Sight Matters Day 2010 promises to be a real eye-opener!

How would you find your favourite restaurant, choose items from a menu, set the weights at your local gym or follow the plot of the latest box office movie if your eye sight was failing?

These are issues faced by thousands of people across Nottinghamshire every day when choosing how to spend their leisure time – issues which many of us take for granted.

Sight Matters Day 2010 will focus on leisure and will take place on 29 September in Nottingham city centre. The day is a fantastic opportunity to find out more about visual impairment. There will be a whole host of fun and free activities for everyone to try. Activities will include taking a blind folded walk around an obstacle course with a guide dog, a thrilling display by Blind Judo and an exhibition packed full of the latest equipment to support people with sight loss.

The day is open to people living with sight loss, their relatives and friends and to those with no experience of visual impairment, but who would like to find out more.

“I like to spend my leisure time making furniture for family and friends,” explains Carl Straw, aged 62, from Sandiacre, who was registered blind at the age of 28. “I am also non-playing captain of my local pool team and I like to visit the gym as often as I can to try and keep myself in shape.”

Carl was diagnosed with diabetes at 11 months old and first became aware that he had problems with his eye sight when he was driving a car on holiday one evening and narrowly missed hitting a lamp post! “As soon as I got home, I went to the doctor,” he explained, “and was diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy, an eye condition affecting the retina at the back of the eye which is caused by diabetes. At first I thought, ‘why me?’ Living with diabetes was challenging enough without loosing me eyes sight as well. But eventually you pick yourself up and move on with your life.”

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In 1997, Carl was also diagnosed with diabetic foot disease, a condition affecting the bones in his feet. As a result he spent four years in plaster casts. The condition reoccurred in March of this year and he is now forced to use a wheelchair when travelling any distance, but he doesn’t let that slow him down.

“Like many people with a visual impairment I lead a full and active life, I just sometimes need a little bit of help and understanding to get the most out of my leisure time. I think Sight Matters Day is a great opportunity for the public to find out more about sight loss and for people living with sight loss to find out about some of the latest gadgets available to make life a little easier.”

“Sight Matters Day provides an ideal opportunity for those experiencing sight loss, their families and friends and the general public to learn more about the range of equipment and support services available across the county for people with a visual impairment,” explained Caroline Davies, Committee Member of the Low Vision Services Committee. “We hope as many people as possible will come along to the event, enjoy the range of activities on offer and take the opportunity to learn something about visual impairment.”

 

Sight Matters Day is hosted by the Nottinghamshire Low Vision Services Committee, which is made up of representatives from Guide Dogs, Nottinghamshire Royal Society for the Blind, Nottingham City Council, Nottingham City Primary Care Trust, Nottinghamshire County Council, RNIB/Action for Blind People and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust.

The event will run from 10am until 3.30pm in the Old Market Square, Nottingham city centre and the Conference Centre, Trent University, Newton Building, Goldsmith Street, near to the Theatre Royal.

For further information on Sight Matters Day, please contact Nottinghamshire Royal Society for the Blind on 0115 9706 806.

Press enquiries, please contact Julie Scarle on behalf of the LVSC on 0115 883 8550.