Visibility Blog

Now that Halloween is over, the shops have started putting up their festive decorations and lights are going up across the country!  

Here at Visibility we’re already preparing for a couple of Christmas events that we’ll be attending this month, and we’d love you to come and join us!

Saturday 7th November at Milngavie Town Hall - Charities Fayre from 10am - 3pm

Tuesday 17th November at Glasgow City Chambers - Glasgow Charities Christmas Fayre from 10am - 4pm

In the photographs below, Susan has been busy in the office wrapping up prizes for the Milngavie fair on Saturday - we promise no stuffed animals were harmed in the making of this tombola!

Today our toddler group met up for another fun filled session as they celebrated Halloween with lots of spooky lights and sounds!

Joining the toddlers and their families was Helen from the ‘Toys on the Road’ provided by the Toy Library. Catriona Macintyre also came along and presented some videos from the VINCYP (Visual Impairment Network Children Young People) website to the parents who attended.

Our early years worker Corinna made up sensory bags with spaghetti worms, water bead eyeballs and tickley spiders in them for the children to find and feel around the room!

With lots of interesting textures, these sensory bags are a perfect toy to make at home and spark your child’s curiosity this hallow’s eve.

If you are interested in coming along with your child to one of our toddler groups, or would like some ideas on how you can create your own sensory toys just call Corinna or Clare on 0141 332 4632.  We would love to hear from you!

Join us for Rainbow Dolls – A series of Art, Craft and Storytelling workshops in Dumfries beginning on the 28th of October!

Using the power of imagination, this eight week programme has been developed to encourage colourful communication between children with a sensory impairment.

Susi Woodmass, founder of The Wee Folk Storytellers, has teamed up with Lel McCrone Robertson – artist and former teacher at a specialist school for deaf children – to deliver these unique workshops.

Through the exploration of visual art, craft and storytelling skills, the children will create their own storytelling props and make items to take home each week.

The workshops are open to all children whether deaf, hearing or visually impaired. All workshops are free but booking is required.

When? Wednesday evenings 5:15pm – 7:15pm From 28 October to 16 December 2015

Where? The Day Centre, Cumberland Street, Dumfries, DG1 2JX (next to Brooms Road Car Park)

Book your place now!

One of the great ways to get out and about to explore Scotland is by taking the train. If you have a visual impairment, or are in need of assistance due to any other disability, Scotrail provide a really useful passenger assistance service.

You are able to book assistance at least four hours in advance for journeys on the ScotRail network. Where the journeys go beyond the Scotrail network, and involve the use of other train operator services, they ask that you book your journey 24 hours before travelling.

There are lots of reasons to use their Passenger Assistance service. For instance, you can:

Arrange assistance to board / alight the train

Reserve seats / dedicated wheelchair space

Arrange onward travel / connecting services

Arrange alternative transport

Purchase travel tickets

Check train times

Check accessibility at stations / facilities on-board trains

Just call their Assisted Travel Helpline on 0800 912 2901 or contact their Textphone (for the hard of hearing) on 18001 0800 912 2901.

Whether you want to visit friends and family, travel the length of the country, or get started early on your Christmas shopping - Scotrail’s Passenger Assistance Service is available all week from 7am to 10pm except Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

Put these dates in your diary for the next two Technology Drop in Sessions at the Visibility office!

Monday 26th October At 1.30 – 3.30pm Where: Visibility Topic: Keeping in touch – Skype and social media

Monday 30th November At 1.30- 3.30pm Where: Visibility Topic: Keeping in touch – Emailing and texting

No need to book, just show up!

If you've not been before, Visibility is located at 2 Queens Crescent, Glasgow, G4 9BW (just around the corner from St George's Cross Subway station

Note: Not recommended for beginners – if you are a beginner please call Sarah McAllister on 0141 332 4632 who will add your name to the waiting list for one to one training.

On the 2nd of October The Visibility Ball was held for it’s second year, at the Marriott Hotel in Glasgow.  As the doors opened at 7 o’clock, guests arrived in a sea of smart suits and glittering gowns to support the charity.

Board member and organiser Sarah Curran, with her fantastic committee and team of enthusiastic volunteers once again did an amazing job behind the scenes, right up until the last minute - decorating the room and making sure the final touches were in place before guests took their seats.

The evening began with a welcome speech from Fiona Sandford, CEO of Visibility, and Andy Curran was the MC for the night, keeping the programme running smoothly. 

Whilst dinner was served, the raffle began and keys were sold for one lucky guest to open a safe and win a £2000 diamond necklace! After dessert was finished, Peter Martin took to the floor to begin the main auction, and as the prizes were announced he encouraged everyone, with a lot of humour, to have a shot at bidding.

Sarah Curran and her daughter Natalie both gave moving speeches on the night, with Natalie sharing her experiences of losing her sight, including some heartbreaking and some humorous stories, and she spoke of the support she received from Visibility.

Once everyone had some time to relax after dinner, the dancing began with music from disco diva Julianna Hoy and then Groove Culture, delivering a fabulous few hours of music before the night wound to a close.

The final amount raised from the Visibility Ball was an outstanding £52,084! It was a fantastic evening, and to all the guests, volunteers, entertainers, hotel staff and supporters, we would like to say a huge thank you to each and every one of you for making the night such a success. 

All the photos from the Ball are on our facebook page www.facebook.com/wearevisibility so please get tagging!

Earlier this month, a group of 15 members of the Go Walk group took a train from Central station to Milngavie to visit Mugdock Reservoir. It’s just a short walk up a wee hill to the reservoirs from the station. The weather was mild and dry with a few promises of sunshine to come!

There are two reservoirs in the area, the Mugdock and the Craigmaddie. The group circuited the Mugdock, which is approx 2 miles but sadly lack of time meant they could not visit the Craigmaddie as well which is nearer 3 miles.

The reservoirs are the primary source of the water for the city of Glasgow (and the Greater Glasgow area) in western Scotland. The works were opened by Queen Victoria in 1859, replacing the previous water supply sourced from the River Clyde at Cuningar Loop in Dalmarnock.

Its primary supply is via two aqueducts from Loch Katrine in the north. Milngavie itself is situated at almost 400 feet (120 m) above sea level – making it sufficient to provide adequate water pressure to the majority of Glasgow without the need for pumping.  

The reservoir walks are flat with wide paths, with just a few that narrow and can get muddy if wet, so this is a highly suitable walk for people with a visual impairment. The reservoirs are a common attraction for walkers, cyclists and photographers, who take advantage of the peripheral walkways that verge on Mugdock Country Park. You could spend hours wandering and taking in the variety of wildlife.

Joan Sloss, one of our regular walkers, called the office the Monday following the walk to tell us how much she enjoyed herself. Likewise Pauline Hart said, “the walk on Saturday was really enjoyable, I will go back there myself soon with a friend”.

The group went to a café in Milngavie after the walk and treated themselves to delicious cake, teas and coffees. Well deserved after all that walking in the fresh autumn air!

If you are interested in the Go walks, the next trips will be the first Saturday in February and the first Saturday in April 2016.

Cerebral Visual Impairment in Children with Professor Gordon Dutton

Visibility’s See Hear Project is hosting an exciting event for parents and carers of children with Cerebral Visual Impairment. 

Professor Gordon Dutton is a retired Consultant Paediatric Ophthalmologist and author, with many years of experience and knowledge of working with children with CVI and their families.

Date: Monday 26th October 2015

Time: 10.30am to 2.30pm

Venue: Solway Suite, Cairndale Hotel, Dumfries

Lunch and refreshments are provided.

This is a free event – but booking is essential. 

To book, please contact Visibility’s See Hear Project on 01387 267131 or email [email protected]

Last weekend, a group of technology experts met at The Melting Pot in Edinburgh’s city centre, and were given just 48 hours to put their minds together and create some innovative products which could benefit Scottish charities.  

Charity Hack Scotland, run by the Association of Chief Officers of Scottish Voluntary Organisations (ACOSVO), an organisation for Scottish third sector leaders, and Mallzee, an online fashion company, involved thirty tech gurus being split into teams and paired with charities from across Scotland.

Visibility was one of the charities who attended the ‘Hackathon’ and came away from this wonderful weekend as the winner!  We are so proud of our tech team who developed not one, but three, ideas that could help support people with sight loss.

Clare Lappin, our fundraising manager said: “The hack was so valuable to Visibility because it presented a unique opportunity, which we couldn’t easily facilitate ourselves as a small charity, to explore really innovative ways of developing what we do, by harnessing the power of technology.

“We were quite frankly blown away by our team’s ideas which consisted of two useable products and the concept of an app, to help people living with sight loss self-manage their condition. We would love to progress the products and concepts achieved over the weekend to a point where they can be accessed by everyone – not just in our geographical area but beyond. In this respect, we will be pursuing connections made over the weekend, in the hope that we can secure funding to bring the hard work of our ‘hack’ team to fruition.”

Hot off the press!!! We’ve got a new ‘What’s On?’ Guide heading your way very soon! 

Our golden girls pictured below - Kim, Pauline and Gail - have been busy organising and posting out the copies of our new publication today (under the watchful eye of Leila, Pauline’s guide dog, of course!)

Our new guide is a summary of all the exciting activities and events coming up over the next few months so you can keep in the loop about ‘What’s On?’ at Visibility!  

Our office will be closed on Friday 25th and Monday 28th due to the long weekend and we hope you all have a wonderful time!  If you would like to be put on our mailing list, please let us know by emailing your details to [email protected] or calling us on 0141 332 4632 from Tuesday on wards. 

We hope to see you soon at one of our classes, groups or events over the next few months! Team Visibility x

This week is National Eye Health Week, from the 21st - 27th of September, but can you remember the last time you went for an eye test? 

Most people should have their sight tested once every two years, but if you have a history of eye conditions in the family then you may need to go to your optometrist more frequently. It is always important to know the history of your family’s eye health as this could impact on your own sight in the future.

Glaucoma is an eye condition that can be hereditary, and causes vision to become patchy which can lead to tunnel vision.   This condition may skip a generation so if anyone in your family has glaucoma, make your optometrist aware of this when you get your eyes tested.  Glaucoma can be treated and controlled if it is detected early, so knowing the eye health of your relatives can be really beneficial.

In Scotland, if you are a UK resident, you can have a free eye examination through the NHS once every two years if you are between 16 and 59 years old. 

You can have a free eye examination once a year if you:

are under 16

are 60 or over

have ocular hypertension or diabetes 

have glaucoma, or 

are 40 or over and your mother, father, brother, sister, son or daughter has glaucoma.

You don’t need a GP to refer you, just pop into a local optometrist of your choice and once you have completed their sign up forms, you’re ready to book your appointment.  Around 80% of eye conditions that affect people worldwide are completely avoidable or treatable, yet 25% of people forget to get their eyes checked regularly - don’t be one of those people!  

Cue and Review – “Print Speaking to the Blind”,  transcribe print magazines and newspapers into audio format for the benefit of the visually and reading impaired.  The service now includes a streaming facility that will allow clients to listen to the service without having to wait on a cassette arriving in the post or having an Internet radio box.

The countdown is on for the highlight of our social calendar, the Visibility Ball 2015, taking place in the Glasgow Marriott Hotel on Friday 2nd October.  People will be putting their glad rags on for an evening of glitz, glamour and entertainment to raise further much-needed funds for our cause.    

The Ball is organised by one of our Trustees, Sarah Curran, whose daughter Natalie was registered blind at age 9 following a brain tumour.  Visibility played a key role in helping Natalie adjust to her sight loss by teaching her many skills like independent travel to get to school and navigate her way into town at lunchtime to join her pals.  More recently, Natalie has been doing cookery lessons with our worker, Sharon, so she’s not dependent on microwave meals when she goes off to university shortly.

Mum Sarah said: “I’m passionate about ensuring Visibility can continue helping others, young and old, living with sight loss to fulfil their potential.  Asides the ball, there are so many ways you can get involved in supporting Visibility, so please do get in touch with the charity to find out how you can play your part.”

Tickets are still available at £75 per person (people with a visual impairment can bring along a guide at no additional cost).

Seeing Ear is an online library offering books for blind and print-disabled people.  Entries are now open for their children’s creative writing competition - so if you’re 18 or under and are visually impaired, have dyslexia or a disability that makes it difficult to read printed books, have a go at storytelling and enter now for your chance to win!

There is a fantastic prize on offer, as Dolphin is sponsoring this year’s competition, and are letting the winner choose anything they like from their range of products, up to the value of £835!

Entry is free, and Seeing Ear will also be offering a range of runners up prizes, as well as producing a competition anthology of selected entries.

To submit your entry, please use their online competition entry form. The deadline for entries is midnight on 31 December 2015, so time to get writing!

Are you blind or partially-sighted?

Are you aged 16 to 44?

Do you need help finding the right home?

Housing Options Scotland can help.

Finding the right home in the right place can be difficult, but Housing Options Scotland is here to help.

Your Home – Insight is a programme that helps blind and partially-sighted people aged 16 to 44 years old find a home that suits them.

Housing Options Scotland work with you all the way and guide you through the process so you can work out what you need from a home and what kind of home you want. They help you think about your options and help you to find the right home for you.

If you would like to find out more, please get in touch;

Phone 0131 247 1400, email [email protected] or write to us at The Melting Pot, 5 Rose Street, Edinburgh EH2 2PR.

Your Home – Insight is provided by Housing Options Scotland in association with Thomas Pocklington Trust

On Sunday 30th August, our Go! walk group met in Glasgow City Centre and travelled by minibus to Largs for a seaside summer trip!.

The trip coincided with the second day of the annual Largs Viking Festival, a two week festival running until the 6th of September. You can find out more on their website www.largsvikingfestival.com or visit the facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LargsVikingFestival for details of this year’s festival.

On arrival we made time for proper introductions and everyone had a chance to natter, whilst enjoying takeaway teas and coffees from Nardini’s next to the ferry port. We strolled North along the promenade and then meandered back through the lively festival food and gift stalls.

There is a small charge to attend the Viking villiage, but most of the stalls were free along with a variety of street entertainers. The smell of the food wafting around and highland music playing really added to the atmosphere.  Later on in the day we heard, and saw, an amazing acrobatic air display while the sun was shining down on us!

A fab fish and chip lunch inside a local restaurant provided a welcome sit down and ensured our yummy food was all ours and not for sharing with those pesky seagulls! The restaurant staff were skilled in managing such a large group with our orders arriving swiftly, hot and delicious!

After lunch we strolled to Vikingar for a pre-booked personal tour. Vikingar is a permanent exhibition centre where, for a small fee visitors can experience the Viking adventure first hand. They have guides called ‘storytellers’ who describe a typical day in the life of a Viking family, how they lived, how they made their clothes, weapons and food, with a chance to hold and touch real objects from the past. This was all inside a reconstructed Viking long boat which made it seem very realistic - over 500 years of Viking history was brought to life through sight, sound and smell. Even Bill’s dog Harley got to be a Viking for the day by trying on a horned helmet!

After the tour we watched an interesting video about The Battle of Largs in 1263.The battle is commemorated by the ‘Battle of Largs Monument’ (affectionately known locally as “The Pencil”) and annually in September by the Largs Viking Festival, which includes a re-enactment of the battle, burning of a long ship and fireworks display.

Before heading home in the minibus we couldn’t resist an ice cream and what a perfect day for it - luckily for us the sun shone nearly all day!

We would love for you to come along and join the See Hear team at our information events in Newton Stewart and Dumfries this week!  Friendly staff and volunteers will be giving local people living with sight, hearing and dual sensory loss the opportunity to find out about the range of services and support available to them across the region.

 The events take place on;

- Wednesday 2nd September at Penninghame Church Hall, Church Street, Newton Stewart from 1pm – 3pm.

 - Thursday 3rd September at St Georges Hall, George Street, Dumfries from 1pm – 3pm.

There will also be a variety of other exhibitors on the day including Optelec, Headway and Food Train, as well as staff from the Health and Social Care integration team.  Local teams from NHS Dumfries and Galloway and Social Work Sensory Support Services will also be on hand to answer questions and give advice on the type of services and assistance that is on offer across the region to people living with sensory loss.

 Lindsay McDowall, service manager of the project, said:  “We’re expecting a mix of people living with sight, hearing or dual sensory loss, their carers, family and professionals to pop in on the day. And we’d welcome anyone interested in volunteering to come along and have a chat with us.

 “There will be an opportunity for everyone to browse the information stands; try equipment and technology and talk to local services. There will be sign language interpreters, sighted guides and a loop system available to support people attending. There is something for everyone at these events.”

For more details on the events, call 01387 267 131, text 0750 868 5262 or email [email protected].