| Description | Interview with Thomas and Beatrice Williams, Quinton, Birmingham. Thomas Williams talks about his experience of gradually losing his sight as a teenager, and his education at a school for blind children. Beatrice Williams joins the conversation to talk about her experience of losing her sight as a child through meningitis and attending the same school. Thomas talks about the segregation of boys and girls for most social activities at the school and his feelings about this, the lack of mobility training at school and accepting help and mobility aids as he gets older due to feeling nervous about the amount of traffic. He discusses receiving more help since he has used a white stick, the feelings of reluctance of many younger people to use a stick, and getting hurt by obstacles when moving around. Beatrice Williams talks about her worries about going out alone and her lack of independence, and Thomas joins the conversation to discuss ways of measuring independence. He believes that mobility cannot be taught and talks about his own ease of mobility as a young man and the development of his hearing to detect obstacles. He discusses what he knows about mobility techniques taught with the long cane and his negative response to them, and his use of a white stick to indicate that he needs help crossing roads. He talks about his job in the engineering workshops, his employment history, and Beatrice joins the converstion to talk about her packing job. They feel fortunate to have any kind of work but feel tied to their jobs (tracks 1-10).
Total: 32.46 mins
Dubber's reference number: PLA KF565D0762580 |