Anela: volunteer and join us
Anela Wood, Bristol Sight Loss Council, highlights what volunteering means to her and why you should join our Sight Loss Councils.
Passionate about making a difference? What to create and influence positive change? Our Sight Loss Councils, led by blind and partially sighted volunteers, are recruiting new members.
Sight Loss Councils are led by blind and partially sighted members who used their lived experience to create positive change. Together, we tackle local issues and work with businesses and service providers to improve the accessibility of their services.
Join us to help ensure visually impaired people in your area can live the lives they want to lead.
View more volunteer stories
Video description
Sight Loss Council member Anela is sat on a black chair facing the camera. She has long dark hair and is wearing a green dress. There is a Sight Loss Council banner to her right. The banner says: ‘Led by blind and partially sighted volunteers, we tackle local and national issues, and improve the accessibility of services.’ It also shows the website address: www.sightlosscouncils.org.uk
A slide with blue text is shown when Anela is asked a question by the interviewer, Nicola, who is not shown on camera.
Transcript
Anela: My name is Anela Wood and I am with the Bristol Sight Loss Council.
Nicola: What does being a Sight Loss Council volunteer mean to you?
Anela: I really enjoy being a volunteer and doing my Sight Loss Council work. I feel like it makes a real difference in the community for visually impaired people now and in the future. And to be able to see results from the things that we’re doing and the work that’s being done is what kind of keeps me going.
Nicola: Tell us about a Sight Loss Council project that you’ve been involved.
Anela: So a project that I’ve been involved with is working with our local hospital, North Bristol Trust Southmead Hospital in Bristol. It’s our main hospital now. Working with them to raise awareness about visual impairment and talking to them about making their services and facilities more accessible, and their communication’s more accessible.
So the point of the project was to help visually impaired people to be able to access the hospital in a more meaningful and independent way. It’s important to all of the Sight Loss Council, and to the projects that we are involved in, our blind awareness training with staff and with volunteers. And I also take part in lots of different groups, the inclusion and diversity, patient experience and accessible information just to name a few of them.
Nicola: Why should other blind and partially sighted people join us?
Anela: It’s very rewarding, it can be fun and it’s going to help the whole community, but it also feels good for volunteers themselves. It’s really good on your CV and Thomas Pocklington Trust is a good organisation to volunteer for.
Nicola: Join our community.
Anela: I never really saw myself staying in the Sight Loss Council for any length of time. I was convinced to join for a year, and then I was free to go if I wanted to, but they just wanted help to get off the ground. But three years in, I’m still here. And it’s because I see what we do as very worthwhile and I really enjoy doing it, and I feel very valued as a volunteer.
Nicola: Join us and become a Sight Loss Council volunteer. To find out more, visit sightlosscouncils.org.uk/join-us
End of transcript.