Wilberforce Trust attended Sight Village North East in Leeds in September 2022.  Sight Village is described as ‘the UK’s leading exhibition for blind and partially sighted people and for those experiencing sight problems’. Each year thousands of people visit the events to find out at first hand the latest technology, products and support services available.

Last September Wilberforce Trust took a stall and a small number of staff to the event to promote our range of services and support for people with sensory impairments.  It was here that I met Alison from Mencap and we chatted about the challenges that people with sensory impairment can face and how awareness training can develop the knowledge of those who work with people with sensory impairments and improve outcomes for those individuals.

After learning a little more about what the training entailed Alison went on to commission two sessions of visual impairment awareness training for staff working directly with an individual with visual impairment who Mencap support.  As part of the training the staff took part in several practical exercises with the use of glasses which simulate different degrees of sight loss and learnt how to safely guide a person with a visual impairment.  The result is staff who feel more confident in working with people with visual impairment and have a greater degree of understanding and empathy when doing so.

One of the participants had this to say: “Great course! It was very helpful to try the sight guidance from the perspective of the blind person. Good to find out about variety of types of sight loss. Very helpful and clearly delivered”.

If you are a public facing service provider and you think that Sensory Awareness Training is something that is of interest to you, please get in touch with YorSensory on enquiry@yorsensory.org.uk or call 01904 202292.

Our training is delivered by a skilled and experience trainer; a qualified Vision Rehabilitation Specialist who has over 10 years experience in their field and can be tailor made to your organisations requirements.

Julie Day (Sensory Awareness Training Officer at the Wilberforce Trust) was asked to provide a bespoke Sensory Awareness training morning for Nimbuscare with the view to looking at how best the service could provide support for people with sensory impairments as they attended the mass vaccination site. Nimbuscare staff were engaged and keen to learn as much as they could to enable them to understand some of the difficulties facing people with sensory impairments. Julie ran two sessions across two different venues and used simulation glasses so the attendees could experience different levels of sight loss and a variety of eye conditions. The groups took part in a guided walk experiencing what it is like to mobilise with limited vision.

Jessica Hedley (Mass Vaccination Duty Site Manager at Nimbuscare) had the following to say:
“We have been thrilled to collaborate with Wilberforce Trust at the Mass Vaccination Site on Askham Bar. Julie and the team have been fantastic, working with us to identify patient support needs and accessibility across site for those with hearing and sight impairments. Overall, we have enhanced our patient experience through developing clear signage and direction, improving accessible reading materials for vaccination aftercare with braille and large print formats. Whilst also further developing our website, extending FAQ’s covering patient accessibility and communication. Julie worked closely with our site management team providing training and promoting open discussion on Sensory Awareness through workshops. We found this incredibly insightful and overall we feel more confident as a team in developing a further understanding as to how we can best support our patients on site.”

You can learn more about our Sensory Services for Businesses here. If you would like to explore how we can help your business call the YorSensory team on 01904 760037 or email email.

The Wilberforce Trust – InSight Magazine – Spring 2020 Edition

Find out all the latest news from the Wilberforce Trust on the events and activities the charity has been delivering over the winter and has upcoming in 2020 in the latest edition of our Insight Magazine – Spring 2020.

Published: 19 March, 2020

The Vangarde Shopping Park has launched a new initiative to improve the customer experience for visually and sensory impaired shoppers and The Wilberforce Trust are proud to have been their partner of choice to provide sensory training.

Read more in the York Press