Training and support

We offer training and support to organisations, so that they can make their services more accessible to people with sight loss, and also to individuals. Our Visual Impairment Awareness Training and transcription service can enable individuals and organisations better accommodate clients, customers and service users with sight loss.

A young person using a cane with a Henshaws staff member in the background supporting her whilst she is outdoors
Simon with cane stood outside house

Visual Impairment Awareness Training

Our Visual Impairment Awareness Training (VIAT) is a practical and engaging session to help people better understand the needs of people with sight loss.

The sessions offer facts and information about different vision impairment, as well as practical training to help better support people with sight loss. VIAT sessions can be hour-long, half-day or full-day sessions depending on your needs.

Topics covered include: misconceptions about sight loss, experiencing what it is like to have reduced vision, and how to guide a person with sight loss safely in different scenarios (sighted guide).

Everything you need to know about VIAT?

Henshaws Sight Loss Support Team enables people of all ages living with sight loss to make informed choices about their future. For many years, our passionate and qualified staff have been sharing their expertise in our VIAT course, an interactive training course for anyone who wants to know more about life with a visual impairment, and how to accommodate and support somebody with sight loss.

Man in an office stood next to a computer

Braille transcription service

We are able to transcribe documents into Braille. We understand that producing Braille transcriptions yourself is expensive and time-consuming, due to the expensive and specialist equipment and software that is needed to produce Braille at the highest standard. We are very happy to offer our Braille transcription service to help individuals and organisations make their materials more accessible.

One of our regular requests is to produce Braille candidate lists for elections in Oldham, Salford and Trafford. Our Braille transcription service costs, but it is much cheaper than purchasing your own Braille embosser and software. The cost of the service will depend on number of pages, and whether we need to make additional format changes to your document before converting it into Braille.

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Learn how to get involved

From fundraising events to volunteering, there are plenty of ways to give to make a difference at Henshaws

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