Refurbished & Ex-Demo Equipment

We source refurbished equipment to order so please call or email us with your requirements.

I have such exciting news to share. Thanks to your hard work and support over the past few months, Andrew Gywnne MP has announced that he is going to introduce a Bill to Parliament to make sure all taxi and minicab drivers have Disability Equality Training.

This is a huge moment in the campaign to end guide dog owners being refused access to places. Guide dog owners have told us that taxis and minicabs turn them away with shocking regularity because their dog isn’t welcome.This can crush people’s confidence and stops them doing the everyday things that most people take for granted. This Bill, if made law, will help to end that.

Andrew Gwynne MP (pictured) attended the Access All Areas Lobby of Parliament last month with over 100 guide dog owners. There he heard first hand about the impact of access refusals. On announcing his decision to introduce the Bill he said:

“I am delighted to be able to support this campaign in Parliament. It is a fairly small change in the law that will have a huge impact on the ability of blind people to go about their business.”

Thank you so much for helping us to get this Bill. I will keep you updated in the coming months on how you can help it move forward – this is only the beginning!

Best wishes

Hannah

Guide Dogs Campaigns Team

I have a brand new boxed unlocked Nokia c5 with full talks to sell for £200 ono if anyone is interested!

Aspire  is happy to announce that we are now selling the Pocketscan. See the video bellow

here are links to two videos about the Sunu Band

Sunu Short video – https://youtu.be/rePo4PyXGi4

Daniel Kish review – https://youtu.be/eQLWTH5dFPQ

The sunu band should be available from May/June time and we at Aspire will be selling it.

the boy who can see without his eyes, using sonar.

Human Echo Location

Ben Underwood is blind. Both eyes were removed when he was just three years old, leaving him with no vision at all. So how on earth does he play basketball, rollerblade and cycle his bike? Ben lost his eyes to retinal cancer but, unbelievably, he’s taught himself to see; with sound.

Ben Underwood and his family live in Sacramento, the state capital of California. It’s an old city with roots in the Wild West, but Ben and his family live in the new, outlying suburbs.

Ben uses many common aids for the blind, like speaking software for his computer so he can jot down his rap lyrics. He’s also written a book and does his schoolwork on a hi-tech Braille writer. But what’s unusual, what’s totally unique, is what he doesn’t use. Ben has no guide dog and never uses a white cane. He doesn’t even use his hands. Instead he sees with sound, he makes a sharp click, with his tongue, which bounces back off nearby objects. Amazingly, Ben’s ears pick up the echoes and he can precisely locate where things are. Ben is the only person in the world who sees using nothing but echolocation.

Ben’s echolocation is so good, that at home his mum, Aquanetta Gordon, and his brother make no allowance for his blindness at all. Aquanetta has refused to allow the loss of Ben’s eyes to overshadow their lives.

Ben was born perfectly healthy, with dark eyes like his mum. But, when he was two she looked into his eyes and saw something was terribly wrong. In Ben’s eye was a rapidly-growing, malignant tumour; a retinoblastoma. This is a rare infant eye cancer that affects only one in every six million. Dr James Ruben, Ben’s paediatric eye surgeon, explains “If left to it’s own devices it would be lethal. It would spread along his optic nerve and into his brain”.

In an attempt to save his sight, doctors immediately began intense chemo and radio therapy, but after ten months there was still some scattered tumour. Aquanetta had to make a critical, heart-rending decision; try to save his eyes or try to save his life.

To this day, Aquanetta describes the world to him so that Ben can experience life to the full. He is currently on his fourth set of prosthetic eyes and Aquanetta still treasures the ones he had as a little boy.

Just one year after the operation to remove his eyes, Ben astonished his mum when he performed what seemed like a miracle. While in the car he asked his mum what the big building was that they were passing. Ben’s ears were picking up the sounds of the city traffic reflecting from the building’s surfaces.

Seeing with sound transformed Ben’s life. His mum let him play in the street because his sound pictures seemed to make him more aware of danger than his sighted friends. Ben’s super-sense amazed everyone, but this was just the beginning. When he was seven, Ben discovered a new power, he began to click. Ben learned to bounce his clicks off objects around him, giving him an even clearer picture of his surroundings. Over the years Ben has developed his clicking into such a fine art, that he can skate freely. He has the confidence and fluidity of movement through space other blind people can only dream of.

There’s nothing his friends can do, that Ben wont attempt, and conquer.

Doctors suspect that Ben has developed super-hearing to compensate for his loss of sight. However, tests reveal he has only normal hearing. So, has Ben’s brain learned to translate the sound he hears into visual information?

Sonar uses echo location to detect underwater objects. In water, even a small noise can be heard for many miles. In air, echoes are much harder to detect. They’re so faint it’s a miracle Ben can echo locate at all.

Scientists at the University of California in Santa Barbara want to see and study how Ben navigates with such a faint signal. They test him to see how small an object he can detect and how well he can differentiate the shape of different objects. He excels by detecting a thin upright tube and correctly identifying two like objects from four placed on the table in front of him.

Cycling is a breeze to blind Ben

School hasn’t always been a happy experience for Ben. Three years ago, Aquanetta was advised to send him to a residential school for the blind. She was told it would be good for Ben to mix with other blind kids. As soon as he arrived he knew it was a big mistake. He recalls “I didn’t like the blind school because it was like a school full of handicapped kids. I don’t belong here, there ain’t nothin’ wrong with me”. Many of the students, as it turned out, had multiple disabilities. With so many vulnerable students around, staff were naturally protective, but Ben wanted to run around and play games, just as he did at home.

Ben is a typical teenager; he thinks he knows it all. Aquanetta knows there is only one man he might listen to. Daniel Kish is a unique mobility instructor; like Ben he lost his eyes to cancer as a baby, he also discovered clicking as a child. Unlike Ben he’s perfected a mobility system that combines echolocation and the cane. He has Ben’s no-limits philosophy too, taking students hiking and mountain biking. For Daniel, “The Blind Leading The Blind” is a campaigning vision.

Of Ben he says “In terms of echolocation he’s probably one of the finest, if not the finest, I’ve ever come across. But he could achieve so much more if he would swallow his pride and learn to use the cane”. Ben is the best self-taught echo locator in the world.

Daniel has experience of travelling quickly and safely all over the world; alone. Just the sort of independence he wants to teach Ben. A need he forcibly demonstrates when he let’s Ben get completely lost on a walk in the local park.

CREDITS: The above came from the UK Channel 5 “Extraordinary People” documentary series.

Bristol primary school says seven-year-old pupil can no longer use her walking cane because it could trip up teachers and other children

Lily-Grace-Hooper has been told she can no longer use her cane because it could trip up teachers and other pupils

A blind girl has been banned from bringing her white walking stick to school because of “health and safety” reasons.

Lily-Grace Hooper, seven, suffered a stroke when she was just four days old, leaving her with virtually no sight.

But her school, Hambrook Primary School in Bristol, has told the youngster she can no longer use her cane because it could trip up teachers and other pupils.

A risk assessment completed on behalf of the school said the cane caused high risk to other people and that Lily-Grace should instead have “100 per cent” adult support at all times.

However, her mother is worried her daughter will become too dependent on having someone show her around – and said having a helper would set her daughter apart from other pupils.

“She hasn’t had any problems with any of the other students, and none of the parents have complained about it – in fact, they have all been very supportive”

Lily-Grace suffered a stroke days after she was born. As a result, she lost her 3D vision and became blind in her right eye. She can now only see lights and colours in her left.

Shortly before Christmas last year, she started using long wrapping paper rolls to help her get around the house.

She asked her mother for a stick and was given a long fibre-glass walking cane by Common Sense Cane, a charity for blind children earlier this year.

Lily-Grace started using the cane in school in April. Her mother, Kristy Hooper, said it had become “an extension of her daughter’s arm” and that it was vital she was allowed to use it.

She added: “It is a disability, but I want to celebrate it and make sure she can become independent. When the school told me she can no longer bring her cane into school, I just thought this must be health and safety gone mad.

“She hasn’t had any problems with any of the other students, and none of the parents have complained about it – in fact, they have all been very supportive.

“I don’t understand where the school is coming from. Lily-Grace has taken to the cane very quickly, and she needs it as she travels to school, walks to the playground, or just being in school.”

Ms Hooper said: “I am absolutely livid. What about the health and safety of my girl? I like the school, they are a good school, but this really is very poor advice.

“It’s just ridiculous. If you took a walking cane away from a blind adult, you would say that was discrimination. It’s the same here.”

Sarah Murray, founder of Common Sense Canes, said: “I’m very supportive of Kristy, and what she’s facing is absolute nonsense from the school. A child needs to learn to be independent, and they need to start from a very young age.

“I’ve heard about this health and safety reasons, and I just cannot fathom what the school is thinking. Why are they taking a cane away from a little girl?”

She added the cane supplied to Lily-Grace was longer than usual to help her get about and also lighter than normal so it was suitable for a child.

Blind Children UK, the leading charity for vision-impaired children, said it was imperative a child learned independence from a young age.

A spokesman said: “Using a cane teaches a child to keep themselves safe and can help them to become less reliant on others. Early intervention is vital to help a child with sight loss move around more confidently and grow towards greater independence as an adult.

“While a cane may not be suitable for every child or young person with sight loss, if they are taught how to use it by a trained habilitation specialist, then, in general, there shouldn’t be an issue with using one safely around school.”

The risk assessment said Lily-Grace should have full adult support at all times and that she should use hand rails to navigate the school.

She also has been asked to “walk carefully over all surfaces” especially paving stones and wet drain covers – but without the use of her current cane.

“We are very keen to resolve this issue as soon as possible and have been actively seeking to engage with the parent to bring this to an agreeable conclusion”

Instead, the risk assessment said she should use a shortened cane – something her parents said is not suitable because she had become used to her current cane.

Hambrook Primary School head teacher Jo Dent said: “The school’s mobility officer raised health and safety issues around the new cane following a recent risk assessment.

“We have to consider all of our pupils, so it is important that we have an opportunity to discuss the situation before we make any decisions.

“We are very keen to resolve this issue as soon as possible and have been actively seeking to engage with the parent to bring this to an agreeable conclusion.

“The pupil has not been banned from bringing in their cane, we have simply asked them to not use it around school as a temporary measure until we have the chance to meet with the parent and discuss the situation. It was initially hoped that we would have this resolved within a day or two.”

Friday, September 11th 2015

Organisers of Vision Awareness Week say public support for events is heart-warming.

The Manx Blind Welfare Society has arranged events for people to learn about services for blind and visually impaired people – which kick-start from 14th September.

There’ll be an acoustic shooting competition, an Island-wide fundraising day – go ‘Bright for Sight’ – and ‘Walk My Way’; an annual guided walk.

Schools, businesses, Scout packs and charities have already committed to taking part.