Year 8 students treated to inspirational talk from visually impaired ex-teacher

On Friday 6th March, 2 year 8 classes were treated to an inspirational talk and demonstration from David Haynes, a visually impaired ex-teacher.   Once the students had said hello to his guide dog Vinny, they were involved in discussions on the issues of being partially sighted and the compilations this brings to everyday life.  This supported the students’ recent learning of input & output devices for computers.  When trying on some goggles that simulated the sight limiting condition that David has, Josh Oliver exclaimed that he could not imagine what it would be like living with no sight.  

David then demonstrated, ably assisted by numerous students some of his myriad of gadgets that help him achieve even the most basic everyday tasks.  These included a device attached to the side of a cup that beeped when it was nearly full of liquid as well as one that spoke the colour it was shown, a vibrating walking stick which detects low branches, a speaker-pen that read labels on tins and a talking mobile phone. 

James Towndrow is pictured trying his hand at operating a PC, totally blind.  The PC had screen reading software which allowed the user to listen to the contents on the screen and navigate by only pressing numbers.