What we are doing now
Our work... helping blind people to a better life.
By the time we are 60 one in twelve of us will become blind or partially sighted. This rises to one in six by the time we reach 75.
We've found that the loneliness felt by so many blind people can be greatly helped by a radio.
The radio offers a constant and vital link to the outside world. It offers news and debate, sport, drama and music. In fact, it offers a whole new life.
The machines we offer may also include a cassette recorder or CD player which allow people to listen to 'talking newspapers’ books and newsletters.
The recording facilities mean people can take part in ‘voice correspondence' sending and receiving audio letters from friends, family or official sources.
Our radios soon become a vital tool: enriching social interaction and communication.
But surely there are many cheap radios available nowadays - what's the problem?
Yes there are. But sadly modern sets often rely on visual information in order to tune them; buttons and knobs may be close together and hard to tell apart. That’s why our sets our specially adapted to meet the needs of the people who will be using them. In some cases they have been designed for us. They are custom built to be easy to operate. And they need to be solid and reliable as they get a lot of hard use.
Because they are specially built in this way our sets are not cheap to produce. We offer them for sale to those able to afford them but, sadly, the fact is that many blind people in the UK are on a very limited income.
