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 [...]
Things I learnt training for the London Marathon
VICTA Changemakers Blindness Awareness Month On the 21st of April, along with my guide runner, I set out to compete the 2024 TCS London Marathon. I had raised the money for charity (VICTA), done the training and now, it was time for the real thing. Weirdly I don’t remember much about the day itself. I remember the noise though. The cheering and shouting of thousands of families. There were kids banging tambourines in no apparent rhythm and timpani drummers playing in perfect synchronisation. There were out of tune recorder players and brass bands [...]
Be inspired. VI art student Millie-Jayne’s digital art
Image description: A high contrast digital image. The background image is an abstract photo that has been flooded with colour - bright pink and dark grey, a person is just visible in the centre of the image. In the top-right corner a white flower is overlaid over the other image with transparency allowing the background colours to show through. In the bottom-left there is a blue image overlaid of a tulip with bright yellow accents. Braille dots have been overlaid over the image reading: 'Better to be blind and see with your heart than have two [...]
Tactile Times online advent calendar
Tactile Times are getting into the Christmas spirit already and have launched a fully-accessible, online advent calender. If you fancy a change from printed advent calendars this one is fully-accessible with all major screen readers using a computer or a phone and you can access it with a Braillenote Touch. You might even hear a few familiar voices along the way! You can visit it to open the first few door right now: games.tactiletimes.org/advent The will have a new door unlocking each day, and a bumper day on the 24th. It is a great opportunity to [...]
New opportunity – Internship at Retina UK
Are you looking for a role that will enable you to gain a wide range of experience? Are you keen to make a difference for people affected by inherited sight loss conditions? Then Retina UK's Development Team Internship could be the role for you. Retina UK is a national charity supporting people affected by inherited sight loss and investing in medical research to help make their challenges a thing of the past. The intern will support their information and support services, communications, research development, and volunteering and database development. You will provide administrative assistance to [...]
New opportunity – Raise awareness with The Macular Society
The Macular Society is reaching out to find students passionate about raising awareness about the macular condition and how it also occurs in young people. They are looking for university students and/or prospective students who have a macular condition (mainly has central vision loss, such as Stargardts) and are willing/comfortable to share a little bit about their eye condition and their experiences. They'd like to share with other young people your experiences of being a student or preparing to be a university student, for example, applying for the DSA grant, getting orientated and living in [...]
Be inspired. Tune in to Lee’s first radio show!
As part of our #BlindnessAwarenessMonth celebrations, we chatted to Lee Roake about his fantastic achievement, launching his first radio show! Lee is a 17 year old with a rare genetic condition called WAGR Syndrome. Due to his vision impairment, Lee has been involved in VICTA activities from a young age, now taking part in our activities for 14 to 17 years. Lee has just started his very own radio show on Surrey Hills Radio and tells us how his volunteering led to this dream opportunity! Did you miss Lee's [...]
Be inspired. Fundraising success for this VICTA Young Achiever!
We are celebrating Dotty, who has had incredible fundraising success while earning her Young Achievers Community pin badge. So far, Dotty has raised over £600 through her sponsored walk, amazing! Dotty's parents tell us how she organised her fundraising event and what made it a great success: Dotty chose to do a sponsored walk as part of her Young Achievers Award with VICTA, we chose a 5 mile walk near Dotty’s School. We sent a message to Dotty’s friends and parents and WOW we were overwhelmed by the support we got. The walk started at West Hanningfield Village Hall [...]
Be inspired. International Mother Language Day
DofE VICTA volunteer Armaan tells us about growing up with English as his second language Hello, my name is Armaan, and I am bilingual meaning that I can speak two languages and those are ‘English and Bengali’ while I can also read Arabic and speak simple Spanish. Bangla was my first language and I learnt it from my Grandma at the age of one/two. Performing tasks such as singing in the language and generally talking with her, helped when my family moved here from Bangladesh because I could talk to them, therefore allowing me to be more connected with [...]
Be inspired. Campaigning for Braille
By Hannah Bromley-Challenor I have always loved writing, from creative writing, to making lists and notes. When my eyesight started to deteriorate in my mid-teens, I feared I would lose one of my favourite pastimes. That was until my school gave me the opportunity to learn how to read and write in Braille. Ever since then I have been passionate about Braille. It gives me the freedom to do everyday things such as write shopping lists, that I can take into town with my carers, or gather notes from lectures at university. With a Braillenote I can write emails, [...]
