How Braille has changed throughout my life
by Harriet Smith Thinking back over the years, it is interesting to see how braille has changed throughout my life. I don't remember learning braille, but I've been told that I used to feel and sort through a lot of seeds in order for my fingers to become sensitive to it. This is important from a young age because it can be hard to learn braille when you're older as your fingers are less sensitive. I absolutely love braille and would hate to be without it. I think it is wonderful how the development of technology has allowed braille [...]
STRiVE: Is university for me?
by Ruqaiya Asim After finishing college this year (2021), decided I wanted to go to university to carry on doing Fine Art. However, I kept asking myself, did I really want to go to university or not. I had several questions floating around in my head. How did I know university was the right choice for me? What else could I do if not a degree? What other options are out there? It took me awhile to decide what I wanted to do. I’m going to share with you what I did and why I made the choice [...]
Life hacks vlogging competition
Sorry, this competition is now closed but if you would like to contribute to the Student Portal through video or writing, please get in touch at students@victa.org.uk. Thanks! We’d like to challenge you to share your life hacks with us via video. We’ll choose three at random to receive a £50 Amazon voucher. So what is a life hack? Any trick or tip you use in everyday life to make life that little bit simpler. Whatever yours is, just record a short video (no longer than 3 minutes) of you talking about it or showing us it in [...]
Volunteering as a key for long-term success
Written by Idil Serce The transition from higher education to employment can be a difficult and emotional roller coaster for all new graduates, but especially for visually impaired (VI) graduates who are in a more disadvantaged situation in comparison to their fellow peers. Being VI myself, I know how difficult it is for VI students to focus on their studies and gain work experience whilst fighting with the physical and emotional challenges of living with a VI. As a recent VI graduate, l will share my personal experience of transitioning into the world of employment and the impact that [...]
Behind the blog – A VIP’s blogging experience
By Elin Williams In the last few years, blogs have become one of the most popular innovations in the online world with people of different genders, ages, abilities and interests taking to a blog to share their stories, passions and opinions. This has also been the case for many vision impaired people, myself included, and I receive many questions about how I started my blog as well as how accessible I find the process of blogging and sharing content through social media. I established my blog, My Blurred World, in April 2015 to share my experience of living with a [...]
Volunteering at Junior Parkrun – By Scarlett
For my Bronze Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, I volunteered at my local Junior Parkrun. The volunteering system was very structured, with a rotation system so people are allocated different roles each week, but also, for beginners like myself, a system that allowed me to experience each role from a marshalling point to run director. Initially, I started as a marshal, clapping and encouraging the runners around the course. I could hear the sound of the runners’ feet and heavy breathing approaching coming past my point, which allowed me to know when to start encouraging the runners when they were [...]
A dramatic day with Extant performing arts!
This VICTA activity for 14 to 17s saw us heading into the big city for a real treat with a group of artistic young people! We had a dramatic day with Extant, a performing arts company based in London at Greenwich and Lewisham Young People’s Theatre. Lights, camera, action… we were thrown straight into the spirit of the day, working on our own performing skills by introducing ourselves. However, these were not your average introductions. Each person had to say how they had arrived at the theatre. However we soon discovered these journeys were far too… normal. So we [...]
World War I battlefields tour across France and Belgium
With a big trip ahead, an intrepid and excited group from VICTA came together through the hustle and bustle of Ashford International and quickly became acquainted. We hurried aboard our coach and waved ‘au revoir’ to England… France and Belgium here we come! Our travels kicked off with a ‘treat’ for our taste buds as we sampled some of the foods that may have been consumed during the Great War including, corned beef, tinned sardines and canned fruit. After speeding under the English Channel on the Eurotunnel, we emerged on the continent, saying ‘bonjour’ to France and after a [...]
My journey of a lifetime with JOLT
My name is Charlie Beeston. I am a 15 year old student from Lincoln living with a visual Impairment. In 2018 my life was changed forever. I was called into the head teacher’s office at school where she informed me of an opportunity of a lifetime with a charity called Jolt. They take disadvantaged young people on a journey of a lifetime. I spent four weeks in the summer of 2018 trekking through Ecuador, Peru and the Galapagos Islands. Here is my summer story: It all started off in the Amazon Rainforest. After two full days travelling we were [...]
