Rnib Connect

As part of the Natural History Museum’s Urban Nature Project, responding to the urgent need to monitor and record changes to UK urban nature and support its recovery the five acres of green space that wrap around the Museum’s much loved building in South Kensington, London have been transformed in to the recently opened Nature Discovery and Evolution Gardens. On Tuesday 6 August 2024 the Natural History Museum launched a recorded audio guide to their new Nature Discovery and Evolution Gardens bringing the gardens to life for everyone including blind and partially sighted people. The audio guide also includes a number of poems created by young visually impaired people that came out of a series of workshops lead by Rapper and Poet Testament. RNIB Connect Radio’s Toby Davey was there at the audio guide launch event at the Natural History Museum to not only experience the new gardens through the recorded audio guide but also to chat with some of the people who worked on the guide too.  Prior to the launch even

The Eisteddfod is Europe’s largest cultural festival, a week-long celebration of Welsh language and culture. Hywel Davies has been there to catch up with events on the maes.  Image: Banners are hung on the side of a building, each has white text on a red background that reads 'Eisteddfod'.

 Now our David Hogg finds out about a new piece of research from Retina UK. Image shows RNIB Connect Radio logo.

The Eisteddfod is Europe’s largest cultural festival, a week-long celebration of Welsh language and culture. Hywel Davies has been there to catch up with events on the maes, including a chat with RNIB Transcription Manager Emma Jones. Image: A red metal arch stands on the festival ground with the word 'Eisteddfod' in large red letters. A crowd in the foreground sit on picnic tables enjoying the sunshine.

The Eisteddfod is Europe’s largest cultural festival, a week-long celebration of Welsh language and culture. Hywel Davies has been there to catch up with events on the maes, including a clever piece of Welsh-language assistive technology. Image: The 'Hark AI' with a document resting on the plate, ready to be scanned. It sits on a table at the RNIB stand at the National Eisteddfod in Pontypridd.

The Eisteddfod is Europe’s largest cultural festival, a week-long celebration of Welsh language and culture. Hywel Davies has been there to catch up with events on the maes. He spoke to the Eisteddfod's Accessibility Officer, Oliver Griffith-Salter. Image: A wooden stand on the Maes reads 'Eisteddfod Pontypridd 2024'. In the distance there are a crowd of people listening to a male voice choir performing on the main stage.

Alice Findlay, RNIB Customer Voice Insight Co-ordinator shares the latest opportunities for blind and partially sighted people to get involved in with RNIB Connect Radio’s Toby Davey. Opportunities highlighted this week included: How have you been affected by the cost of living crisis? As inflation eases and a new government are in power RNIB would like to understand how the cost of living crisis has impacted blind and partially sighted people across the UK. So we’re running a short survey to understand more and we’d love to hear from you!  The 10-minute survey covers the areas where costs spiralled the most including food, energy, technology products and rent or mortgage prices. Your experiences will provide an opportunity for RNIB to work with retailers, energy providers, politicians, and banks and building societies to ensure services are accessible for blind and partially sighted customers. The survey will close on Tuesday 27 August.  To complete the survey, please send an email to involvement@rnib.org.

You can enjoy an AD tour and art discussion of the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) from the comfort of your own home.  This month’s session focuses on the exhibition  'Before and After Coal | Images and Voices from Scotland’s Mining Communities' Amelia learned more about the session from Meg Faragher. The session takes place on Zoom, on Wednesday 21st August from 2 to 3.30 pm. Learn more on the NGS website - Visually Impaired Programme Online | Before and After Coal | National Galleries of Scotland Image shows RNIB Connect Radio logo. RNIB is written in bold black capital letters and underlined with a bold pink line. Underneath, 'Connect Radio' written in smaller black letters. 

The Eisteddfod is Europe’s largest cultural festival, a week-long celebration of Welsh language and culture. Hywel Davies has been there to catch up with events on the maes. Image: RNIB Cymru's Liz Williams and Thomas Hughes stand smiling at the RNIB Cymru Stand at the 2024 Eisteddfod.

Looking for a moving and magical theatre experience? 'Please Right Back', by Award-winning company 1927, combines handcrafted animation and bold storytelling to tell the story of the mysterious Mr.E. There is an AD performance and touch tour taking place on Sunday 10th August at the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF). Amelia spoke to Audio Describers Bridget Stevens and John Cummings to learn more about the production and their careers. Book tickets by calling the box office on 0311 473 2056 or visiting the EIF website www.eif.co.uk/events/please-right-back Image is a bright yellow photo with black an yellow text. The text reads 'together we are' highlighted in black and written in sketched yellow capitals with 'Edinburgh International Festival' below in bold black capitals.

The Eisteddfod is Europe’s largest cultural festival, a week-long celebration of Welsh language and culture. Hywel Davies has been there to catch up with events on the maes. Image: In Ynysangharad Park, between green grass below and grey clouds above are large red letters which spell out ' Eisteddfod'.

Did you miss out on Sex Education because it wasn’t taught in an accessible way? Amelia talked to charity Sex Ed Matters about the barriers blind and partially sighted people face in the classroom, misconceptions they experience when dating and why representation matters. Here she is in conversation with Sex Ed Matters Co-Founder, Laura Coryton MBE, and VI Facilitator, Georgia Bondi. Learn more about Sex Ed Matters on their website www.sexedmatters.co.uk/ Learn more about Georgia's work on their Instagram @itismybody Image shows 'Sex Ed Matters' in bold white capital text with a black outline on a white background.

Step Change Debt Charity was set up in 1993 to help people who might be facing issues around financial debt, no matter how small or large, offering free debt advice and solutions to help people get back on track. RNIB Connect Radio’s Toby Davey was joined by Helen Handzel, Relationships Manager from Step Change Debt Charity to give some background to the set up of the charity and outline the ways in which they are able to support people with free financial debt advice and solutions to help people get their life back on track. If you are experiencing financial debt issues or problems and would like to reach out to Step Change Debt Charity for some free advice or support you can either call them on 0800 138 1111 (Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm and Saturday 9am to 2pm) or do visit their website - https://www.stepchange.org (Image shows RNIB logo. 'RNIB' written in black capital letters over a white background and underlined with a bold pink line, with the words 'See differently' underneath)

Each month, RNIB Connect Radio's Allan Russell is joined by some of the RNIB Campaigns Team to discuss some of the big projects they’re involved in and ask for your input to bring positive change to the lives of blind and partially sighted people, throughout the UK. This month’s topics include meeting politicians and the consultation around Personal Independence Payments. If you’d like more information on campaigns or want to get involved, email campaigns@rnib.org.uk Visit rnib.org.uk/news or call our Helpline on 0303 123 9999 If you like your socials, follow @RNIB_Campaigns on Twitter for campaign specific updates. #RNIBConnect

Some of the most popular operas will be performed at this year’s Edinburgh International Festival. Hywel Davies has been hearing more about the audio described performances of ‘Carmen’ and ‘The Marriage of Figaro’. More information for each performance is available via the EIF website: Carmen | Edinburgh International Festival (eif.co.uk) The Marriage of Figaro | Edinburgh International Festival (eif.co.uk) Image is a bright yellow photo with black an yellow text. The text reads 'together we are' highlighted in black and written in sketched yellow capitals with 'Edinburgh International Festival' below in bold black capitals.

Each week, RNIB Connect Radio's Allan Russell sits down with Matt Stringer, CEO of RNIB, to look at some of the big stories coming from the UK sight loss charity. This week Matt talks about concerns around cuts to cold weather payments, meeting politicians and the Olympics. If you, or someone you know, would like information on the support and services available from RNIB, go to www.rnib.org.uk You can also call our Helpline on 0303 123 9999 or ask Alexa to call RNIB's Helpline. #RNIBConnect

Music chat now as our David Hogg speaks to drummer and producer Steve Burge

The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, central London have been expanding their access offer to blind and partially sighted people by providing touch tours, live and recorded audio described performances for their opera and ballet productions. For the recent run of their production of Puccini’s Tosca during July 2024 not only was there recorded audio description for every performance but touch tours were available prior to the performances on Tuesday 16 and Friday 19 July 2024.  RNIB Connect Radio’s Toby Davey along with a number of blind and partially sighted opera patrons joined the touch tour on Tuesday 16 July 2024 to explore the set, costumes and props prior to that night’s performance of Tosca with recorded audio description.   After the touch tour and during the second interval of that night’s performance of Tosca Toby chatted with Audrey and Bakul, two visually impaired opera lovers, to find out how they found both the touch tour and the performance of Tosca with recorded audio description. Prior t

How can you capture your travel experiences? Well, blind glass artist Julie Coakley creates colourful glass art inspired by her holidays. She’s hosting a glassmaking workshop for blind and partially sighted people on August 26th and told Amelia more.  Learn more about Julie on her website - Julie Coakley - Glass Artist Book a space on the workshop through the International Festival of Glass website - 3-Dimensional Drawing with Glass for the Blind and Visually Impaired – The International Festival of Glass (ifg.org.uk) Image shows Julie, a white woman with cropped brown hair, sitting on her cream sofa and holding a large blue glass bowl. The bowl has a marbled white and dark blue background, with small and large circles in varying shades of navy, royal, turquoise and sky blue.

Looking for some live accessible entertainment?  There’s a wide variety of music and AD Theatre, Opera and Dance at the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF). Amelia learned more about the performances and Access Pass from Callum Madge, the EIF Access Manager. Image is a bright yellow photo with black an yellow text. The text reads 'together we are' highlighted in black and written in sketched yellow capitals with 'Edinburgh International Festival' below in bold black capitals.