My Sight Notts

30/04/26-My Sight Notts – Emma Lucas

Emma began by distributing some special headsets that would be used later to get members participating to understand more about the effects of various sight loss symptoms. It’s possible that anyone can live with sight loss conditions, with 6000 registered in Notts, but estimated to be 40,000 living with sight loss but not wanting to be registered for various reasons including being ‘labelled’ as blind. Only 4% of people with sight loss are completely blind.  2.5 million people in the UK, with 80% over 65, the majority living with macular degeneration. The initial Charity, Nottingham Society for Teaching the Scriptures to the Blind children was founded in 1843, (older than RNIB) It was founded by two quakers Mary Chambers and Lucy Maria Woods. The modern service can be categorized under 4 headings: 1. Practical Support (tech, equipment, employment) 2. Emotional Support (Shared Vision, counselling, eye clinic liaison) 3. Social Activities (Social Groups in Nottingham, Mansfield, Newark and Worksop; walking and rambling opportunities, swim and Gym sessions, a choir and lots of volunteers helping out 4. Awareness raising (talks, access audits, sight loss awareness training)

She then suggested us thinking about possible problems/obstacles if a blind person was coming to visit you and then you were taking them a walk to nearby shops. Coffee tables, steps, stairs, bathrooms were mentioned, then on the walk, street furniture, traffic, bin day, trees, the type of doors into shops, ingredients on food items. Money was also mentioned with coins probably ok with their different shapes and sizes and although there is nothing on a £5 note, the £10 has 2 spots on the top Left-hand corner and 3 for the £20 note. The headsets were then demonstrated, with adaptations for macular degeneration (dark cloud in the central part), tunnel vision (glaucoma), diabetic issues (retinopathy), Charles Bonnet syndrome (visual hallucinations). Emma then used a phone app called ‘seeing AI’, which can read for you and various other aids. Some questions followed, regarding funding (grants and donations) and a comment about the importance of annual eye tests.                                 

President Elect John gave the Vote of Thanks suggesting that he was generally not aware of most of this subject matter, impressed with the demonstrations of a headset machine that can imitate to different forms of sight loss, adding that he’d found it a fascinating talk, and overwhelmed by the support that My Sight Notts offers and all the volunteers supporting this important work, commenting that it was well received by our members when they joined him in applauding Emma.            AR