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Joseph Johnson: My name is Joseph Johnson. I'm nine years old, and I've had glaucoma
since I was born. Mum has registered me as blind, and with my glasses I can see a bit.
I'm not like my other friends who can see across the playground, and usually I have
to put small things close up so I can examine them properly.
Let's see if I can flick this. I like to play football with my dad because
there's no pressure. I know I'm not going to get hit in the face, and he's quite a good
player, so I can pick up stuff from him. That wasn't too bad.
Anna Fu: I'm Anna Fu, and I'm 11. I've got Leber's amaurosis, which I've had since I
was born, which basically means I'm registered blind. I can see colours, shapes, basic patterns,
but nothing in a great deal of detail. I've played the flute for almost four years, and
I just learnt it by ear. Joseph: To start off with, I was only reading
small print books. Usually I have to put my head close to the text so I can see it properly
and make out the words. When I had my first book in giant print, I opened it, and I thought,
this is quite big, and I was able to read a lot quicker. If I was lying in bed reading
at night, I could outstretch my legs, put my book on there and look down on it, and
I could read it, if it was giant print, and I would just love reading.
Anna: The book starts as a print book, and then RNIB Library transfers it into braille.
I was about five or six when I was first learning to read braille. I find reading just using
my fingers, it's just a normal thing for me. Reading a whole book in braille can be a bit
of hassle, because they're really big and thick. If you were reading it when you were
out, you would have to drag a whole suitcase with one book in it.
Joseph: When a new book arrives from the RNIB, or a couple of books, usually it's like, what
have I got, what have I got this time. I like reading the Horrible Histories series. I also
like The Indian in the Cupboard series. Just by reading the text, you could just think,
I can imagine him. Anna: I think when you come to the end of
a really amazing story, it's quite overwhelming, and you just want to be back halfway through
the book wondering what happened next. When I can't get the same books as everyone else,
it leaves me in the kind of situation where I am slightly frustrated, because obviously
when everyone's talking about it, it's a bit awkward, and you don't know what to say.
Joseph: I've been lucky so far with getting my books, but I've heard they haven't been
able to get all the books in large print. So I just hope that it will be there in the
future.