John May, from The Talking Newspapers Lichfield & District gave members an interesting talk about the work carried out by his Company. Founded in 1981 the aim was to provide the best possible news & entertainment service to the blind and visually impaired. This was achieved in the form of 90 minutes of extracts from the Lichfield Mercury every week. Now, with the digital technology available, they can send out 10 hours of news, entertainment and information and hope to extend this to 20 hours in the near future.
Digital Technology has also allowed them to focus on blind and visually impaired children, as well as other children with reading difficulties such as Dyslexia. School curriculums can be read onto memory sticks for these children to access. However sadly, for some of these children, blindness is not their only disability, as many of them have other crippling problems which mean they do not have the dexterity to manage the controls in digital media players. Talking Newspapers have designed a new machine, a box with very large buttons that can be controlled with a nudge. These boxes cost from £25.00 to £50.00. Part of the proceeds from our Quiz Night on 8th June, at Curborough Community Centre will go towards funding these boxes. President Donna thanks John for a most enlightening talk and presented him with a small gift as a token of our appreciation.