logistics, Frank?Ìý I mean did they have guides with them?Ìý How did they actually organise the marching?

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Salt

The Eastern group marched linking arms four abreast.Ìý The Manchester and the Newport group they had a rope going down the middle of the column and there was two either side of the rope.

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White

They got to London, what happened then – I think they had to hang around a fair bit didn’t they?

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Salt

Yeah, they weren’t too pleased.Ìý They actually arrived in London on 25th, so they were on the road for 20 days.Ìý They were treated to tea in the House of Commons by Lady Asquith, which they all quite enjoyed.Ìý They got to see Lloyd George in Downing Street on the Friday of that week.Ìý And they were very forceful, they put forward a case for state aid because that’s what all this about and the Prime Minister was a bit gobsmacked at one stage that this sort of thing was going on.

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White

So, they weren’t intimidated by meeting Lloyd George?

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Salt

Well no, because right at the end Ben Purse, who was the founder of the NLB, he asked the government if the Treasury could see its way to paying the train fare to go home because they didn’t want to walk all the way back home.Ìý And they got it, they got the train fare.Ìý They also said that they had a suspicion that some of the men would be sacked from the workshops, when they did get home, because they’d been aware for nearly a month, and he asked them to let him know if anything like that happened.

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White

Did they get what they wanted from the Prime Minister?

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Salt

They got the Blind Persons Act 1920 put on to the statue and then that was built on from then to current times.Ìý But, no, they weren’t happy at all, they didn’t get their demands, you know, they didn’t get the augmentation, a national state aid if you like.

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White

What do you think the marchers would make of conditions for blind people today?

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Salt

I don’t know about conditions but certainly the society around them I think they would be quite amazed, the acceptance of blind people on a day-to-day basis but also still a little bit upset that blind people don’t get the jobs that they are capable of doing.

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White

Frank Salt in Rochdale.

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And if you can add to the details that Frank was telling us about there, do get in touch.Ìý And we’d also like to hear your suggestions of topics we should be covering at this time.

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You can leave us voice messages on 0161 836 1338.Ìý You could email intouch@bbc.co.uk or visit our website bbc.co.uk/intouch from where you can download tonight’s and previous editions of the programme.

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That’s it from me, Peter White and producer Mike Young, goodbye.