Children with sight loss are seeing their lives transformed thanks to a generous donation of equipment – worth more than £50,000 – to Manchester-based charity Henshaws.
A nine-year-old child with a visual impairment is one of the youngest among those under 18 benefiting from access to electronic magnifiers and text-to-speech readers.
The 20 electronic magnifiers and 10 text-to-speech readers were donated to Henshaws, which helps those with sight loss and other disabilities, from Blind Veterans UK, a separate charity which helps ex-servicemen and women to rebuild their lives after sight loss. The cost of the entire donation is more than £50,000.
As the equipment can be very expensive to buy individually, instead of keeping the goods, Henshaws has chosen to give them – for free – to children and young people who they help as part of their charity work.
And they had a huge response after giving out some of the kits on social media. Within minutes of posting, more than 10 people replied asking for help. They plan to carry on giving away the equipment to those in need.
Nicky Harvey’s daughter, Sophie, 14, was diagnosed with medulloblastoma when she was just 3 years old. After her diagnosis, she contracted measles and septicaemia and these conditions led to her visual impairment.
Henshaws provided Sophie with a text-to-speech reader. Nicky said: “Sophie can put a book or letter under the arm of the reader and it will read to her at the speed and volume that is suitable.
“This has allowed Sophie to listen to stories independently and it also helps her hand eye co-ordination because she has to turn the page and press a button.
“It makes her feel like she can do something herself without asking for help, which gives her a sense of achievement and makes her feel good about herself.”
Sandra Golding’s son, Archie, 9, has been provided with a magnifier to help him with his home-schooling. He has a cerebral visual impairment.
She said: “Archie has found the magnifier very helpful especially as he is currently home schooling. He uses it not just for his school work but to read books and magazines for leisure.
“He finds the technology to change not only the size but the colour extremely helpful as he has both CVI and visual stress disorder and prefers colours such as bright yellow.
“Having the magnifier has reignited his passion for reading, especially his history books.”
Mel Cooke, Head of Children, Young People and Families at Henshaws, said: “These kits are already and will continue providing our young people with vital resources to help them navigate life with their visual impairment. We are hugely grateful to Blind Veterans for their donation.”
Gary Brunskill, Head of National Operational Services and Development at Blind Veterans UK, added: “Henshaws is a fantastic charity, delivering great work with children and adults with low, or no vision.
“It was a pleasure that Blind Veterans UK were able to support this project through an equipment donation, ensuring that life-changing equipment is getting to those who need it most.
“In hearing stories of children’s reactions when using the equipment for the first time, we know that our blind veterans will be heartened greatly, knowing that the equipment which has assisted them so well, is now being recycled and reused to help the younger generations.”
