RNIB Connect

Quick-steps, spins and sparkles now as Vocaleyes and Step Change Studios are developing live AD for dance competitions.
Amelia spoke to audio describer Willie Elliott to learn more about his research and recommendations to bring blind and partially sighted into the action.
Step Change Studios have space in their blind ballroom classes starting on the 12th September. Learn more on the Step Change Studios website - Step Change Studios | inclusive dance | London, UK
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If you’re looking for new ways to get involved in the community and make new friends, then a social club might be just up your street. Hywel Davies has been finding out the only social club in mid-Wales for blind and partially sighted people.

Mirrorbox is an interactive social art installation by I Would Be Here if I Could, co-created by people living with ME or Long Covid, carrying messages from people living with one of these conditions to places around the UK they love but can no longer visit due to their illness.
Mirrorbox will be touring a number of locations around the UK starting with the Royal Opera House in London (13-14 September 2026). Visitors are invited to listen, reflect, and write a postcard to the message sender in return.  All the audio messages are also available to listen to online via the I Would Be Here if I Could website.
RNIB Connect Radio’s Toby Davey was joined by Alison Larkman, lived-experience artist and creator of I Would Be Here If I Could and The Mirrorbox project who has ME, to find out more about mirror box and how the messages can relate to a wide audience including visually impaired people too. 
To find out more about Mirrorbox, the UK tour, listen to the audio messages online and to get involved with the project too do visit the I Would Be Here if I Could website - https://www.iwouldbehereificould.com
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See Work Differently Placements can be a great way for blind and partially sighted people to get into employment but what’s a placement actually like? David Hogg spoke to Michael Kear and Kate Charles from Vision PK to find out.
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Following on from releasing his first solo track, blind musician and producer Marshall Fairbrother has been working with the band Little Trees who hail from Nottinghamshire representing Neurodivergent and disabled communities with songs reflecting the band members own experiences of life 
Little Trees' music has been described as pop/rock that comes from the heart, full of energy and joy which can be heard in ‘Stronger’, their first single release.
RNIB connect Radio’s Toby Davey caught up with Marshall to find out more about how Little Trees came about, the make up of the band, his role in the band as bass player on their first single ‘Stronger’ and producing the track as a blind person too.
To find out more about Little Trees do visit their YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@LittleTreesband 
For more about Marshal do visit his website - https://marshallfairbrother.com
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