To mark Volunteers Week this week [June 1-7], Richard Asher from Leith has spoken about being a volunteer for sight loss charity RNIB Scotland.
Richard (29) is part of the Edinburgh-based charity’s Technology for Life team, advising blind and partially sighted people on the accessibility features now built-in to new technology that can help maximise their independence.
Such features include software that reads text as speech, enlarges the size of fonts, and adjusts background colour contrast.
“In my volunteering role, I help customers with technical devices like iPads or mobiles,” explains Richard, who studied IT at Edinburgh College. “They bring these into RNIB Scotland and can either have issues with them and need something looked into, such as their settings, or I can teach them how to first use their devices.
“I volunteer because I want to make a difference in people’s lives. It is vital to make that difference, just seeing someone happy at the end of it and seeing that they are confidently using their devices. A person can get the most out of their time with me in learning. Or, if they come up with a problem, that problem is sorted for them.
“Some people have been born without sight, and they might have an older device or might not have had a device before. I train them with the accessibility features and how they can use the phone.
“Other people may have lost their sight in later life, having known how to use a phone. And now they’re saying, ‘Oh my goodness, what will I do? I depend on this phone; I use this every day.’ So, we focus on training them to use their phone differently.
“I’m a firm believer that anyone can use a phone. It’s just about finding the right way. There is sight loss in my own family, so this volunteer role is important to me, and that’s what we focus on here – making them independent in using these devices.
“The important thing for me is someone’s walking out, feeling they have gained from it, and they’re happy.”
Players of the People’s Postcode Lottery support the running of the RNIB Connect groups, which provide a supportive online space where people with sight loss can use technology to connect and share experiences.
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