Shows
WomenKind CollectiveAccessibility in Healthcare with Anna Tylor, RNIB Chair of TrusteesIn this podcast series, Spill The Tea with Womenkind Collective, we’ll dive into topics impacting our health and well-being, featuring extraordinary women who are raising their voices for positive change, and our guest today is not only raising her voice she is actually making the change. Anna Tylor is the chair of trustees for the Royal National Institute of Blind people (RNIB), she’s a fierce champion for equity in healthcare and an extraordinary advocate for accessibility. She’s an organisational and business expert, a trained mediator and author, blogger and fellow podcaster. Born wi...2025-03-1554 min
RNIB ConnectBraille 200 Reception - Anna TylorOn Wednesday 29th of January RNIB Scotland's Braille 200 reception was held at the Scottish Parliament.
A night of celebration for the tactile reading and writing system, our Paulina Kuchorew was there and spoke with RNIB’s Chair of Trustees following her speech at the event.
Image shows RNIB Chair of Trustees Anna Tylor stands behind a podium and next to a large screen which reads "Braille 200" in braille and in English, engaging with the audience during her speech. Next to her is a BSL interpreter.2025-01-3006 min
RNIB ConnectRNIB Braille 200: Championing Tactile Literacy Event - Anna Tylor & Ellie SouthwoodCharity RNIB and the British Library hosted an event to celebrate the bicentenary of the invention of braille, the system of raised dots that allows blind and partially sighted people to read with their fingers.
RNIB Connect Radio's Hubert Pawelkiewicz was there and spoke with Ellie Southwood from Fight for Sight and RNIB's Chair of Trustees, Anna Tylor.
Image shows the Braille 200 logo with 'Braille 200' written at the top in white text on a pink background with a visual Braille representation of the same text below it. Across the bottom is written Powered by RNIB a...2024-11-2707 min
RNIB ConnectRNIB Parliamentary Drop-In Event - Anna TylorOn Monday 25th of November RNIB hosted a Parliamentary drop-in event for MPs.
Those in attendance were able to learn how to support their blind and partially sighted constituents, including how to make communications accessible, and gain insights into daily life with sight loss.
RNIB Connect Radio's Hubert Pawelkiewicz spoke to RNIB's Chair of Trustees Anna Tylor, to get her reflections on the success of the event.
Image shows the RNIB Connect Radio logo. On a white background ‘RNIB’ written in bold black capital letters and underline with a bold pink line. Underneath the line...2024-11-2605 min
The Blind TruthPostscriptPostscript.
These blogs emerged from endless hours of storytelling with my friend Siobhain Santry, who's illustrated so many of the early blogs and the last one.
It's been a joint endeavour and I credit her with helping to create so much of the humour and the spirit around what I've wanted to say.
There's light and there's shade, in just about every situation we find ourselves in in life. Which has turnout out to be a helpful way of approaching things. Particularly living through the curveball that was breast cancer.
Even in...2024-01-1802 min
The Blind TruthThe Last WordOver the last year I’ve been plagued by my nemesis Anne Taylor. She pops up everywhere but has now met her match in the shape of that well known medical professional “Unauthorised”, who has dropped me a note to tell me it’s all looking good. This is one sorry chapter I’m glad to see the back of, along with Anne Taylor, impenetrable letters and being spoken to as your actual bonified half-wit.
There may be those who take issue on that final point and consider the a bona fide half-wit approach to be entirely reasonable. Needless t...2024-01-1804 minThe Blind TruthA Big Black CarThe Grand, is obsessed with cars. He lamented the lack of cars in this house. He’s not bothered about reverting to the use of my bus pass, but rather the lack of toy cars to be lined up on the kitchen floor for me to break my ankle on.
In this desert of motoring delights, he was extremely impressed to watch a large black car pull up outside his house to whisk me, and my suitcase, away to my next fun packed appointment. I know this because he immediately reported the event to his Father, my Son, on...2024-01-0904 min
The Blind TruthCall Me By My NameI’ve been called some choice things in my time. I don’t suppose I will ever be privy to the full range.
The Son, who was a Red Dwarf fan, hit upon the idea that henceforth his Mother, should be known as R’mere. In his mind, this was the perfect response to his love of the lead character Rimmer, known for his intergalactic adventures, and the French for Mother. He was rolling down the side of a snow-covered French slope at the time. I like to think it was an idea born of affection but suspect it was...2023-12-2104 minThe Blind TruthThe VanVans are a contentious issue. My friend Malc had a van for nineteen years that he loved, until it got squashed between a Chelsea tractor and a small lorry while he was in it. My friend P loves her van, and so do I. It’s got it’s own shower and heating and it’s not bad for a slumber party on the beach. That said, when we slumbered on the beach, someone set fire to the caravan next to us and I ended up standing about in my pants and a T-shirt that was never meant to be seen i...2023-12-1904 min
The Blind TruthTurn Up The HeatYou might imagine that the demise of taste buds would rule out a craving for food. On the contrary, not even nausea can do that, and Lord knows I feel nauseous quite a lot of the time these days. However, nausea is no match for steroids. They have the ability to create feelings of hunger that are unrivalled. I have been, quite literally, shaking with hunger.
Round one of chemo, of this new and not so welcome experience resulted in industrial quantities of macaroni cheese being consumed. I would like to say that I never inhaled but it...2023-03-1403 min
The Blind TruthPassing the GauntletAt the first sign of a swollen arm you should definitely head for help if you have had your lymph nodes removed. I did this just before chemo number one.
I phoned the breast nurse. On balance, she thought it best to avoid the hospital while I was on chemo. I said I’d like to come to see her immediately after chemo happened and that’s what I did. I dragged my dizzy, wobbly, walk like a drunk and feel like a drunk post chemo body round to her, to get my arm inspected.
“lymphedema” she said...2022-12-0804 minThe Blind TruthHow to Spend MoneyI’m secretly curious about what it would be like to be bald.
Baldness is not necessarily the preserve of old men. I’ve been on line, investigating head coverings, for fear that my own imminent baldness should cause others to run for the hills. My sleuthing has revealed a world, of wigs and turbans and scarf tying lessons, that I’m now watching on repeat. I don’t yet care too much about losing my hair, but I imagine that there are just some settings when covering up is the right thing to do and I might care whe...2022-11-2904 min
The Blind TruthHair Today, Gone TomorrowThe Halloween wig I have bought myself at a bargain price is destined for the Grand’s dressing up box. Too scratchy!
Yesterday I woke up to find that the short back and sides that I had a few weeks ago, were attached to my face and not to my head. This wasn’t a migration of rootstock during the night, but a jettisoning of my locks, to reveal a pinker scalp than I imagined. I text Jackie, “hairdresser to the stars and your humble servant.”
“Don’t worry. I’m going to give you a close cut, in...2022-11-2204 minThe Blind TruthA Wake up CallSetting aside the demise of the blown fuse, and the kettle, before 6am. I’ve been to have my surgically induced fluid bubbles drained. I’ve been waiting for this moment since the last time I went out of the house in a state of heightened emotion and came home minus a vat of “lovely and clear” lymphatic fluid.
This morning’s trip out also served as yet another training opportunity for someone who needs to get their numbers up. I am happy to oblige. Today’s student offered up an abundance of “bless you” and brief felicitations on the quality o...2022-11-1704 min
In TouchPremier Inn guide dog refusal, Inaccessible cancer treatment informationOn bonfire night Angharad Paget-Jones, her boyfriend and guide dog, Tudor, attempted to stay at a Premier Inn hotel. Subsequently the staff at the hotel did not believe that Tudor was a real guide dog and they were asked to leave. Angharad provides details of how the situation unfolded and what she is planning to do about it.Anna Tylor is the Chair of the RNIB and is partially sighted. She reached out to us upon continuously receiving inaccessible information regarding her breast cancer treatment. Anna explains the problems she's been having and the faults of the...2022-11-1518 minThe Blind TruthThe C WordThe best things in life begin with the letter C. They include but, as manufacturers often say, are not limited to: Champagne. Pale imitations won’t do. Canapes which are about the most indulgent way that people, who enjoy a good networking event, sustain themselves while coiffing the afore mentioned drink. Countryfile because I’m a country girl at heart. Cats, and here I can be even more specific and ask everyone to give it up for Clive who coincidentally has a name that begins with the letter C. Chocolate, which doesn’t do it for me but I’m being ge...2022-11-0804 min
Access All: Disability News and Mental Health'I'm visually impaired, but cancer information wasn't accessible'Anna Tylor's life changed when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The Chair of the RNIB, who is visually impaired, says she was "horrified" at not being offered accessible medical information, that she was able to read, while going through treatment - from important leaflets to medical notes and consent forms. Despite a law to ensure all medical information is accessible, we hear that Anna is far from alone in her worries.Nikki Fox talks about her discovery of tandem electric scooters while Emma Tracey confesses she hates Halloween fancy dress because she can't see what she's...2022-10-2838 minThe Blind TruthThe Best LifeThe Grand was on his second babycino of the afternoon when he had a lightbulb moment:
“Granny, I don’t think you can see very much can you?”
“You’re right,” I said.
With just a hint of caution he suggested; “Have you thought of wearing glasses?”
“It wouldn’t help,” I explained.
“Not shades on your head but glasses on your face like Mummy.”
“I have tried it….” I began
“Because then you could give me your huge hoover.”
He’d just split the atom.
I’m glad the Grand knows what he wants to make him ha...2022-10-1104 minThe Blind TruthHow I spent MondayEveryone loves a bit of personal administration. Don’t they?
There is nothing like changing arrangements for paying your rates charges or changing your direct debits. You can do it on-line and if that fails, well it fails. You will be accumulating charges, with no apparent means of stopping them, from here until way beyond next Monday.
Searching the website for telephone details will not help because it’s a secret. The only numbers that are published are the ones that tell you that it will be quicker for “YOU” if you do this on-line. Because no one h...2022-09-2904 minThe Blind TruthPermit Me to be RudeI’m incandescent with rage. It might be more accurate to say that I’m florescent with rage because I can feel my colour rising.
It’s not that a lack of access to an on-street parking permits will result in the towing away of my hugely expensive car. I don’t have one to tow away. I’m much more concerned that my friends will stop popping in for cups of tea and even the odd glass of wine because they are afraid their old wrecks will be towed away on the back of a council truck and that i...2022-09-0804 minThe Blind TruthNo One Is ListeningShe didn’t say so, but my kitchen is a bit of a disgrace. What the Goddaughter did say was “Yeah, the doors are all chipped. It looks nasty. I could paint those for you.”
“How difficult is it to paint kitchen doors?”
“Not difficult,” she said. Then she shrugged and stuck out her bottom lip.
I’m not slow on the uptake. “What do you mean by not difficult?” I asked.
“Not difficult,” she shrugged again.
“Let me put it another way, how complicated, how expensive and how long will it take?”
The answer was that it would...2022-08-2504 min
The Blind TruthIt’s A Doggy WorldThere are not many winners in the time of Corona Virus, but dog breeders seem to be amongst them. This has generated a proliferation in the extendable dog lead. The extendable dog lead, which is my enemy, is not the only thing that has proliferated. Where there are extendable dog leads there are frequently dogs attached to the other end, busy relieving themselves of their breakfast. Where once there was breakfast, there is inevitably dog poo.
Since lockdown begun the explosion of dogs and their poo has made its presence felt in ways that I never knew were...2022-08-1104 minThe Blind TruthIntroducing The “Back Swipe”The superlight walking poles have really come into their own since round three of lockdown. I’ve spent the last year perfecting my cane and pole techniques and I’ve been feeling pretty smug about where they have landed. I’m choosing my words carefully here.
I could never have imagined converting the cane or the pole in a way that you might hanker after a nice bit of cashmere or a beautiful silk, but I have caught myself on line shopping for both. It might be a sign of old age. I’ve noticed that I’ve also start...2022-08-0904 minThe Blind TruthGetting An UpgradeHaving an IT upgrade is not that exciting to me. I know there are some people who are in heaven at the prospect of a five-point switch box. I’m more of a shoe girl myself.
I accidentally pressed “command y” instead of the “t”. I never knew that this is the shortcut to checking out browsing history. I’ve never felt the need to have a shortcut function to look at what I was looking at yesterday, but there it was: shoes, shoes, shoes and shoes. So, when the IT upgrade came I logged on to office 365 and put my u...2022-07-2604 minThe Blind TruthHow to have a Smashing TimeSome of my relationships have brought great joy. Some have been transitory. Some have been long lasting and deep. None has been quite as shattering as my relationship with glass.
Glass is the unseen menace in my world. Its attentions are largely unwanted and unwelcome. Just when you think you are over it, there it is again, making its presence felt.
An early encounter with toughened glass left me bruised. It was the seventies and I doubt that smearing butter on the resulting lump on my forehead had any medicinal use. The lie down in a...2022-07-1904 minThe Blind TruthA Moment that Changed the World“The moment has come. Centuries from now almost all human beings have lost the ability to see.” So says the trailer for #Apple TV’s new series “See”.
To set the scene, “Some say that sight was taken from them by God.”
“No kidding,” I say.
“But something’s different. After so many years. The children. They have the ability to see.”
“Whoopee do,” I marvel.
No. The power of sight is what you might describe as “magical” or “evil”.
“Not that old chestnut”. I thought it was the other way round. On one hand a punishment from God. On the o...2022-07-0704 minThe Blind TruthThe Bee in my BonnetI’ve been cursing the turn of the month and the annual arrival of bees up the nose which are a fair indication that the start of a winter cold is upon me.
Those bees really went for it. By day two they had made their way into ears and throat and had started to become a bit of a nuisance. No matter how much I coughed they weren’t going anywhere. They’d settled in to ensure a generous level of infection. It wasn’t honey.
By day four, doubt crept in and settled. Should I get a...2022-06-2804 min
The Blind TruthFags, Bags and WorseThe Grand can now walk independently. I have been surprised that he can out manoeuvre those of us who have more than half a century of experience on him, and should be able to anticipate his every move. Apparently I can’t.
It’s all coming back to me now. When the Son began his life as a self propelled person I had the same trouble. I could never anticipate the direction he might dart off in if something caught his eye. He had the advantage of being a good few feet nearer the ground than me. What’s more...2022-06-1604 min
The Blind TruthDear Reader, He Moved InThe Toad is right up there with the viper when it comes to expressions of morality in literature. He’s the method by which feminine goodness is put to the test and the punishment for mean or shrewish behaviour. What then, is the meaning of this?
I like to sit in the garden when it’s dark. The cloak of darkness brings privacy and I enjoy that moment when the sun fades and a feeling of stillness begins to make its presence felt. There is a big old rat that takes short cuts across the garden. I’ve never...2022-06-0704 minThe Blind TruthThe Spectacle TreeThe topiary at the top of my garden is definitely due a hair cut. I’ve resisted doing it myself because a lack of three dimensional vision has lead me to the conclusion that I have no skills in this department. Months of covid lockdown have lead me to the same conclusion about my own hair. The only thing that I can say about cutting my own hair is that it would be shorter.
Some relief has come about, over recent days, at the thought of a garden that is running wild, inhabited by an owner with wild ha...2022-06-0204 min
The Blind TruthBombshellAfter weeks of being at home, I’ve got used to dressing down. I’m not so feral as to sit at my computer in my best blouse with only my underwear and a pair of Disney themed slippers, but I’m beginning to hanker after the idea of dressing up.
The draw of an opportunity for a big night out in the company of three chickens and five friends, under a gazebo, was the thrill of the week. What should you wear to dinner when you are no longer used to dressing up and the chicken is not on t...2022-05-1904 min
The Blind TruthBlot On The LandscapeThis is the Blind Truth with Anna Tylor. Anna is the chair of RNIB and in her personal blog she takes a wry look at living a colourful life with limited sight.
This week's episode is titled: 'Blot On The Landscape'.2022-05-1204 minThe Blind TruthEtiquette For A New AgeThis is the Blind Truth with Anna Tylor. Anna is the chair of RNIB and in her personal blog she takes a wry look at living a colourful life with limited sight.
This week's episode is titled: 'Etiquette For A New Age'.2022-05-1004 minThe Blind TruthLockdown, Lies and RevelationsThis is the Blind Truth with Anna Tylor. Anna is the chair of RNIB and in her personal blog she takes a wry look at living a colourful life with limited sight.
This week's episode is titled: 'Lockdown, Lies and Revelations'. 2022-05-0504 min
The Blind TruthKnocking On DoorsThe drama of elections is not all it’s cracked up to be. It’s largely tedium and data entry. I’m sure about this. I’ve been out canvassing over two elections. I’m even in a WhatsApp group of canvassers. I can’t claim a high level of commitment. It’s all proving a bit tricky.
“We’re looking for people to lead.”
“I can do that,” I said.
“It’s tricky with you because you can’t see the computers. We need to take advice from the university about your access needs.”
“Why don’t y...2022-03-2404 min
The Blind TruthAll Life Is On The BusHighways England have written to me as part of a consultation about a proposed Motorway junction improvement scheme. That is to say, the letter began “Dear Resident”, so I don’t imagine they will be crying into their tea when they don’t hear back from me.
Not having a car seems a belief too far for some people. How can anyone live without one?
“I don’t believe you don’t have one,” said the woman sitting next to me.
“I’m a devotee of the bus,” I explained with the usual blah blah qualifier about n...2022-02-2404 min
The Blind TruthWho’s The Genius?As the witching hour broke, I began to roam about the house in the dark, trying not to make a noise less the dog barked, the household awoke and the neighbours cursed me. Then it dawned on me that I was no longer in possession of a phone.
The phone was lying face down in the road and beyond the prospect of a replacement screen. Thus began a week of red faced trips to the #Apple store.
The red face was in part because of my own idiocy in dropping my phone and not noticing, then...2022-02-1004 minIn TouchThe Elections Bill; Hearing the UniverseAmendments to the Elections Bill are making their way through Parliament at the moment. They are not yet set in stone, but they include some significant changes to our rights to a fully independent and secret vote at polling stations. The RNIB have raised their concerns surrounding the wording of these proposed amendments; they think it will water down our protections and assurances to a secret vote and they have issued an online petition. We speak to the Chair of the RNIB, Anna Tylor and also to Rachael Andrews, who initiated (and won) a high court ruling that the...2022-02-0818 min
The Blind TruthDancing In Car ParksMy friend, the Dynamo, and I are firmly of the belief that the car boot sale provides the optimum purchasing opportunity for plants. Lovingly grown by amateurs, selling off their excess Cosmos cheap, it’s a joy to behold. All of this can be washed down with a disgusting cup of tea, sitting on a plastic chair in a car park.
My personal car boot joy is dependant on being whisked to the car boot in someone else’s car, in order not to have to trudge home with arms weighed down by bags of potting compost and squa...2022-02-0804 min
The Blind TruthTwo Front TeethFlying has been a feature of my life. I cannot begin to calculate how many flights I have been on. Not all of them have begun in Luton. There is one flight that could be described as a short haul flight that has turned into the longest haul flight in the history of flight. You might say it is a flight with teeth.
If the Wright brothers could establish the principle of man and machine acting in perfect unity, how hard could it be for one small girl, propelled by billowing folds of only a brush nylon nighty, t...2022-02-0304 min
The Blind TruthTo Pee Or Not To PeeI went to have a cuppa with my friend The Big Cheese. He’s always late so being punctual gave me ample time to navigate the “patrons only” use of the loo rule, before I became a patron.
The deal is that there is a code on your till receipt that is the code for the loo. I didn’t yet have a till receipt and was reluctant to stake my place at a table with my coat, just in case someone my size fancied that coat as much as me. So, at the counter I didn’t look much...2022-02-0104 min
The Blind TruthNorthern DelightsI’ve been to Gateshead, where despite the chill winds, skirts are still high. Northern women are tough, resilient to the elements but not without a soft side.
The receptionist at check-in asked me to verify my details on the bit of card they always hand you. I said that I’d be grateful if she could read it to me. She asked me if I needed my glasses. I said I didn’t as they wouldn’t help, but if she could read the card to me that would definitely do the trick. She leant over the counter...2022-01-2704 min
The Blind TruthWomen Need ShedsMy garden shed has been gently dissolving into the ground for some time now. In every cost there is an opportunity.
Having sat down with the Right Hand Neighbour to consider our shed options, I settled on a modest affair just right to stuff old ironing boards in.
Yvonne (not her real name) adjusted her head set because she was having a bit of trouble hearing what I was saying but we got there in the end. It was time to part with the long number on the front of my credit card. Yvonne instructed me...2022-01-2504 min
The Blind TruthThe Side HussleNowadays it’s not uncommon to have a job that is part of the grand scheme of your career as well as a job on the side, that might be a way to make money or it’s just about something you like doing.
I met a man whose main business was shady nightclubs and whose side hussle was philosophy discussions in the pub. I’m not sure how much pub goers were willing to pay for philosophy. I thought that was the point of the pub. Everyone’s a philosophers and you get the benefit of their views fo...2022-01-2004 minThe Blind TruthBowled OverNow I’m alert to the risks that public parks present me with: stray dogs with large teeth that will “hound” you for your lunch or even a takeaway tea, small children on scooters who can neither swerve nor break, teenagers on bicycles taking a short cut at top speed, joggers, beggars, hawkers and pick pockets. To the ever expanding list of hazards I can crash into, trip over or be robbed blind by, add the game of “boules”.
Anyone labouring under the illusion that boules is just bowls with a French spelling, had better think again. Boules is no seda...2022-01-1804 min
The Blind TruthThe Dog Ate My GlassesI discovered I might be wearing the wrong reading glasses. I might have been wearing the wrong prescription for more than a decade. I’ve been using glasses that are designed for reading a book. I have long since stopped reading books. I read my computer screen.
Wearing the wrong prescription is all the rage: My chum The Doctor has been wearing her contact lenses the wrong way round. She’s been wearing the lens for distance in the eye she uses for near vision and the lens for near vision in the eye she uses for distance vision...2022-01-1304 min
The Blind TruthPut Your Foot DownThe Plumber was moaning about the cost of running a car. I told him that this was something outside my experience. He told me that his Father, who is registered blind, has three cars. What is it that makes people who can’t see much, or even anything at all, want to own a car?
The Plumbers Father has a people carrier that his wife drives him around in, in the endless rounds of house clearing, trips to the supermarket and dog walking. Then there is a little natty number that she nips in and out of traffic in...2022-01-1104 minThe Blind TruthWash, Cut And A SlapWhen Grace Jones slapped Russell Harty she created one of TVs' iconic moments.
Whatever you think of her response to her host turning his back on her, she did it with a very good hair cut. I know this because Trevor Sorbi cut her hair. It’s not that I know Trevor, but I know a man who does. He’s the man who cuts my hair.
For fifty years I’d been buying bad hair cuts from hairdressers the length and breadth of the land. After we’d settled the question of what my boyfriend did for a...2021-12-2304 min
The Blind TruthBuilt For ComfortIn my favourite shop the retail assistants wear luminous yellow jackets which makes them easy to spot as they weave their way in and out of piles of brown furniture. Over the years I have bought wardrobes, bellows, semi precious bunches of stone grapes, lead glasses and assorted cutlery. I am able to exercise little self control except in the matter of retail assistant number one who recently asked me what was in the bag I was carrying. “Trainers” I declared. “I’m going to go running and get fit.”
“You look pretty fit to me,” number one assistant said...2021-12-2104 min
The Blind TruthIn Case Of EmergenciesMiddle age can be a productive time in a woman’s life. Who knows what the meaning of productive is. Is being productive the same as being busy? No. Is being creative the same as being productive? I hope so. I feel in a creative phase.
Doing new things mean learning new skills, so I’ve been scouring the internet to see what learning opportunities there might be for me to develop some of those skills. I settled on a course but before I signed up, I thought I had better give the Well Loved Institution, hosting the cour...2021-12-1604 min
The Blind TruthWhat's Happening Now“Coleette” was showing at the flicks, so a couple of friends and I found ourselves navigating our way around an enormous windswept rooftop car park in a tiny car. The cinemas beckoned. At the ticket office an adolescent made me an offer like no offer I have ever been made before.
“Would you like to make use of the audio description facility that is free?”
I don’t know why it has never occurred to me to try this before. Imagine, you can go to the cinema and just as you might have naturally leant into the ear of...2021-12-1404 minThe Blind TruthPray For MeThe Sceptic Tank, (slang for Yank, as in a person who hails from North America) told me that on a recent taxi journey her driver asked her about her blindness. Her philosophy is to always engage as she’s educating the world about living with sight loss, one taxi driver at a time.
She set out the situation of the genetic time bomb, programmed to go off and trigger blindness just when you’ve bought a new car, and then tied it all up neatly in the richness of her life which is why she is not complaining. The tax...2021-12-0904 minThe Blind TruthFlash All You LikeI met the Builder coming up the road with his dog. He was chuckling to himself and told me that he had just seen a very funny incident. He said he wasn’t sure if it was politically correct to laugh at something to do with blindness but he couldn’t help himself. I asked him if it was a blind person or a sighted person who came off worst out of this story. “The sighted one,” he said.
“Go for it,” I reassured.
He was walking his dog when he spotted a blind man with his guide do...2021-12-0704 min
The Blind TruthThe World In BitsOnly very recently did I take my first tentative steps into the world of social media. It’s a mine field. It’s like the girl with the curl. When it’s good it’s very very good and when it’s bad it’s horrid.
I know plenty of people with no sight who navigate the digital world with aplomb. I am not one of them. I considered going on a course in order to develop my skills to a level of #Twitter and #Facebook self sufficiency. Classes, it turns out, are not readily accessible if you can’t see muc...2021-12-0204 minThe Blind TruthThe Blinky BobHis suspicions aroused by the large quantity of bleach nestled behind my loo, my friend Dan asked me if I was planning to make a bomb. I was not, but it got me thinking about the reason why and how I approach my rare trips to the supermarket.
The thing about shopping, if you can’t see, is that nothing is done on spec (excuse the word play) because you are going to have to carry it home. A Buy One Get One Free offer is all very well, but what if it’s a forty-minute wait for a cab...2021-11-3004 minThe Blind TruthThe Blind AssassinMy neighbour was kind enough to drive me to #Heathrow terminal five. It rose out of the Hounslow ground like the architectural jewel of an emerging state, and proved equally hard to navigate our way into. Once there, it gleamed even brighter than the orange façade of #Luton airport departure terminal. The unprepared traveller could be blinded in the reflection of all that glass and chrome. You need dark glasses to enter there.
How to work out where the walls, stairs and floors began and ended in all that reflected glory turned out to be quite a c...2021-11-2504 min
The Blind TruthTalons, Claws, Scales and NailsThe God Daughter, has the most phenomenal finger nails I have ever seen. They are long and polished and sometimes bejewelled. I wonder how it is possible to be a working Mother with these finger nails. The God Daughter is a tour de force and has probably taught her children the importance of being able to deliver a good manicure as part of their preparation for pre-school.
I confess that I am jealous of the God Daughter when it comes to finger nails.
I long for the well manicured hand like those of my friends who...2021-11-2304 min
Toby Davey AudioTracks of my Life with Anna TylorTracks of My Life is a show on RNIB Connect Radio presented and produced by Toby Davey where he invites a guest to take us on a journey through their life, sharing the tracks that mark important moments which bring back memories to them.
Their chosen tracks of their life might include the first track they can remember hearing, the first track they bought, a number of tracks that mark moments in their life and the final track, a track that they would like to pass on which might give people hope for the future.
In this trimmed...2021-11-2235 min
The Blind TruthWhat Not To Buy For ChristmasEveryone has a drawer of dud gifts for recycling. Don’t they?
In my drawer are quite a few crystal angels with the power to heal – allegedly. These were given by people who like to knit their own mung beans. There is a selection of magnifying glasses I don’t know what to do with. Some nice people thought of me, while rummaging through the 50% off section, and assumed that another magnifier would be a fun thing to own. There are also quite a few candles.
It’s not that I’m a candle killjoy. It’s just that there...2021-11-1804 min
The Blind TruthIt's Behind YouI have an inherent fear of snakes. Even the most innocuous of grass snakes assumes the status of an anaconda in my imagination.
As a child, I sought out the privacy of a large bush, only to discover that I had picked the very spot favoured by adders. I don’t know who was more surprised, the adders or me. It’s a testament to youthful speed and agility that I lived to tell the tale.
As a student I was once enjoying a moment of privacy in our shared house bathroom when I began to susp...2021-11-1604 minThe Blind TruthSpontaneous CombustionA conversation about unemployment rates amongst disabled people of working age reminded me, not only how lucky I have been, but of the sheer lunacy of prejudice. If it weren’t quite so serious it would be funny.
My teenage ambition was to be a criminal defence barrister. I was not an idiot. I’d seen #Crown Court and what’s more I came from a family of lawyers and already had the wig. My aspiration was met with two questions: “How much do you weigh?” and “Have you considered basket weaving?” As careers interviews go it was not an unquali...2021-11-1104 min
The Blind TruthCinque TerraWeirdly, I quite like walking uphill. There is no denying that age, expanding girth and lack of fitness make this more of a challenge than for the younger, thinner and fitter, but as my friend, The Big Cheese, would say, “none of us are getting any younger or any thinner”.
Downhill walking has had its day. After the rib cracking incident I’m for the climb up and working up a good sweat. There is no better place on earth to do that than The Cinque Terra (Five Villages) on the north west Italian coast. If you can do it...2021-11-0904 min
The Blind TruthOut To DinnerMy hosts were in their usual good form. The food was excellent. The wine was flowing and the slow gin homemade.
The conversation was about the local fishmonger and the aspirations of young adult children, holidays taken and the long awaited driverless car. How the world has changed since we were young.
As a slave to pubic transport timetables and as someone who never goes anywhere without a pack on my back, a bag in my hand, or both, the driverless car offers a seductive freedom of movement that people with sight impairments can only dream...2021-11-0404 min
The Blind TruthWhat's That App?I like to think I am a woman in my prime. The evidence does not necessarily support this position. There are those that think I have the technology skills of an Edwardian, retaining something of a fondness for pen and paper. I hanker after #Basildon Bond and the letter. That makes me very old and not at all in my prime.
Technology is supposed to be a liberation; enabling my computer to speak text and enlarge font at the touch of a button, so that blind and partially sighted people can participate in the world of work, and...2021-11-0204 min
The Blind TruthWhat's Up With You?I was in a pizza restaurant dithering over what to chose. “My God,” said my newest colleague. “Your eye sight is terrible. You should go to Pakistan and get that fixed. My wife had terrible sight. Not that bad, but she really did have trouble.
She went to Pakistan and got it sorted. She can see fine now.”
I said that it wasn’t an operable thing and that I had made my peace with it a long time ago. He leant in and wagging his finger at me said, “Have you been to Pakistan?” I said I hadn’t...2021-10-2804 min
The Blind TruthLocked OutThere are lots of apples falling off the tree in next doors garden. There is an abundance of windfalls, in my garden, that the local wildlife like to avail themselves of. In my efforts to deter the marauding intruders with fur, tails and long yellow teeth, I have just been out to pick up the rotten fruit and put them out for tomorrows compost collection.
I have a little trick to keep the side gate propped open while I nip out to the compost bag. It has never failed me. It has never failed me until today. I...2021-10-2604 min
The Blind TruthA Fugitive From JusticeBeing a fugitive from justice is a stressful experience. I know, because I experienced this. I experienced it briefly, just for a nano-second, in the REM dream state that most of us experience just before we wake up. My crime? I was caught on camera driving down a North American highway. I was over the speed limit by one mile an hour and caught without a licence. For this, I now faced extradition and a life in a penal colony. On the up side, it was not likely to be a long life under these circumstances. While I waited for...2021-10-2104 min
The Blind TruthAll Teched UpI love technology: I love the oven, the kettle, the toaster. I loved the TV I grew up with. That’s the one that had an enormous “V” shaped areal that extended out of the top and sat on four screw in legs. It had a button for turning it on and off and a dial that could be set to three locations: BBC1, BBC2 and ITV. The only time we ever spoke to it, (and here I use the term loosely) was when the tube blew up and it had to be taken away for repairs.
I never...2021-10-1904 min
The Blind TruthPride Before A FallI set off from Clapham to catch the train to Lancaster where my friend, the Author, would meet me. She would then drive to her house in Clapham. That’s Clapham Yorkshire, from where we would stride out for some good bracing walks, a thing we both love to do.
Turns out that I’d been sold the wrong tickets again, and the train that I’d asked for, and confirmed, my seats reservations on, was not the train I expected. That train had left an hour ago. Just to compound matters my breakfast was now lying on the co...2021-10-1404 min
The Blind TruthBiff, Chip, Kipper and MeMy picky friends have pointed out that this blog is full of idiosyncratic spelling mistakes. I plead visual impairment!
Early attempts at reading were centred around the adventures of Peter and Jane who rolled around in the front seat of the family car, chased moving buses and took to an inflatable raft in only their pants. The more I read the better it got. By the time I was becoming an independent reader the expanding cast of characters were dipping their fingers in boiling water, setting fires and testing for an electrical current with their tongues.
...2021-10-1204 min
The Blind TruthToo Blind To TangoAn old family friend left a message on my answer machine that went something along the lines of; ” I’ve been to look at your old school…it really is a super retirement complex now … they have everything there…you wouldn’t have to worry about not being able to see….they’ll look after you….I’ve given your number to the sales office and Vicki is going to call you…I’ve told her you can’t see much…there will be lots of people who have problems like yours so you won’t be alone…they even have a mini bus if you wanted to...2021-10-0704 min
The Blind TruthThe Only Way Is EssexSometimes I feel like a dysfunctional travel correspondent. My tales always seem to involve the extraordinary. I’ve been abandoned on aeroplanes, been refused assistance at train stations and once threatened with arrest for trying to buy a ticket at journeys end because I couldn’t operate the ticket machine at the start of my journey. My reply: “Fine, while you’re calling the police I’ll call the Daily Mail”.
My tactic at railway stations is to go to the ticket office and if the queue is likely to take longer than fifteen minutes look for a customer ser...2021-10-0504 min
The Blind TruthCaution: Zebra CrossingThere is something cringingly uncomfortable about making your mistakes in public: I have a long and distinguished experience of being the subject of public amusement. It’s not a comfortable place to be. Not looking or behaving like other people’s assumptions, of how I should look or behave, has landed me in some testing situations.
Getting off a bus one day, the door opened next to a concrete bollard that was invisible against the pavement. The bus driver didn’t believe I had a sight impairment so thought he would put his theory to the test with a spot...2021-09-3004 min
The Blind TruthLoos Fail The Sniff TestI had lunch with a friend in an Italian place in Oxford Circus. We ate a good lunch and laughed a lot. As my friend got up to leave he asked me if I needed a hand with anything before he left. I didn’t but would guard his goods while he nipped to the gents. Needless to say, his absence made me reflect on parental advice. “Always go before you leave”.
Signage can be a challenge for anyone faced with the decision about which door to pick. I can never remember if the triangle points up for a woma...2021-09-2804 min
The Blind TruthDo As I SayThe infamous man drawer, that drawer in the kitchen which men claim for themselves as the place to store spent batteries and old light bulbs, is not the sole preserve of men. Michael McIntyre is not the only one who can order a Chinese takeaway on a Nokia 3210 and pay for it in currency that is no longer in circulation. If ever there is an exhibition I want to see, that’s free to Blue Peter badge holders, I know I have one. It is simply a matter of finding it.
I am a firm believer in the wo...2021-09-2304 min
The Blind TruthSpeak Your WeightAs if it’s not enough to be shouted at by people, who in the face of some obvious revelation feel the need to defend themselves by yelling, I now find myself being challenged by machines that speak.
A few years ago I invested in a speaking alarm clock. It’s a small plastic box that takes an age to set. Once done, it remains silent just long enough for sleep to begin to wrap its folds around me before bursting into life and shouting the date, day of the week, time, but not the time for which I ha...2021-09-2104 min
The Blind TruthGame, Set and MatchWimbledon seems to have come round remarkably soon since the last time that our screens were saturated with incomprehensible grunting and invisible action.
I know there are plenty of blind people who enjoy following sport. I’m not one of them. I prefer to follow writers and poets and the changes in GDP or what interest rates are likely to do. I follow what happens in parliament. I follow politics. Who’s at the top of their game and who’s losing their place in the league. The vicious volleys of BREXIT are just as enthralling, to me, as Wim...2021-09-1604 minThe Blind TruthA Map Called WandaAfter a considerable amount of effort to plan a self guided walking tour, of revered places of worship, in Borgas, Wanda (that’s google maps to the uninitiated) and I set out.
Tripping out of the hotel Cheap and Noisy, over an invisible step into four lanes of moving traffic, Wanda told me to turn left and then turn into the traffic. What I did not know, and Wanda did not tell me, was that I was standing next to a pedestrian crossing. It must have been bemusing to drivers that, cane in hand, I looked left and ri...2021-09-1405 min
The Blind TruthThe Bagging AreaA long long time ago when God was a boy and before I had teeth, I can remember sitting on the counter in the green grocers while he weighed out sugar to be bagged up in a heavy duty blue bag sealed shut with tape. Now that I have teeth and want to preserve them, I have stopped buying sugar. The flatmate and I have been the proud owners of the same bag of sugar for five years.
In the intervening years, not only has dentistry come a long way but shopping has progressed too. Or has it?2021-09-0905 min
The Blind TruthEverything Is ConfusingA nice woman came to my house to begin the process of long cane training. I was tense. She introduced herself with a name that sounded just like the Bulgarian word for “it’s not important.”. The flatmate and I would have thrown each other a look. We both thought the same thing. “Kak?” which means something altogether different in English than Bulgarian and it’s not “What?”.
My nice mobility trainer and I set off down the road. The purpose of this jaunt was for her to observe me, out and about, so that we could make a plan of action...2021-09-0704 minThe Blind TruthThe Blood BankThe Blood Bank, where I bank, is keen on inviting people in to meet their Relationship Manager. These are nearly always people who are in training and supervised by those who are licenced to advice on products that they can not advise on. These supervisors work like close protection officers.
The Blood Bank brings out the worst in me. The twenty or so Relationship Managers, I have had over the years, activate a desire in me to give oxygen to the worst excesses of my imagination. No matter how provoked I am by compulsory videos on what the...2021-09-0204 min
The Blind TruthI'm Not CrossEach time I’ve gone to vote, I ask where the large print ballot paper is that every polling station is obliged to display by law. It’s usually pinned on a wall which means that just about anyone who needs to read large print won’t be able to get near enough to read it. Polling station staff are obliging and generally proffer a close up look. I have no qualms about disconnecting the large ballot paper from the wall.
All blind and partially sighted people are supposed to be able to exercise their right to vote in pri...2021-08-3104 minThe Blind TruthMy Chainsaw FantasyA friend of mine called me up at 8.30 in a Sunday morning. He said that he was parked outside my house and would like to invite himself to breakfast. His car was packed to the gunnels with old garden machinery he had hoped to car boot. It was raining and blowing a gale so he gave up and opted for my house.
Together with his hairy retriever puppy and not so hairy son, we ate breakfast, and spent the rest of the morning chatting. Finally, they stood up to leave because they now needed to go home to...2021-08-2601 minThe Blind TruthRobbed BlindLast Saturday I got home to find the milk was off and the cheese I thought might last the course of my absence, was now cultivating penicillin. There was nothing for it but to head to the market on a dreary afternoon when I’d much prefer to have been listening to my book in front of the fire.
Luck, it seemed, was on my side. Just as I reached the bus stop I heard the bus creeping up behind me so I took advantage of its comforts and climbed aboard. As soon as I got off the bu...2021-08-2405 min
The Blind TruthCustomers We Don't CareWhen I first started travelling to Sofia I used to fly Air Bulgaria from Gatwick. Once, having answered the call for those needing assistance to come forward now, I stepped forward and did not get quite the help I expected. What I got was a good telling off because the Air Bulgaria official thought “You are a liar. There is nothing wrong with you. Sit down immediately”. Passengers were boarded. The gate was closed and the official departed. I was abandoned, so I made the walk of shame to find the plane alone, being rescued by a man in ear muff...2021-08-1904 min
The Blind TruthBird LifeEveryone should clear out things they have not worn or read or paid any heed to for more than a decade. It’s oh so easy to hang on to things because they evoke the feelings of another time or an event. There comes a point though, when the original moment has long passed and the feelings they evoke are the feelings you had last time you considered showing them the door.
There is no particular reason why I should have hung on to my O’Level biology notes for more than thirty years. They evoke no other feel...2021-08-1706 min
The Blind TruthLet It SnowThe snow this week prompted the son and I to remember a freezing February when he lent out of his bedroom window and broke stalagmites off the edge of the roof to suck on like lollies. We remembered building igloos and snowmen, and lying in the snow at dusk, flapping our arms and legs to see if our bodies could make the shape of angels. We could not. We generated a nondescript imprint that looked more like an accident than divine intervention.
This isn’t my only brush with the white stuff.
When I was six my...2021-08-1205 min
The Blind TruthPitch PerfectI was riding high and in a hurry to get to an appointment, but drearily cruising Bank Station.
Bank Station always has spawned all kinds of interesting interactions that I would never have had if I had the wit and sight to work it out for myself.
It’s proving to be a rich seam for unintended
adventure.
In the hunt for help I stumbled across, well let’s call him Brendon. Brendon was what you might describe as ‘high viz’. High viz is what gets me through Bank Station and on to the t...2021-08-1005 min
The Blind TruthKnock Yourself OutIt might be cold but the sky is blue and the sun is out and casting long winter shadows over the landscape. This is the weather for walking, and on Thursday afternoon I bunked off and went for a walk and a talk with my sister.
The sister never leaves home without her penknife. I never leave home without a lipstick. She is academically gifted but once put her finger in the blender and switched it on to see if it was working. I was on the floor convulsing with laughter and incapable. She was making a cake...2021-08-0504 min
The Blind TruthOn Your BikeI am a great fan of the bike. I have a bike. It lives in my shed and has flat tyres and never goes out. It’s a sit up and beg bike that I bought when my sister bought a hugely expensive mountain bike and all the gear because she was going to take up serious cross country cycling and offered to come out with me.
We went cycling once together before she refused to go again. She refused on the grounds that it was too frightening to see the expressions of terror on the faces of th...2021-08-0304 minThe Blind TruthBanking FavoursBanking is a dirty word these days and Bankers have come in for a pasting. Bank Station, with it’s ongoing improvement work, huge levels of public investment and disgruntal travellers is not a bad metaphor for anyone mystified by Banking. It’s confusing.
It’s a constantly changing terrain down in Bank tube station, with it’s temporary signage that is like the small print in a loan agreement and just too tricky to read, it’s temporary structures, and all the twists and turns that only served to undermine my confidence in my own judgement because I ended up...2021-07-2903 min
The Blind TruthGrand MastersI did something rather wonderful this morning. It involved Grand Masters and there was not a golf ball in sight.
Golf is a whole other story: I once went for a golf lesson. I have no idea how blind people make a go of this inscrutable game. I found it impossible to line the iron up with the ball and spent a frustrating hour beating the hell out of thin air and terrifying my coach. After the lesson ended and he mopped his brow, he told me not to come back.
These Grand Masters would not...2021-07-2704 min
The Blind TruthA Good ReadI’m about half way through reading ‘My Brilliant Friend”. I say I’m reading it. I’m actually listening to it as an audio book.
There are those that say this isn’t reading at all and that it’s a lesser activity. These people are predominantly people who can see to read a Penguin Classic, which, lets face it, not many of us can do when you consider the meanness of ink and paper involved.
Even in the world of sight loss, there are those who share this purist view of reading. They favour the generosity...2021-07-2204 minThe Blind TruthThe UberSome boroughs provide assistance with the cost of taxis to their blind residents. It gets people out and about and if you can’t use public transport it can be a lifeline. The idea is that the taxi comes to you rather than you having to find the taxi. Much like an Uber. I’ve never tried the Uber but given the alternatives, a light went on in my head and I thought I’d give it a go.
My current taxi hailing technique is to stand on the side of the road with my arm outstretched, sometimes for ha...2021-07-2004 min
The Blind TruthSeeing It Your WayA couple of days ago a friend of mine invited me out to Lunch last minute. She’s always to be relied on to pick a good place to eat. Thursday was no exception.
The choice was not an easy one. Should we go for a starter as well as a main course? What was the difference between the kind of chicken we normally eat and a black one? Should we try something with truffle? Should I be really self disciplined and stick with lettuce salad?
We had just got to the point when we thought we...2021-07-2004 minThe Blind TruthThe Busy BodyIt might have been Joseph Heller who said something along the lines that just because you are paranoid, doesn’t mean they aren’t out to get you.
Call me paranoid: It was the middle of the night and it was a desolate bus stop at Luton Airport. I was alone. There was just me, my red suitcase with huge white spots on it that is easier to see than a more restraint style of luggage, and there was my cane of course. Then came the man in the Aaron jumper, (never best worn with mourning dress), who aske...2021-07-2004 minThe Blind TruthYou Are What You WearThe young are all blessed with beauty. I admit that beauty is a subjective judgement. I think that my god daughter, who is keen on an orange skin tone, is a great beauty, although I have not, until now, been a great fan of orange.
I wish I had known all of this when I was young and not at all bad looking. Now I have to remind myself that I will never be any younger or better looking than I am today, so I had better make the most of it, and making the most of it...2021-07-2004 minThe Blind TruthParty On!The older we get the more common the experience of meeting people that you have met before and then having the same conversation with them that you had last time you met them. One, or both of you, cannot remember that you have ever met.
I once delivered a training course in the Europa Hotel, Belfast, with a super friendly participant. At the end of the day he asked me if I remembered him. I did not. It turned out that fifteen years earlier we had enjoyed a kiss at one of those wild South Belfast parties I u...2021-07-2004 min
Tracks Of My LifeTracks of My Life with Anna TylorTracks of My Life is a show on RNIB Connect Radio presented and produced by Toby Davey where he invites a guest to take us on a journey through their life, sharing the tracks that mark important moments which bring back memories to them.
Their chosen tracks of their life might include the first track they can remember hearing, the first track they bought, a number of tracks that mark moments in their life and the final track, a track that they would like to pass on which might give people hope for the future.
In this trimmed...2021-04-0635 minIn TouchThe RNIB's New Chair Of Trustees Anna TylorAnna Tylor, the new Chair of Trustees at the RNIB, talks to Peter White.
She's joined the charity after its gone through reputational and financial challenges in recent years.
Anna has previously chaired the Vision Foundation and Dyslexia Action.
PRODUCER: Mike Young2020-12-1518 min