IT classes click with Beacon residents

Published by David Faers for Bromford Group in Housing and also in Communities, Education, Health

VISUALLY-IMPAIRED people are getting to grips with the potential of PCs – thanks to a bit of expert help, some clever software and the use of a modern computer suite.

It’s a chance to learn and have fun for the newly computer-savvy residents from Bromford’s Beacon Court who join other service-users in IT classes at the award-winning Beacon Centre for the Blind in Sedgley, near Wolverhampton.

They use the PCs to do everything from creating personalised greeting cards and posters for their bedrooms to creating spreadsheets, playing games and surfing the net.

Their achievements are a big source of pride for Beacon Centre IT trainers David Hall and Val Smith, who tutor a mixture of residents and non-residents with a wide range of sight loss conditions including total blindness and, in some cases, other learning disabilities as well.

David and Val’s pride is shared by Bromford Support scheme co-ordinator Jo Wright, who runs the Beacon Court complex of extra-care apartments that make up the residential half of this state-of-the-art development for one of central England’s leading providers of affordable housing and related support.

“Some of our customers have learned so much and their new skills have truly enriched their lives, enabling them to take up new hobbies or to do more with existing ones, to improve their literacy and numeracy skills, do a bit of online shopping – and just have fun,” says Jo. “I would certainly encourage other customers to have a go and see what they can do.”

One of Val’s students is Fran Webber, a blind resident who uses a special screen reading software called Jaws that converts text and images into spoken words that describe what is happening on screen.

“This enables Fran to do more advanced IT activities - such as using email, spreadsheets, word processing and presentations - through numerous key combinations which emulate what a sighted computer user would normally do with a mouse,” says David.

“We tailor tuition to suit each person’s different abilities. For those that still have limited vision, we use a magnifying software such as ZoomText, which enlarges the display by up to 32 times.

“As well as tailoring the right assistive software, we also shape each student’s learning to match their existing knowledge and potential ability.

“Our one-to-one sessions ensure we go at a speed to suit the student, and learn what the student wants to learn and what is of benefit to them. We see a variety of students of varying abilities, including those that in addition to sight loss have further learning disabilities such as autism and down’s syndrome.”

John Parker and Matty Bytheway are two non-residents who’ve made the most of the on-site IT training. “Both have fun in IT, creating and printing personalised greeting cards and posters for their bedroom doors as well as improving their literacy and numeracy skills through playing educational games,” says Dave.

Matty enthuses about his Friday morning IT sessions with Dave, saying: “I really enjoy the classes. I think Dave is very patient with me and a good tutor."

Another enthusiastic IT classmate is elderly Beacon Court resident Bill Guest, who was born blind and, as a wheelchair user, has limited mobility.

A staunch Wolves fan, Bill enjoys listening to Saturday radio match broadcasts about his beloved team and comes to the IT suite each Monday morning, when Dave reads out a summarised match report. Bill then uses his refreshed skills to type out the reports using an adapted keyboard and software that reads back what he types.

“Relating this IT learning activity to something else that Bill enjoys - Wolves - keeps his mind stimulated. So do the computer spelling games we play that challenge his mind each week,” says Dave.

IT training is one of many activities that partially sighted people can enjoy in state-of-the-art surroundings that include craft rooms, a recreational hall and gym, social rooms and a talking newspaper studio.

Residents - mostly older people - also have a restaurant, bar and hairdressing salon with a small convenience store opening soon. The complex was built by William Davis two years ago in a partnership with Bromford and Beacon Centre for the Blind to replace an ageing headquarters, workshops and bungalows.

www.bromfordgroup.co.uk

www.beacon4blind.co.uk