Latest news with #visualImpairment
BBC News
28-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Disabled student films England bus pass trips to show challenges
A disabled photography student has travelled more than 850 miles on buses across England to highlight the challenges faced by disabled bus pass Bowhay, who is visually impaired, travelled for up to 10 hours a day, catching 26 buses over 10 days from Land's End to final-year student at Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) has made a 10-hour film documentary about his says Between These Times is a "slow cinema" style film which aims to show "how agonisingly slow it is to travel by bus". The 22-year-old, from Bishops Waltham, Hampshire, began his challenge on 26 January and completed it on 6 on his bus pass meant he could only travel after 09:00 on weekdays and could not enter Scotland or Bowhay, who developed cataracts in both eyes at the age of four, has limited vision in just one says moving out of home after university feels "unviable" due to a lack of public said: "I attend a lot of hospital appointments at Southampton, and getting there independently is pretty impossible." During his trip, he said only three of the 26 buses had audio announcements, and one had visual said: "I had to spend a fair amount of time sort of looking out the window and trying to work out, actually, where I am, where I need to get off."Mr Bowhay said he experienced delays of up to 40 minutes, had difficulties scanning his pass, and sometimes waited several hours for is calling for more investment in bus services and for more understanding of the challenges faced by disabled people using public film will be shown at AUB's summer show from 10 to 21 July and at Aberrations Collective's Show in Copeland Gallery, London, from 31 July to 3 August. You can follow BBC Dorset on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
BBC News
15-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Peterborough rowing club empowers blind and partially sighted
A group of visually impaired rowers say a piece of simple technology is empowering more people to take up the Lindgren was the first blind rower to join Peterborough City Rowing Cub eight years helped set up the Row the Rhythm project last year to support blind or partially sighted participants, and there are now 15 at the club from across Cambridgeshire.A coach involved in the project said a Bluetooth headset used by the rowers to communicate was "life-changing". Put simply, using the Bluetooth kit is like having a phone rower and the coach each have their own headset and can communicate across the water this kit has meant rowers have the independence to go out on their own on a single boat, something they could not do before. Ms Lindgren said being on the boat on her own gave her a feeling of freedom and "power"."I have been trying to make people aware that rowing is accessible for people with visual impairment," she explained."These Bluetooth headsets feel like a nice, quiet way to enjoy rowing. Just an amazing feeling."Alex Thorogood, one of the rowers at the club, said the headset meant she was in "complete control" while out on the water. Coach Peter Forrest said the headsets offer a more "one-to-one conversation"."In the olden days, the only way to communicate with a rower from the bank was with a megaphone," he said."When you have 10 visually impaired people - then you have got 10 megaphones making a lot of noise - and you can't really communicate."It gets totally confusing." Rowing clubs from elsewhere in England have taken inspiration from Peterborough's venture, and are trying to set up similar groups for sight impaired group in Peterborough even runs a minibus service to make the weekly activity more accessible to others coming from out of the city - including some in Lincolnshire and Forrest said the use of the technology and the efforts of the Row the Rhythm project had helped introduce "lots more" people to the sport. Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
