Family gatherings help us learn more from each other. So, on June 5th 2024, as coordinator of its National Members, EBU kicked off a series of webinars focused on the activities and campaigns of its member organisations. During the first session, representatives of various blindness and partial sight frameworks had the opportunity to find out more about our British member, the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB).
Since its foundation in 1868, RNIB has always worked at the forefront of advocating for a more inclusive world for blind and partially sighted people in the UK, through campaigning and innovation. However, as stated by Vivienne Francis, their Chief Social Change Officer, “society is still not fully aware of the daily challenges that people with visual impairment usually face”. From a strategical point of view, she highlighted our British member’s efforts to engage with key stakeholders, such as politicians and public institutions, in order to raise awareness of these barriers. Moreover, she also underlined some of their current areas of work, in the fields of eye health, independent living or accessibility of public transport systems.
Besides their commitments at a national level, RNIB representatives at the webinar gave us more details about their internal workflows. As an example, Robin Spinks, RNIB’s Head of Inclusive Design, explained the working dynamic within his department. “In our 25-people team, we address several aspects such as promoting our rights to producers of technology or better developing the concept of accessibility in the context of user’s experience”. Those principles are certainly at the core of the philosophy of our British Member, who also develops certification training courses in several domains. Moreover, due to the increasing advance of digitalisation, RNIB’s commitments also include cooperation with major technological stakeholders such as Google.
Undoubtedly, one of the biggest challenges for people with visual impairment in the UK is the lack of awareness regarding web accessibility. Jane Manley, Social Media Analyst at RNIB, underlined that this was most visible after the start of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, when several problems on retailer’s websites were detected. To report this issue, Jane added that “allowing our Facebook pages to let people share their concerns was crucial to bring the topic forward to the authorities”. In the same vein, she mentioned our British Member Focus Groups, aimed at enabling blind and partially sighted persons to share their daily obstacles and speak from their lived experience, testimonies that subsequently fuel some advocacy actions. After all, and according to Hannah Donnelley, RNIB’s Policy Officer, this is what allows them to see differently: engaging in a bidirectional dialogue to better learn from each other and promote a more inclusive society.
If you wish, you can ask for the recording of RNIB’s webinar by sending an e-mail to nacho.lopez@euroblind.org.
As a reminder, all EBU members are welcome to showcase their organisation, share best practices, and highlight the European dimension of their work. This series of online presentations of EBU members was suggested as part of the new EBU 4-year strategic plan. The purpose of these webinars is to foster collaboration, exchange knowledge, and strengthen the links among EBU members. For more information on how to take part, please write to: membership@euroblind.org