Information and advice were on offer at the Isle of Wight forum open day on March 9th. The idea for the event came from members of the forum. They wanted to attract more people to their group as well as promote local services that are useful to deafblind people.

The driving force behind the day was islander and forum member Ian Capon. Ian worked with Sense staff to book a great venue and invite a range of interesting organisations to the event. Ian says:

“It was nice to see the stall holders interacting with each other and how people who came were able to try out equipment. I noted that affordable screen readers can help people read newspapers and magazines more easily and can also help them with reading household bills. Overall, I think the day went well and the venue and staff were terrific”.

Jonathan Marshall-Cook is another islander and forum member. He describes his time at the open day:

“It was a pleasure to come to an event that was well organised and professionally facilitated in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. I’ve spoken to the equipment specialist and learned that assistive technology has come on in leaps and bounds since I was at school. I also visited the Isle of Wight Society for the Blind stall. They told me about a social support group that they offer. The Sense stall was also really informative about sight and hearing impairment”.

One of the organisations to attend the open day was the local Independent Living Centre. Jane Davidson (Co-ordinator) and Terri Baker (Manager) describe the benefits they got from the event:

“It was very useful to meet with such a diverse group of people. We’ve learned a lot about the hearing side of things. Meeting the gentleman from Pamtrad (equipment specialist) was also good because we learned about some computer technology that will help empower people at the Independent Living Centre”.

For more information about the Isle of Wight forum, contact Debbie Snooks by emailing debbie.snooks@sense.org.uk or calling 020 8449 0964.