Beacon Centre

Beacon Centre for the Blind provide assistance and support people affected by sight loss helping them to live fuller, more independent lives from building employment and life skills, increasing confidence, to reducing isolation and accessing the latest technology.

Many of those most vulnerable in society have limited access to the internet and lack the skills needed to engage with the world digitally leaving them excluded from society when they have never needed to be part of it more. Expert staff from Beacon Centre for the Blind has been supporting people with sight loss and other long-term conditions to boost the digital skills they need to access services such as online supermarket deliveries.

People have also got the chance to use loan devices to enable them to get online during lockdown.

Beacon Centre for the Blind is part of the device lending scheme which lends Chromebooks and tablets to those who may not have devices at home.

Case Study

Among those who have benefited the scheme is Margaret who has sight loss and lives in Dudley. She has been trained to use an Amazon echo show. She said: “It has opened a new world of information and provides endless pleasure, listening to books and music whilst stretching your mind with puzzles. It also helps with spelling and the camera scanning feature tells me what I am holding and understand what it is I need to do with it. “I found the support I received really enjoyable. I liked someone coming in who knows what they are doing. It has been a lovely experience.”