Businesses, organisations and community groups across Worthing and Adur are being invited to take part in free Visual Impairment Awareness workshops from Sight Support Worthing, helping to create more welcoming and accessible places for local people living with sight loss.
Funded through Adur & Worthing Councils’ Thriving Together Fund, the £10,000 project is enabling Sight Support Worthing to deliver its CPD-accredited training sessions free of charge across the local area.
In Worthing alone, around 4,000 people are known to be living with sight loss. Through practical, interactive workshops led by trainers with lived experience, the charity is helping organisations better understand visual impairment and make simple changes that can have a significant impact.
Participants gain practical skills and confidence in communicating with and supporting blind and partially sighted people, while learning about accessibility, inclusion and best practice.
The workshops are suitable for businesses, healthcare providers, community organisations, public services, charities, customer service teams and anyone working in a public-facing role.
The impact can already be seen locally. Following training from Sight Support Worthing, Lime Tree Surgery introduced the use of yellow paper for patients with macular degeneration, making written information easier to read and improving accessibility for patients.
Sight Support Worthing hopes to work with many more businesses and organisations to make the town centre and wider community more inclusive, giving people with sight loss greater confidence to shop, access services and participate in everyday life.
The sessions can be delivered either at our Rowlands Road headquarters or at organisations’ own premises, and are designed so that participants can share their learning with colleagues, extending the benefits throughout their workplace.
Delivered by trainers with lived experience of visual impairment, the workshops combine discussion, practical demonstrations and interactive activities to build understanding and confidence.
Organisations interested in taking advantage of the free training can contact Jackie at Jackie@sightsupportworthing.org.uk or call her on 01903 235 782 for more information.
