Our purpose is to improve the life chances, mental health and wellbeing of children who are blind or visually impaired by supporting them in overcoming the issues of isolation, marginalization and reduced opportunities they experience. We make the visual world of pictures, books and learning accessible to blind and partially sighted children by manufacturing, publishing and distributing unique audio and tactile books via our free, national, postal library service.
Our fiction and non-fiction audio tactile resources help blind and partially sighted children learn to read, support students in schools and inspire interests that enable lifelong learning and friendships with others. They encourage interaction between blind children and the sighted people around them, breaking down barriers that create social exclusion and improving connections. Our unique Touch to See books include raised, tactile images brought to life by engaging audio descriptions telling the stories of the pictures being explored. They’re loaned, free of charge from our varied postal library meaning no child misses out due to location or financial circumstances. We reach 5000+ children across the UK and the adults that support them, both at home and in educational settings. Our specialist service provides a lifeline for our members.
Kick started by an innovative project to make the imagery of The Coronation of King Charles III accessible to blind and partially sighted children, we have experienced unexpectedly rapid growth in the number benefiting from our free, postal, Touch to See library. In the last 2 years their number has more than doubled from 2,300 to over 5,000. The demand generated by this growth, which is continuing, is not sustainable unless we are able to invest in our infrastructure. The need to build capacity in our library and Touch to See book production couldn’t be more urgent; the outcome will be long term sustainability.
As a small charity offering grass roots provision we have always worked in collaboration with schools and other agencies who support the learning and development of blind and visually impaired children. They play a critical role in informing how we develop and this enables us to provide what they need in order to positively impact the blind and partially sighted children they work with. The value of such partnership working has been evident since our charity began and has been recently emphasised as we work on a new project to build a service for 0 – 4 year olds.
Our increase in reach highlighted a severe lack of provision for early years’ children who are blind or partially sighted and the results of our extensive research have inspired our charity to work with this age group at the time that is critical in their emotional and cognitive development. Through the research stage we have identified how we can work in collaboration with small grassroots charities, for example Victa, to progress with this project more effectively. We must build our capacity so that we can become better equipped and resilient as well as create new successful collaborations.