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800 Group Partner Brings New Service to the North West | 18/05/10 03:21Henshaws Mobile IT
Henshaws brings IT training to blind people in the heart of their community
Northern-based charity Henshaws Society for Blind People has won funding of £463,198 from the Big Lottery Reaching Communities programme for its five-year mobile IT project.
The first of its kind, the mobile IT project will use wireless technology to deliver IT training for visually impaired people at easy-to-reach community venues across Greater Manchester and Merseyside.
Only 10 per cent of visually impaired people regularly use a computer. Many can’t afford specialist software such as magnification and audio description, or haven’t been trained in how to use it. This leads to isolation, social exclusion and loss of confidence.
The government has promised to tackle ‘digital exclusion’ by making sure everyone in the UK benefits from the information revolution.
Henshaws provides IT training at its resource centres, but recognises that many blind people are unable to get there by public transport. So the charity is using laptops and wireless broadband technology to deliver its training at flexible locations across the region.
Over the next five years, 1,500 visually impaired adults will acquire basic IT skills at a Henshaws course in their area. This opens up a world of possibilities: online shopping, using email, and accessing information and services. It also enhances employability and the ability to apply for jobs online.
Bill Milner, Community Services Manager at Henshaws, says, “The availability of online information is the biggest step forward for visually impaired people since the invention of Braille. Our mobile IT training will bring enormous benefits to some of the most excluded and hardest to reach groups in the region.”
For information on mobile IT delivery locations in Greater Manchester and Merseyside, call Neil Kynaston on 0161 872 1234 (Manchester) or 0151 227 1226 (Liverpool).
We give expert care, advice and training to anyone affected by sight loss, right where it’s needed most. www.henshaws.org.uk
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