Help during the pandemic

We have compiled some information which we hope you will find useful during the pandemic. Click on the menus to find some tips for staying independent if you are visually impaired, and some useful phone numbers for other organisations that may be of help. We will add to this list if we hear of any more, so please check this page regularly.

Advice during lockdown 

The Thomas Pocklington Trust, a leading national sight loss charity, has compiled a useful summary of the new restrictions which come in from Wednesday 6th January 2021.  It includes links for help and advice for visually impaired people and you can find it by clicking on this link: https://www.pocklington-trust.org.uk/new-national-covid-19-restrictions-in-england/

You can also download some information which the Thomas Pocklington Trust compiled for the last lockdown, if this is more accessible for you. The information there applies to this lockdown too. You can download this as a word document or a pdf by clicking the button of your choice. The word document may be easier for screenreaders.

Our services during the pandemic

Although we’ve had to change how we work in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, our commitment to doing our best to support visually impaired people in Derbyshire has not.

Our offices in Derby and Chesterfield have stayed open throughout, with a skeleton staff. With all other staff working from home, we have provided an essential help and advice line. We have provided telephone rehabilitation assessments where we can, and have sent essential equipment out by post, or made doorstep deliveries.

Back in March we had to suspend our social groups, which we sadly cannot resume yet. We also had to suspend our community information events and mobile resource centre activities. We held our first information event since lockdown, with measures in place to make it safe, and hope to run more of these in the future if restrictions allow. We cannot hold any further events during the current restrictions.

Our priority is to provide the best service to you that we can, while keeping you and our staff and volunteers as safe as we can. If you need any advice or support, get in touch and we will try our best to help. Contact us using the link below.