Category: blog

30 October 2017

New test may spot glaucoma early

We’ve been really excited to read about recent research from University College London, where researchers have developed a test that may spot glaucoma years – even a decade – before we notice any visual impairment. What is Glaucoma? Glaucoma is when the optic nerve – connecting your eye to brain – becomes damaged, leading to …

Image approximating the sight of someone with glaucoma

16 October 2017

Getting accessible customer-service right first time

Recent research into how sensory-impaired people access disability benefits highlights problems in the PIP benefits application process. These problems are unnecessary, and hinder people from accessing the benefits they both rely on, and are entitled to. Ensuring people can access their disability benefits is of utmost priority, and these issues need to be addressed. But …

6 October 2017

Sightsavers’ work to eliminate avoidable blindness

It’s World Smile Day, and who can forget Criscent’s smile after his double cataract operation by Sightsavers? Today we’re instantly reminded of Criscent Bwambale from Uganda, wearing his new glasses after having life-changing double cataract surgery at the age of six. BBC News In Pictures documents Criscent’s experience. Criscent’s operation was made possible by Sightsavers, a charity …

Image of Criscent Bwambale, wearing his new glasses and smiling.

18 September 2017

The Accessible Information Standard: update

How A2i can help you comply with the Accessible Information Standard The UK government’s Accessible Information Standard came into force from the 1st August 2016. You may already know that the Standard requires publicly funded health and social care organisations to ensure patients, service-users, their parents, and carers can get information in an accessible format …

20 July 2017

A2i turns 18!

A2i Celebrating 18 Year’s Journey This year we’re celebrating our 18th birthday, and we’ll be marking this occasion with a big celebration in August! We thought our 18th would be an ideal chance to give something back to our community, so we’re also celebrating by offering 18 gifts to local organisations and businesses in Bristol. …

7 July 2017

Making linguistics and language learning accessible

How can we make linguistics and language learning accessible for visually impaired students? I’ve just returned from a very fruitful and inspiring workshop, ‘Accessible Linguistics for Visually Impaired Students’ (ALVIS), organised by York St John university exploring just this. Students, academics, teachers, and professionals from Brazil, Poland, and across the UK gathered in the beautiful city of …

9 June 2017

A2i launches new website

We’re delighted to launch our new, user-friendly website, packed full of resources and advice to help you reach your blind, partially-sighted and print-disabled customers and end-users. You may have already noticed it, but we’ve been hard a work re-designing our website which we hope you’ll find much easier to use. The site now offers: easier to …

2 June 2017

How to write an alternative formats statement

It may seem an odd question, but just how accessible is your statement about your document’s accessibility? We often find that document accessibility statements like ‘this information is available in alternative formats on request’ are in a tiny, hard-to-read font or colour, often hidden away at the back of the document – when they should …

2 June 2017

Are you reaching all print-disabled customers?

Do you have customers with dyslexia or learning difficulties who might also benefit from accessible formats? Meaning of Print Disability Although most of the recipients of our transcriptions have sight loss, many are sighted but are described as having a ‘print-disability’. But what does ‘print-disabled’ actually mean? “A print disabled person is a person who …

26 May 2017

How do you vote if you have sight loss?

Unless you are blind, partially sighted, or know someone who is, it’s possible you’ve never wondered how blind people vote. But of course, just like sighted voters, blind and visually impaired people have a right to vote independently, and in secret. For a process so entrenched in the written medium, we find out how polling stations …

Image of old fashion General Election ballot box
Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial