The change we want to see: Leaders with Visual Impairment unite
Hosted at Westminster on October 26, Vis-Ability was a UK first. An event bringing together and celebrating leaders with visual impairments and key members of the sight loss community, to grow our influence and impact across society.
Hosted at Westminster on October 26, Vis-Ability was a UK first. An event bringing together and celebrating leaders with visual impairments and key members of the sight loss community to grow our influence and impact across society.
The event begins a conversation, a collaboration of leaders with a united desire to represent everything someone with sight loss can do rather than what they can’t. Marsha de Cordova MP and Keith Valentine, CEO of Fight for Sight / Vision Foundation jointly hosted it.
Marsha de Cordova: Campaigning for Change
De Cordova has nystagmus and is registered blind. She is campaigning to introduce a National Eye Care Plan for England. Keith Valentine is also registered blind and has Retinitis Pigmentosa.
Speaking at the event, Marsha de Cordova, MP for Battersea, said: “My life and my lived experience has shaped and has really helped drive my career. My purpose has always been to make a difference and to be a voice to the voiceless.
De Cordova addressed the leaders, saying: “If we can’t fix the problems here, in what I believe is the heart of democracy, how can we expect society to willingly comply? So, I speak openly about these challenges. I want to see change. The more senior and the more successful you are in your career, the less challenge that you will face. We must use our voice. We know representation matters.”
“As former President Obama said: ‘We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the change that we see.’ So, I really hope this is the start of something incredibly special for the sight loss sector.”
“If we can’t fix the problems here, in what I believe is the heart of democracy, then how can we expect society to willingly comply? So, I speak openly about these challenges. I want to see change.”
“If we can’t fix the problems here, in what I believe is the heart of democracy, then how can we expect society to willingly comply? Marsha de Cordova MP”
Keith Valentine: A Unifying Mission
Fight for Sight / Vision Foundation CEO Keith Valentine said: “Our single, unifying mission is to save sight and change lives. It is a mission that reflects two urgent questions facing people who receive a diagnosis of sight loss: firstly, ‘How do I stop this?’ and secondly, ‘How do I live my life?’ Uniting these charities is a landmark moment for the sight loss sector.
The reason we called this Vis-Ability is about how we build those connections between people to start to think about what we all might do as people in our life with visual impairment to put the ladders down and to talk about what’s possible.
“Now I look at the people in this room and the list of successes that have been achieved. I take nothing else from that than the fact that progress is possible. It is possible to succeed in society if you live with a visual impairment.”
Over 50 people attended the event. The conversation continues in a closed group on LinkedIn.
Please email comms@fightforsight.org.uk if you’d like to join the group or send us a request via LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12898429/.
Leaders across industries
Alongside Keith Valentine and Marsha de Cordova MP, the event was attended by leaders from a variety of sectors – all influencers in their fields. Sir Robin Millar, CBE: Music Producer, Businessman, and Campaigner gave a speech to attendees.
Robin is now chair of Scope and was recently recognised as one of the Shaw Trust’s Disability Power 100, as were co-host Marsha de Cordova and attendee Robbie Crow.
Attendees came from across the charity sector, sport, entertainment, media and business.