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[Diane] My name is Diane Marks. I’m 38 years of age.
I lost my sight completely due to meningitis
in South Africa 14 years ago.
The aspect of daily life that I find extremely difficult is
being able to read on the spur of the moment.
So it could be my post, it could be in the supermarket reading tin cans,
or even looking at engineering posters in the station.
Problems I’ve had with travel is getting the right train times,
being able to look on the electronic display boards on the trains
as to which station is coming up.
You know you have to rely on asking someone if you say
excuse me is this such and such a stop
or is this the next train station
and I hate it because you’re sitting on edge constantly
thinking gee, have I missed my stop?
In the city now we have two bus routes
that have audio announcements and that’s fantastic
but we still have many major routes through Brighton and Hove
without audio so you still have to say
‘can you tell me when you get to x stop’
and I hate doing that.
[Talking bus stop] You are in New Church Road,
near to the junction with Westbourne Villas,
going towards Port Slade, Mile Oak and Downs Park.
[Diane] The RNIB React Service is a series of talking bus stops across the city.
The React service works by a fob in the person’s pocket
and the minute you walk past the bus stop,
if the fob is turned on it immediately triggers the talking bus stops.
So the bus stops will tell you where you are
and which buses are due.
[Talking Bus Stop] Service 6 to Downs Park 1 minute,
Service 1 to Mile Oak 3 minutes….
[Diane] It’s brilliant to be able to walk up to a talking bus stop
and the next thing it just goes off at you.
And you can tell where you are firstly,
so whereabouts in town you are which is great as a navigation aid
and then for it to say ‘the next bus is due in two minutes’
is superb, I love it.
To have travel made more accessible means
I have been able to be more independent.
I have been able to get out and about far more
than I ever would have with a white cane.
I also feel that because I now have my guide dog Thomas
and easy accessible use of travel throughout the city
and further afield to places like London, Southampton,
it’s made life enjoyable.