In Touch - 28/07/2009

Redundancies among specialist staff at the National Library Service for the Blind in Stockport have prompted concern about the prospects for braille book printing in the UK. Is automated production the future? Can the computerised process deal with books which have complex layouts (those about gardening and cookery for example)? The RNIB respond to these questions and explain how the work will continue at their Peterborough site. Also, a lesson in self-defence: reporter Mani Djazmi tries his hand at the art of ju-sitsu in a class designed specifically for blind and partially-sighted people, taught by professional martial arts trainer Steve Nicholl.