Video of Freddy S Story - Transcript

Video of Freddy’s story for schools - transcript

Freddy:

My name is Freddy and I am eight years old. I am blind, but I can see some things like colour, light and dark. I've been going to school with my sister since I was four. I was first at East Preston Infants but now of course I've got older and moved up to East Preston Juniors, like all my class.

My cane is very useful and I use it around school to feel my way round. I'm learning to read braille in school and it's starting to get easier.

Lita Woodward:

I'm Lita Woodward. I'm a year three teacher and I've been teaching Freddy this year. Reading is really very much a strong part of every single lesson, because in maths, they need to be able to read problems and so on. In other topics, they need to be able to read things.

Freddy:

I use a Brailler to type braille in class. I can write just the same things as the other kids do.

Lita Woodward:

Today's lesson was a math's lesson which involved weighing and measuring and reading scales. Freddy cannot read the scales on an ordinary set of scales so what we do is, he has a talking scales machine which actually speaks the weight for him.

Talking scales:

Scale is ready. Twenty four grams.

Freddy:

Things I like to do are play games in the playground at school. Sometimes I'm talking to kids and they just walk off without me knowing and I still carry on talking to them. They should tell me that I'm walking off and let me finish the conversation first.

So today in school, we played a game called over under and there was a ball that makes a noise so I know where it is.

Teacher:

Oh, we're not chucking it Freddy.

Freddy:

I belong to a running club at school and I'm doing very well in it. I run with my sister, that is very good.

Lita Woodward:

You find yourself doing and saying things that you would do normally, but you're then having to adapt it to remember you've got to include a child who can't see you making a gesture, can't see where you're looking or what you're pointing at.

Freddy:

It's great when my friends are in class, learning a bit more about what it's like to be blind. It makes me feel more included.

Teacher:

Is it hard to read braille? Do you think maybe we should let

somebody try that? Right, now we need Celine to close her eyes shut tight. In front of you, if I give you the card, can you feel it? It's actually the alphabet. Can your fingers make any sense of it?

Freddy:

Reading braille, you have to be really energetic, sit up straight, fingers on the paper. It takes quite a long time to read braille, sound out all the words. But if I listen to a RNIB Talking Book, it's much quicker. I read a school book as braille and I relax at home with a talking book.

Talking book:

..no, said Hermione at once, have you?

Freddy:

And I say that listening to a Talking Book, I still count it as reading it though. So I'm like, “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”, I've read it, even though I've just listened to it.

Lita Woodward:

During the last year with working with Freddy, I've found out that there are only seven per cent of the possible books available to blind and partially sighted people, like Freddy. And it's a real shame that they cannot access more of them.

What do you think about the fact that if Freddy went to the library, he can't just go and pick a book off the shelf to read?

Girl:

It wouldn't be very nice.

Lita Woodward:

So what do you think should happen?

Girl:

They should all be available at the same time, so Freddy can read them as well.

Lita Woodward:

Straight away, and not have to wait.

Girl:

Yeah.

Freddy:

It might be a bit annoying sometimes if I can't get the same books as my friends. Help us change the story.

Voiceover:

Wear dots…raise lots for RNIB.

RNIB. Supporting people with sight loss.

rnib.org.uk/weardots