Sir Gavin Williamson joined Thomas Pocklington Trust, a charity dedicated to improving accessibility for visually impaired people.
Sir Gavin met with blind and partially sighted staff and volunteers from the organisation, to learn more about their experiences and to offer support for their work in Parliament. They discussed accessibility issues in transport, health, banking, and education. Sir Gavin agreed that more should be done to assist visually impaired people to access daily life.
Despite the fact that there are over 2 million people in the UK suffering from sight loss, many daily activities are made more difficult due to accessibility issues. Thomas Pocklington Trust organised the ‘Can You See Us?’ event to highlight sectors that particularly need to focus on improving this. They shared the results of their Listening Month survey, which demonstrated that a large proportion of visually impaired people face obstacles on public transport, when voting, when accessing healthcare, and when working.
Sir Gavin said: “It was a pleasure to meet with representatives from Thomas Pocklington Trust – the surveys they have conducted provide valuable insight into how our public services can accommodate visually impaired people. Many in Staffordshire struggle with sight loss, and I’m committed to doing what I can to make sure they are able to live freely.”