header-logo header-logo

Understanding sight loss: awareness training for lawyers

27 June 2019
Categories: Legal News , Profession , Legal services
printer mail-detail

West Midlands charity Beacon is providing solicitors with the opportunity to gain a new perspective on advising clients living with visual impairments.

Beacon, an organisation supporting those living with sight loss, is offering the Sight Friendly Award, an accreditation scheme designed to educate employees on the realities of living with blindness and other forms of visual impairment. The 90-minute training sessions include the experience of wearing specially designed glasses to simulate sight loss conditions, such as glaucoma and complete blindness, in order to underline the challenges faced by those affected (pictured). 

National firm Irwin Mitchell is the first firm to earn the Sight Friendly Award. Medical negligence solicitor Eleanor Giblin commented: ‘This was not a tick box exercise, but a learning experience which has allowed me and my colleagues to try to at least appreciate for a brief moment what it feels like to live with a visual impairment and how our actions can help support our clients and make them feel like individuals and not a number.’

For more information on the Sight Friendly Award, contact Kam Cheema (kcheema@beaconvision.org) or visit www.beaconvision.org/sight-awareness-training

MOVERS & SHAKERS

NLJ Career Profile: Bridget Tatham, Forum of Insurance Lawyers

NLJ Career Profile: Bridget Tatham, Forum of Insurance Lawyers

Bridget Tatham, partner at Browne Jacobson and 2026 president of the Forum of Insurance Lawyers, highlights the importance of hard work, ambition and seizing opportunities

Gibson Dunn—London partner promotions

Gibson Dunn—London partner promotions

Firm grows international bench with expanded UK partner class

Shakespeare Martineau—six appointments

Shakespeare Martineau—six appointments

Firm makes major statement in the capital with strategic growth at The Shard

NEWS
One in five in-house lawyers suffer ‘high’ or ‘severe’ work-related stress, according to a report by global legal body, the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC)
The Legal Ombudsman’s (LeO’s) plea for a budget increase has been rejected by the Law Society and accepted only ‘with reluctance’ by conveyancers
Overcrowded prisons, mental health hospitals and immigration centres are failing to meet international and domestic human rights standards, the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) has warned
Two speedier and more streamlined qualification routes have been launched for probate and conveyancing professionals
Workplace stress was a contributing factor in almost one in eight cases before the employment tribunal last year, indicating its endemic grip on the UK workplace
back-to-top-scroll