My name’s Mark Smith. I’m 37. I’m registered blind.
I had some useful vision in my early years
but I lost my vision completely about twelve years ago.
I’m very fortunate in the sense that I’ve got good mobility skills
and having lots of RNIB rehabilitation has made a huge difference in my life.
In terms of functioning with access to printed material,
I use a braille display and a speech programme on the computer.
So a lot more information is available electronically nowadays
with email and also with the internet.
The medication that I take because of my blindness is
mainly around eye drops and ointments.
I also take something called Circadian, which helps me to regulate
my body clock because I can’t see any light and dark.
A lot of the packaging now from the local pharmacy has braille on it.
Unfortunately the braille doesn’t go so far as to say how often
you should take it, because it’s only the standard manufacturers’
information on the braille, with just the name of the medication
and the actual quantity of tablets inside the packaging.
The RNIB X-PIL line is a service provided where
either myself or my pharmacist can ring up and request
information on a particular item of medication
and that then is transcribed into the person’s preferred medium.
So for myself that would be braille or an electronic version on email.
Using the RNIB X-PIL service is just a case of making
another phone call or sending that email.
Asking for help isn’t something that I find that difficult myself
but I’m fortunate in the sense that I’m fairly confident.
Whereas for some people, when they’re losing their sight,
often their confidence does become quite badly affected.
And I think we all like to have as high a degree of independence as possible
and like to be able to use the same systems as a sighted person.
It’s always one of these difficult situations where
you have to accept that you live in a sighted world but there is also
this element of trying to make the world in which we live equal
and having that level of equality.