Audio Description At The Cinema

Hello Everyone,

Last year I went to aee the movie adaptation of Wicked! I've seen thr west end musical, which you can read about in my "Is Wicked Worth It?" blog post. So, I was excited to see what the movie was like. I went to an audio description screening with my friend in London. As a fan of the musical I loved the movie version, you could tell they put a lot of love and effort in it! It was made by people who love the musical and stayed true to the source material. I also liked the additional scenes they added which made the story more impactful. This month's post is about my experience with audio description at the cinema, also known as Movie Theatre for you Americans reading this post.

My Thoughts On Glidance

 Hello Everyone,

Last month, I went to the in-person talk about Glide by Glidance in London. Launching in winter 2025, it's a new mobility aid for people with sight loss, that could replace a white cane, or guide dog. This post is about my thoughts on the device.

Blind People Use Phones Too

Hello Everyone,

I hope you're well. 

I'm surprised that in 2024, a post like this needed to be written. For context, a friend of mine sent me a reel on Instagram. Both the content and the comments inspired me to share some clarity on the situation.

IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Screenshot of a TikTok video, which sows a woman in a red coat walking on the street with a white cane, using her phone. The text in the video says "What in the universal credit is going on here". 

My Thoughts On Blind Barbie

Hello Everyone,

Today's blog post is about Mattel's new blind barbie doll. If you aren't part of the VI community, you might not have heard about it. I wanted to share my thoughts on the doll and discuss some of the criticism I've seen from blind and visually impaired people about it.

What Do You Want To Do This Ramadan?

 Hello Everyone,

Ramadan Mubarak! 

I know it's been a year since my last post, which was actually a Ramadan Resources post. My only excuse is I've had writers block and nothing seemed to inspire me to write.

Lately I've been watching videos about this holy month and wanted to do something different. Usually I share resources you can use, but this year I want to dig deeper.

Ramadan Resources Part 3

 Hello Everyone,

Ramadan Mubarak!

For Muslims around the world Ramadan is a blessed month where we fast, read Qur'an and ask Allah (SWT) for guidance. It's a month where our good deeds are multiplied and we try to become closer with our faith. So, I thought I'd do another post about resources you can use to make the most of this month. 

If you'd like more resources, check out my Ramadan Resources post and Ramadan Resources Part 2 post. 

Change Is On The Way

Hello Everyone,

Today's post is a life update for you all. It's been a while since I've written a post like this. I wanted to share with you all some of my plans for the year, both for this blog and life in general.

Is Wicked Worth It?

Hello Everyone,

This month I went to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London with my friends. VocalEyes, provided the audio description and touch tour. Today's post is my thoughts on the show and tour. 

How I Watch TV On My Phone

Hello Everyone,

In 2019 a photo was shared online of a visually impaired woman out with her cane and using her phone. It had the caption "If you can see what's wrong say I see it" and was shared over 33,000 times where people claimed she was faking her disability because she was using her phone. At the time, a #BlindPeopleUsePhones social media campaign was created to share how it's possible for blind and visually impaired people to use their phones. Technology is our lifeline, accessibility features within them allow us to do the same things as everyone else. A few years later and people still wonder how people with sight loss like myself, use technology. This post is is the beginning of a series, where I share how I (,a visually impaired person) use my phone to do things in my everyday life.

Accessibility In Everyday Life

Hello Everyone,

Today's post is my contribution for Global Accessibility Awareness Day.

The term accessibility refers to enabling access for people with disabilities. That's why this post is about resources out there to make aspects of everyday life accessible for people who are blind, or visually impaired. I've written about things you can use for education, employment, entertainment and more. 

Ramadan Resources Part 2

 Hello Everyone,

Ramadan Mubarak!

As I'm writing this month's post the first day of Ramadan has just been announced! For Muslims Ramadan is a blessed month that we look forward to. It's the one month in the Islamic Calendar where we as Muslims fast for 29 or 30 days, generously give money to charity, read Quran and make the most of our prayers. It's a chance for people to have a reset, work on their faith and ask Allah (SWT) to help with whatever matters to them. So, I thought it would be a good time to share some more resources you can use to make the most of this holy month.

As the title suggests, this is a follow up post to the Ramadan Resources post I did last year. If you haven't already, check out that post to see the resources I shared that you can continue using this year too. 

Shopping With A Disability At Westfield

Hello Everyone,

A few weeks ago I spent a day shopping with some friends at the Westfield in Stratford. All three of us had sight loss. It was my first time being in a situation where I had the most useful vision out of us. To shop till we dropped, we used the assistance service that's available at the shopping centre. This post is about my experience using this service for the first time. 

My White Cane Journey

 Hello Everyone,

It's white cane awareness day! 

To mark this occasion I thought it was time I tell you about my journey with the cane and why I love using it. After all, today is all about sharing why the cane is such a vital tool for visually impaired people! I'll also explain what the white cane means and the different types blind and visually impaired people use.  

Do All Blind People Think The Same?

Hello Everyone,

This month I've decided to do the "Do Blind People Think The Same?" tag. It's a tag that originated from Jubilee's "Do All Blind People Think The Same?" video, with blind content creators Alisha B, James Rath, Lucy Edwards, Molly Burke, Christine Ha and Mario Bonds. It's part of their spectrum series where they have a range of people from the same community answer questions and share their experiences. After the video was released, Cayla with a C created a Blind YouTuber tag about this, more blind and visually impaired creators answered the questions themselves and created a tag within the blind community. Sight loss is a spectrum, so people would have different experiences and viewpoints to the questions. I wasn't tagged, but I wanted to answer the questions anyway and give my two sense. Here's the video which started it all:

Ramadan Resources

 Hello Everyone,

Ramadan Mubarak!

Since Ramadan has started I thought for this month's post I'd share some resources you could use, to make the most of the month itself. I'm not sure about you, but I start the month with high expectations, but don't end up doing as much as I hoped. Also regardless of whether you're working from home or not, it can be difficult to balance work and making the most of Ramadan. Which is why this post will have things you can use throughout the course of the month, to do that. 

The Aga Khan Centre

Hello Everyone, 

This month I've written about my experience at an audio described Open House tour at the Aga Khan Centre in London. It was organised by VocalEyes and took place before the pandemic and lockdown happened in the UK. I thought it would be nice to share something fun for blind and partially sighted people to do, you know once VocalEyes feel it's safe of course. Plus I thought it would be a nice place for people to visit once lockdown is over. Either way, if you like architecture, you should definitely look out for accessible opportunities like this!

My Trip To Lanzarote

Hello Everyone,

This time last year I went on my first international trip with VICTA and Seable. Today I’ll tell you all about this trip. Plus explain what both these organisations are about. I know it's not safe to travel right now, but by the end of this post you'll learn why you should still check them out. Not to mention why Lanzarote is a great holiday destination. Keep reading to find out how visually impaired people go on holiday semi-independently. 

Audio Description at Blenheim Palace

Hello Everyone,

Last summer I went to Blenheim palace near Oxford with my brother in law, sister, nephew and cousin. We got to have an audio described tour of the palace and see the gardens. It was the first time I had used an audio description handset during a tour. Today I’ll talk about my thoughts on using the guide and the tour. To find out how accessible the handset was, check out my review on the RNIB website.

Cooking With a Disability

Hello Everyone,

I've been doing a lot of cooking recently. By a lot I mean I've cooked 5 times this month, making 4 different types of dishes. Plus a few desserts here and there. So, today's post is about how I cook with a visual impairment. Hopefully the tips I share can help you, regardless of whether you have a disability or not. I'll be using photos from the time I made chicken cous cous as examples. 

Disability, Trust and Vulnerability

Hello Everyone,

This post is about the topic of trust. Mainly, the fact that blind and partially sighted people need to trust others more than the average person. But it's also about how we shouldn't let this impact our safety. In other words, there should be a way to not put yourself in a more vulnerable situation, just because you need to trust the other person has your best interest at heart.