GATEWAY TO THE ARTS OPENED

 FOR PEOPLE WITH SIGHT PROBLEMS 

AND OTHER DISABILITIES

THE ARTS COUNCIL AND RNIB NI 

WORK TOGETHER

Major Launch Event – Tuesday 24 June, Ormeau Baths Gallery, 10.45 am

How do you ‘read’ something if you can’t see?

Isn’t it hard to be informed if you can’t read?

How do people with such disabilities get involved in the Arts if they don’t know what’s open to them?

Together, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and RNIB NI (Royal National Institute of the Blind, Northern Ireland) have come up with the answer.

Using RNIB NI’s digital recording and transcription services, the Arts Council has published a range of its printed information on audio-tape and Braille. This will now be available through all 5 Education and Library Boards.

The initiative was formally introduced at an event in the

Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast 

Professor Brian Walker, Chairman of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, is enthusiastic about the new service:

‘Our job is to promote and fund the Arts and everyone has the right to know what we do and find out how they can get involved. People with sight problems and other disabilities can find printed materials impossible to use, but – with the help of RNIB NI – we have found it surprisingly easy to open a new gateway to the Arts

Council, using audio and Braille. What could be more appropriate as we mark the European Year of People with Disabilities and celebrate the Special Olympics pageant?’

Some organisations provide audio and Braille materials on request,

but the Arts Council is going further. 

With the help of Special Services Librarians in all 5 Education and Library Boards, RNIB NI, the Talking Newspapers service and others, the aim is to make audio and Braille information widely and immediately available.

Susan Reid, Director RNIB NI, explains why the Arts Council initiative is important:

‘People with serious sight loss and other disabilities need information in forms they can easily use. This brings independence and promotes participation in society on equal terms. RNIB NI’s Audio and Braille service helps organisations to meet the guidelines of the Disability Discrimination Act, but it is great to see the Arts Council going much further and making audio and Braille materials so widely available’.

The launch will be attended by government representatives involved in the European Year of People with Disabilities and wider disability issues; the Special Librarians Service; the Employers’ Forum for People with Disabilities; the Equality Commission; visually impaired artists and people with other disabilities; RNIB NI volunteers and organisations supported by the Arts Council.

Initially, the Arts Council is making a total of seven Policy and Awards documents available in audio and Braille. This means that people with sight problems and other disabilities will have easy access to information about the role of the Council and about its funding schemes.

This is the just the beginning of an ongoing programme to publish more Arts Council materials in ways which people with disabilities can access independently and easily.