Read for RNIB Day Schools Video - Transcript

Wear dots…raise lots schools video - transcript

Joseph Johnson

My name is Joseph Johnson. I'm nine years old, and I've had glaucoma since I was born. Mum has registered me as blind, and with my glasses I can see a bit. I'm not like my other friends who can see across the playground, and usually I have to put small things close up so I can examine them properly.

Let's see if I can flick this. I like to play football with my dad because there's no pressure. I know I'm not going to get hit in the face, and he's quite a good player, so I can pick up stuff from him. That wasn't too bad.

Anna Fu

I'm Anna Fu, and I'm 11. I've got Leber's amaurosis, which I've had since I was born, which basically means I'm registered blind. I can see colours, shapes, basic patterns, but nothing in a great deal of detail. I've played the flute for almost four years, and I just learnt it by ear.

Joseph Johnson

To start off with, I was only reading small print books. Usually I have to put my head close to the text so I can see it properly and make out the words. When I had my first book in giant print, I opened it, and I thought, this is quite big, and I was able to read a lot quicker. If I was lying in bed reading at night, I could outstretch my legs, put my book on there and look down on it, and I could read it, if it was giant print, and I would just love reading.

Anna Fu

The book starts as a print book, and then RNIB Library transfers it into braille. I was about five or six when I was first learning to read braille. I find reading just using my fingers, it's just a normal thing for me. Reading a whole book in braille can be a bit of hassle, because they're really big and thick. If you were reading it when you were out, you would have to drag a whole suitcase with one book in it.

Joseph Johnson

When a new book arrives from the RNIB, or a couple of books, usually it's like, what have I got, what have I got this time. I like reading the "Horrible Histories" series. I also like "The Indian in the Cupboard" series. Just by reading the text, you could just think, I can imagine him.

Anna Fu

I think when you come to the end of a really amazing story, it's quite overwhelming, and you just want to be back halfway through the book wondering what happened next. When I can't get the same books as everyone else, it leaves me in the kind of situation where I am slightly frustrated, because obviously when everyone's talking about it, it's a bit awkward, and you don't know what to say.

Joseph Johnson

I've been lucky so far with getting my books, but I've heard they haven't been able to get all the books in large print. So I just hope that it will be there in the future.

Thank you for supporting RNIB and opening up a world of reading for everyone. Don't be late, save the date.

Voiceover

Wear dots…raise lots for RNIB.

RNIB. Supporting people with sight loss.

rnib.org.uk/weardots