Policy and Campaigns: 2024 in Review

Engaging with decision makers

Deepening an understanding of the challenges facing blind and partially sighted people in everyday life was particularly important this year, with a General Election looming and many new MPs expected to come into Parliament. Back in February we took Wes Streeting MP, then Shadow Health Secretary, and parliamentary candidate, Gen Kitchen, on a walk to better understand the challenges faced by blind and partially sighted people when moving around town streets, followed by a discussion about what needs to change in terms of eye care and vision rehabilitation.

Anneliese Dodds MP, then Shadow Equalities Minister, spent time learning about the accessible features of our Islington office, the Grimaldi Building, and hosted a roundtable on employment and disability with people with lived experience and representatives of the Disability Charity Consortium.

Launching our #OutOfSight Campaign

In March, we launched the #OutOfSight campaign to press for action to address the postcode lottery of vision rehabilitation services in England. The campaign has gained traction, with media coverage and over 20,000 petition signatures. One way to improve services would be the development of national standards for vision rehabilitation, but so far the body responsible, NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) has not been persuaded to take on this task. Look out for more ways to get involved in the campaign in 2025.

Making streets and transport inclusive

Across the year more than 100 people took part in guided walks and training sessions on inclusive street design with us. Attendees have come from a wide range of organisations, including the Leader of Chesterfield City Council, design teams from Cumberland and Staffordshire Councils, Transport for Greater Manchester, and engineers from Tees Valley and Liverpool City Region Combined Authorities. We’ve also worked with design consultancies like Mott McDonald, Flinders Chase, WSP, PJA, and Pell Frischmann, as well as operators such as Lime Bikes and CoMo, the national shared transport organisation.

There have been some fantastic outcomes such as Manchester City Council’s road safety team committing to using our Key Principles for their road safety audits. We’ve also supported campaigners to contribute to shaping the Peterborough Station re-design work. On top of that, our team and local campaign volunteers have worked closely with around 70 upper-tier authorities, sharing our Key Principles of Inclusive Street Design and other policy guidance to help shape future street developments.

We hosted London Deputy Mayor for Transport, Seb Dance, and Walking and Cycling Commissioner, Will Norman, for a guided walk in September, highlighting bus stop bypasses and street obstacles. This led to valuable – and ongoing - discussions with Transport for London and Active Travel England about improving accessibility.

Ticket office campaign wins award

We were honoured to win a Charity Award for Campaigning and Advocacy, recognising our campaigning in 2023 to prevent the closure of over 800 ticket offices across England and at Glasgow Central station. Thanks to everyone who got involved, up and down the country.

Swap With Me event for First Bus

Our North of England Changemakers youth campaigner group held a successful ‘Swap With Me’ event in Leeds with First Bus, which involves bus drivers and passengers with sight loss experiencing bus travel from each other’s seats. The event has since led to plans to incorporate accessibility training into regular driver sessions.

Getting sight loss on the agenda ahead of the General Election

Ahead of the General Election, we connected with candidates across all parties to advocate for accessible voting. We created a guide to campaigning accessibly for political candidates, and a dedicated webpage to help campaigners get involved.

RNIB helped trial accessible voting solutions in the local elections in May, collected feedback, and importantly, promoted a template letter for blind and partially sighted voters to request accessible voting equipment to vote in the General Election.

We created engaging social media content, including influencer videos demonstrating accessible voting tools, and even managed to go viral on Tik Tok with a demonstration of an audio voting device!

Our #BlindVotersCount open letter, which was open in the run up to the election and called on the next Prime Minister to finally make voting in secret a reality for people with sight loss, was supported by over 2,400 signatories, and delivered to Downing Street after the election.

We know that there’s a long way to go, however, Survey findings on people’s voting experiences found that only a quarter of blind people (26 per cent) felt that the current system allows them to vote independently and in secret. Meanwhile, 73 per cent of blind and partially sighted people didn’t know they could request reasonable adjustments from their local polling station to allow them to vote independently and in secret.

Our Regional Campaigns team organised over 30 guided walks with Prospective Parliamentary Candidates in the run-up to polling day. Some of the candidates who participated, like Alice McDonald, went on to become MPs.

Working with Vision Northumberland we met with North East Mayor Kim McGuiness after the election to explore areas of collaboration at a time when mayors are set to have a greater say over regional decisions. The meeting covered important RNIB policy topics such as transport, built environment, employment, education, health, and social care.

Immersive Cane Street experience at Party Conferences

At the autumn party conferences, we helped build an understanding of the need for vision rehabilitation with our immersive 'Cane Street' stand, where MPs were invited to walk down a ‘street’ littered with obstacles such as an A board and a bike. This drew in over 112 MPs, including Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey. Our conference offering also included a packed pub quiz fringe event designed to challenge attitudes toward sight loss.

Parliamentary reception wowed MPs

On 25 November, RNIB hosted a fantastic event in Parliament with 90 MPs, including the Minister for Social Security and Disability, Sir Stephen Timms. We discussed simple actions MPs can take to make their offices more accessible, like adding alt text to images. MPs had the chance to experience sighted guiding and learn how RNIB can support their constituents through our employment and legal rights services. We also shared what we’re calling for on vision rehabilitation, and on accessible voting. The event helped us grow the number of RNIB Champions to 192 MPs.

Also in Parliament, RNIB’s continued support for the All Party Parliamentary Group on Eye Health and Vision Impairment, with our partners Thomas Pocklington Trust, resulted in the publication of a powerful report on the barriers faced by blind and partially sighted people in employment.

Contributing to the COVID Inquiry

This autumn, as part of the Disability Charities Consortium, a group of nine disability charities, RNIB took part in the Covid Inquiry’s healthcare hearings, spotlighting the impact of the pandemic on disabled people. Our Chief Executive Officer, Matt Stringer, gave evidence on behalf of the Consortium, where he cited experiences shared by blind and partially sighted people at workshops run by RNIB as part of the inquiry’s evidence gathering activity.

Local campaigning on accessible health information

Not getting health information in an accessible format is one of the main problems that we hear about from blind and partially sighted people. Throughout the year, we’ve been campaigning locally to make the 2016 Accessible Information Standard (AIS) a reality.

Supported by amazing volunteers, this included working alongside Healthwatch Essex to produce a guide on AIS for GP surgeries. At the same time, we’ve been supporting a number of hospitals and health trusts to set up and run AIS working groups and to review relevant policies and procedures in areas such as Bradford, Sunderland and South Tyneside, Calderdale and Huddersfield, Southampton, and Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge.

We continue to work with Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) in areas including Hertfordshire, Hampshire and Bath, Swindon and Wiltshire, to make sure they have a named lead for AIS and are meeting the standard.

Inaccessible letter delivered to Health Secretary

In early December, we joined with other charities to deliver an inaccessible health appointment letter to Health Secretary Wes Streeting’s office, to express our frustration at a lack of accessible health information for disabled people. We’re pushing for NHS England to publish and fully implement an updated Accessible Information Standard, ensuring people with communication needs get information in accessible formats like large print, braille, and audio.

With publication of an updated version delayed for nearly two years, we’re calling for immediate action to improve accessibility in healthcare as the government consults on a Ten Year Plan for the NHS.

Improved accessibility of bowel screening

In partnership with the Thomas Pocklington Trust, we’ve worked hard to make bowel cancer screening kits more accessible to people with sight loss. After a meeting with NHS England, we were pleased to hear that accessible formats are expected to be available by the New Year.

Looking ahead to 2025

2025 is set to be a packed year. We’ll be particularly championing better eye health and vision rehabilitation services for all who need them, as well as keeping up the pressure for accessible voting and inclusive streets. It’s been a busy and impactful year, and we’re excited to build on this momentum as we move into 2025. Thank you for all your incredible support!