In Touch Folgen

The Department for Work and Pensions will soon appear in the high court in a case brought against them by Dr Yusuf Ali Osman. Dr Osman has repeatedly requested that communications over his benefit payments be sent to him in his preferred accessible format but has not received them. We invited him onto the program to provide further details on which his case is being brought. Mike Lambert has had a similar problem with the DWP and he shares those with us.For those who have certain eye conditions with enough sight to continue to drive, you may have heard of the Esterman Visual Field test. It is designed to test your peripheral vision but concerns have been raised over the test's validity and appropriateness to be used by the DVLA. We have these laid out by Lou, who has glaucoma and has had a negative experience when taking the test. We also invited Roger Anderson, who is a Professor of Optometry at Ulster University and sits on the DVLA's Advisory Committee of Vision and Visual Disorders, to share his thoughts on the matter.Presenter: Peter White Producer: Beth Hemmings Production Coordinator: Paul Holloway Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image. He is wearing a dark green jumper with the collar of a check shirt peeking at the top. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo, Across Peter's chest reads "In Touch" and beneath that is the Radio 4 logo. The background is a series of squares that are different shades of blue.

Access services in supermarkets are, for some blind and visually impaired people, an essential service to gather the exact groceries you need. Services like assisted shopping, where a member of staff takes you around the store gathering items for you, are offered by a lot of supermarkets but some were suspended during the pandemic. Auriol Britton decided to take Sainsbury's Supermarkets to court when she had a problem with her local store in Bristol, primarily based on the suspension of their assisted shopping service. We invited Auriol onto the program to outline the problem she had and what happened in court.Demand for eye services is rising rapidly and the NHS is struggling to keep up. Well, The Eyes Have It is a partnership between the Macular Society, Fight for Sight, The Royal College of Ophthalmologists and other sight loss organisations and they held a parliamentary a drop-in event at Westminster last week. They are calling for a national eye care plan to tackle the problems patients are facing. Our reporter Fern Lulham provides the details. (NB - Dr Peter Hampson is from the Association of Optometrists.)And swimming can be a great form of exercise for blind and visually impaired people but keen swimmer Aletea Sellers contacted us when she had a problem in getting access provisions put in place at her local swimming pools. She tells us the responses she got, good and bad.Presenter: Peter White Producer: Beth Hemmings Production Coordinator: Liz Poole Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image. He is wearing a dark green jumper with the collar of a check shirt peeking at the top. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo, Across Peter's chest reads "In Touch" and beneath that is the Radio 4 logo. The background is a series of squares that are different shades of blue.

Dr Paul Jarman contacted us following our coverage of what changes had occurred since the RNIB took over the National Library for the Blind. He noted something that we had not mentioned. He believes there has been a seismic shift toward students and tutors like him, no longer being able to access as many serious books as once before. He lays out his concerns in this area and explains why he believes braille books should be regarded as heritage items.Our reporter in Washington, Gary O'Donoghue talks us through a new partnership between access tech companies Aira and Envision. Together, they have created 'smart glasses' that enable you to be put in contact with a sighted agent, completely hands-free. Gary demonstrates how they can be used to assist with daily tasks and navigation.Presenter: Peter White Producer: Beth Hemmings Production Coordinator: Paul Holloway Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image. He is wearing a dark green jumper with the collar of a check shirt peeking at the top. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo, Across Peter's chest reads "In Touch" and beneath that is the Radio 4 logo. The background is a series of squares that are different shades of blue.