RNIB Connect

Jonathan continues his travels through the Balkans, stopping at the party city of Budva in Montenegro.
Listen to Jonathan's Travelogues every Wednesday on The Lunch Break from 12 noon to 1 pm.
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RNIB is creating opportunities for blind and partially sighted people to gain practical experience. Hywel Davies caught up with Mohammed and Sharon to share their experiences of the ‘See Work Differently’ scheme.
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The Royal Ballet and Opera House in London continue their access programme with up-coming audio described performances and touch tours for blind and partially sighted people of the Royal Ballet’s revival of Glen Tetley’s 60’s cult classic Pierrot Lunaire.
RNIB Connect Radio’s Toby Davey was joined by Deirdre Chapman, Rehearsal Director at The Royal Ballet and Audio Describer Alice Gilmour for some background to the revival of Pierrot Lunaire and how this classic work of dance that blends both modern and classical ballet set to Schoenberg slightly challenging score is being brought to life on stage with description for visually impaired people.
There are three audio described performances of Pierrot Lunaire on Wednesday 11, Thursday 12 and Tuesday 17 February all at 7.45pm with a touch tour prior to the performance on Thursday 12 February at 6.45pm and the performance on Tuesday 17 February is also a relaxed performance too. 
To book your tickets for the audio described performances of Pierrot Lunaire do either email [email protected] or telephone the Box Office on 020 7304 4000.  
Do be aware that if you look for tickets for the dates of the audio described performances online the website might indicate that the performances are fully booked out as currently the booking system does not show the allocated seats set aside for blind and partially sighted people.  
For more about access at The Royal Ballet and Opera House do visit - 
https://www.rbo.org.uk/visit/access-at-rbo

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The Eye Believe Podcast is a collective of blind and partially sighted individuals from different cultural backgrounds coming together to discuss and share their unique experiences of sight loss on a range of powerful topics from their own personal perspectives along with how the community around them sees them as visually impaired people.
RNIB Connect Radio’s Toby Davey caught up with Ashrafia Choudhury, the founder of Eye Believe, to find out more about how Eye Believe came about and the set up of the podcast, some examples of the topics that have been covered in the podcast, what Ashrafia would like people to come away with after catching the Eye Believe Podcast on RNIB Connect Radio and how the podcast has helped to change attitudes to sight loss within her community too. 
The first episode of the Eye Believe Podcast will be broadcast on RNIB Connect Radio on Tuesday 17 February at 7pm, repeated Saturday 21 February at 8pm with future episodes going out on the 3rd Tuesday of the month at 7pm and repeated on the 3rd Saturday of the month at 8pm.
You can subscribe to the Eye Believe Podcast by searching for ‘Eye Believe BlindPod’ on Spotify, follow EyeBeleiveBlindPod on Instagram and to reach Ashrafia and the rest of the collective behind the podcast do email [email protected].   
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RNIB Connect Radio's Allan Russell sits down with Simon Antrobus, CEO of RNIB, for a look at some of the big stories coming from the UK sight loss charity.
This week Simon chats settling into his new position as RNIB Chief Executive, engaging with RNIB staff, and what work he'll focus on over the coming months.
If you, or someone you know, would like information on the support and services available from RNIB, go to www.rnib.org.uk
You can also call our Helpline on 0303 123 9999 or ask your Amazon smart speaker to call RNIB's Helpline.
#RNIBConnect
Image shows Simon smiling for the camera. He is a white man with neat, short fair hair, dressed in a white shirt and charcoal suit jacket.