Christmas Competition Winners Announcement
We have our winners! To thank our avid readers and supporters of the VICTA Student Portal throughout 2024, we ran a competition to win 2 Amazon Echo Shows, courtesy of the British Wireless For The Blind Fund. We now have our winners! Congratulations to Charlie (11) and Ben (18) who will be receiving their prizes very soon. Thank you very much to everyone who entered. We had lots of entries and all of your comments were lovely to read through. Watch this space for future competitions!
I couldn’t work for 8 weeks because my DWP disability payments were delayed
One of our Changemakers has a story to share... Yahoo News has just released an article all about our wonderful VICTA Changemaker Bilaal. The article addresses delays to the Access To Work scheme and how these are negatively impacting visually impaired employees. Bilaal's experience features to raise awareness on this issues and highlight how changes need to be put in place. To check out this important news piece and support our Changemaker Bilaal, click here.
Tactile Times Online Advent Calendar
Tactile Times are in the Christmas Spirit! Tactile Times have just launched their fully accessible, online advent calendar for the third year in a row. Are you tired of print advent calendars that just feel like...well...paper? This one is different. It is fully accessible with all major screen readers using a computer or phone, and you can access it with a BrailleNote Touch as well. You might even hear a few familiar voices along the way! You can visit it to open the first couple of doors right now. Tactile Times will have a new [...]
Christmas Competition Time!
COMPETITION NOW CLOSED. As a big thank you to our avid readers and supporters of the VICTA Student Portal throughout 2024, we are running a competition! Courtesy of the British Wireless For The Blind Fund, 2 of you could be in with the chance of winning an Amazon Echo Show! We have 2 Amazon Echo Shows up for grabs, and it’s easy to enter. You just need to follow two simple steps: 1. Comment on one blog post on the VICTA Student Portal From gardening to football, the Student Portal has lots of stories to interest [...]
New Technology: The Hable One External Braille Keyboard
Is the Hable One Worth It? As a blind Apple fan, I rarely leave the house without my iPhone. I use it for everything: sending and reading messages; making phone calls; Googling; online shopping; reading articles and social media; ordering Ubers; watching TV shows; listening to Spotify... the list goes on. But despite being one of the most accessible devices in my arsenal, there is one thing I find challenging about the Apple iPhone: typing. I'm a lot slower at typing on a touch screen than I am on a BrailleNote Touch. [...]
Choose Respect for Anti-Bullying Week 2024
It’s Anti-Bullying Week! As a proud member of the Anti-Bullying Alliance, VICTA is delighted to be celebrating this very important week, from Monday 11th to Friday 15th November. Join in with us on the VICTA Student Portal to learn more and encourage others to Choose Respect. Choose Respect This year’s Anti-Bullying Week theme is Choose Respect, so that children and young people can feel empowered to do something positive that will combat the harm and hurt caused by bullying. How have you shown Respect? Comment on this post or email students@victa.org.uk letting us know how you have shown [...]
New opportunity – Blind In Business Pathways Service Events – Autumn 2024
Please see the information below from Blind In Business about their upcoming events for this autumn... Building Prospects Part 2 Building Prospects is a fun, peer led program of hour-long workshops, designed to empower blind and partially sighted young people between the ages of 13 and 18. We create a confidence building, supportive environment which helps participants explore pathways towards the career of their dreams. We will explore and equip participants with CV writing tips, how and where to job search, an interview master class and opportunity to practice mock interviews with leading employers in [...]
Video game development project for the blind
VICTA Changemakers Blindness Awareness Month Video games, as the name suggests, are not supportive for people without sight. The assumption that the player has sight means that there are certain aspects of any game that would stop a vision impaired person from playing, like ambiguous audio cues or precise timing. In order to create a game that works for visually impaired people, we have to try to solve these issues. The first question we (myself and Mohammed) had to discuss in development was “What kind of game would be accessible for people with [...]
Using transport when your are blind
VICTA Changemakers Blindness Awareness Month Hi my name is Abu-bakr Ishtiaq, this article is all about transport and a bit about my experiences as someone who has a vision impairment. About me and my vision impairment I am registered blind - severely sight impaired with a condition called Retinitis Pigmentosa RP with Laurence Moon Biedl syndrome and I also have tunnel vision. Despite my vision impairment, I get around independently on public transport, using platforms for trams, trains and buses. What helped me was being given the confidence while attending the residential college [...]
The Verses That Make Us: A Personal Journey Through Change
VICTA Changemakers Blindness Awareness Month By Ellie Wallwork In mid September, I stood on a stage with a band arrayed behind me, four pages of braille paper clutched in my hand. I'm an actor but I felt the most acute stage fright of my life, voice caught in my throat and knees shaking as if I had run a marathon. I didn't think the words would come - until I started to speak. I hadn't thought of myself as a poet. I used to tap words out on a keyboard when I [...]
