Sight loss charity Fighting Blindness is opening up their popular confidence building course, Living with Sight Loss, to visually impaired people living in Cork and across Ireland.
The free course will begin on Thursday, September 17 and run every Thursday from 11am to 3pm. The course will finish Thursday, October 15.
Previously, due to funding restrictions, the course was only available to those living in the border counties.
To meet Covid-19 social distancing guidelines, the charity transformed the face-to-face five week course into a virtual webinar series.
This new format has enabled them to open the course to people living in all 32 counties.
According to the most recent statistics, there are over 4,200 people in Cork who are living with vision impairment or blindness.
Living with Sight Loss is designed to increase the confidence and independence of people who are living with any form of sight loss.
The informal course will provide information and practical advice on a range of essential everyday topics such as getting out and about, information about welfare rights, and how technology can make life that bit easier.
Connor (30, Drogheda), a participant in the last virtual Living with Sight Loss course in June, said: “The course was brilliant. I only lost my sight earlier this year and I picked up a lot of useful information – about everything from assistive technology to the benefits of counselling. My partner Aoife learned even more than I did, she thought it was great. We both recommend the course to anyone living with sight loss and their family members.”
The course is delivered through the accessible video conferencing platform Zoom. A telephone dial in option is also available.
Places are limited and must be booked in advance by contacting Fighting Blindness on 01-6746496 or needtotalk@fightingblindness.ie.
This course is delivered through the ‘Need to Talk’ project, an emotional support and confidence building service supported by the European Union’s INTERREG VA Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB).
For more information about the Need to Talk counselling and confidence support service visit www.fightingblindness.ie/support/need-to-talk
