Visibility

Supporting people service enters third successful year.

Visibility’s Supporting People Service provides practical support to people in their homes to help them maintain their independence and their tenancies. Our service has now been providing support to adults with a visual impairment for three and a half years and we have received extremely positive feedback from service users and their families on the professionalism of the service. Our success stories include people achieving specific personal goals such as gaining full time employment or preparing and cooking a meal. The majority of service users feel that they are building confidence and self esteem to a level where they are not hesitant about trying something new or going to an unfamiliar venue.

The service was recently reviewed by each of the local authorities to which the service is provided, and the results of all three were very positive. At present the service has no vacancies in Glasgow or West Dunbartonshire but there are still some vacancies in North Lanarkshire. If you would like more information about this project you can call the supporting people team on 0141 332 4632 or email
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Growing Interest in Eccentric Reading sparks Project review document

As the work of the new view project becomes more widely known, demand for information from individuals and organisations increases. Project staff have recently given talks to the Scottish Macular Disease Convention in Perth, as well as to local groups in Ayr, Lanark and Cumbernauld. In October project co-ordinator David Logan will be stepping over the border to give a talk to the Scarborough Macular Disease Group.

The project has recently entered its fourth year, training people with central vision loss to read using their peripheral vision and the project team believe it is time to share some of the knowledge gained.

In setting up and operating the eccentric reading training programme Visibility has learned some very valuable lessons, so to ensure this information is as widely available as possible, David Logan and Shelagh Palmer will be carrying out work over the next few months on the following areas:

• An analysis of the results from training sessions carried out to date
• A ‘before and after’ analysis of a group of new eccentric reading learners
• A review of how well learners are using eccentric reading techniques over time
• A write up and description of training methods used

We anticipate that this information will be available on this website early in 2007

Community Support Pilot Project

Working with the GGNHSC Area Optical Committee, Visibility has set up a pilot project in 7 community optometry practices. The practices are referring patients who are experiencing difficulties to Visibility's Community Support Team for advice, information and where appropriate, emotional support. The pilot project will be evaluated by the end of 2006 and it is hoped that if there are positive outcomes then the project will offered to community optometry practices across Glasgow and the west of Scotland.

Extending the Patient Support Service to other hospitals

Since its inception in 2002, the Patient Support Service at Gartnavel Hospital has grown from strength to strength and is now viewed as an integral part of the Eye Department.

In response to the projects’ success and increased demand for the service, Visibility has renegotiated the contract with NHSGG & C to provide a similar service across other Glasgow Hospitals

Visibility has strengthened its Community Support team and intends to use the Gartnavel service as a hub. Patients referred via the Gartnavel Hub will then be passed over to the Community Support team and contacted by telephone to offer them the chance to receive the service. Information, advice and support will then be provided using the most suitable method. There will also be the opportunity for someone to be visited at home if that level of support is required.

Training in hospitals

Visibility has been contracted by Greater Glasgow and Clyde NHS training department to provide visual impairment awareness training. The training is being offered twice monthly from September 2006 until March 2007. The two hour session situates visual impairment within the context of the new 2006 Disability Discrimination Act and the new structures at NHSGG&C.

Introducing Peer Support Sessions

The Community Support Team is introducing Peer Support Sessions over the coming months. The first session took place in the Cairns Church Halls, Buchanan Street, Milngavie from 7pm to 8.30pm on Wednesday 20th September. Future dates will be posted on this website.

These sessions will provide the opportunity for participants to share advice and support each other, while receiving information about topics related to visual impairment. Examples of topics that may be covered include registration, leisure opportunities, cooking and other daily living skills, independent travel and information on benefits.

If you are interested in attending these sessions, would like to find out more or offer suggestions for possible sessions, please telephone the team on 0141 572 0746. Visibility also hope to extent these sessions to other local authority areas and will ensure will ensure that future developments and dates and are detailed on this site.

Changes to Go! Class waiting list system

Over the previous four years, the popularity of Go! groups has increased and we have many people waiting to join in. We are looking at whether we can make changes to increase the size of the groups, however in the meantime we need to implement a new system that we hope will make it fair for everyone.

You will receive information on the groups in the December newsletter and if you wish to attend any of them, you will be asked to phone in and let us know before a set date. Once we have all the names, we will pull names out of a hat. We will write to the participants whose names have been selected.

This system will not work for all classes as some are ongoing learning e.g. Friday’s Braille class and some classes which are just set up as a beginners group e.g. Spanish.

Volunteers Recognised

Visibility has a group of dedicated volunteer befrienders who have been regularly visiting people for a long time, building up close relationships and, as one person put it, “bringing a bit of the outside world to me”.  A number of volunteers were recognised at the start of this year for providing support for 5 years.  This is a great achievement and shows the commitment they give to the individuals they visit and Visibility. 

Some of our volunteers have recently been attending Grief, Loss and Awareness training to help them support people in the later stages of their life.  Visibility thanks all volunteers who give up their time to support people with sight loss.

Go! Teens Gets Going!

The Go! project has been very popular with teenagers who have been attending since the project was started.  As these young people are getting older, we have responded with a Go! Teens group for 15 to 19 year olds.  There is a programme of 24 activities in the year which has been developed in response to suggestions of the young people themselves.  They started with a night out at a restaurant for pizza, chat and laughter and have a range of social and recreational activities planned for the rest of the year.  There are currently 18 young people but as Gavin Morgan, the Co-ordinator said, “we always have plenty of room for more!”