In Touch

News, views and information for people who are blind or partially sighted.

A charity's plans to sell a site on which there are homes for disabled war veterans has left residents facing fears of eviction. The charity "Sight Scotland Veterans" says that it is no longer financially viable for them to run the site as it is currently. We speak to visually impaired veterans Pete Conaghan and Bill Mackie, both of whom live there, and to the Sight Scotland Veterans Chief Executive, Craig Spalding.
What has been the significance for disabled athletes of the recent Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games and how did visually impaired competitors fare? We're joined by BBC Scotland's sports news reporter Chris McLaughlin, as well as athletes Stephen Clegg, Ela Letton-Jones and James Ball.
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Fern Lulham
Production Coordinator: Helen Surtees
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image, wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three individual white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch"; and the Radio 4 logo (the word Radio in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to
the right. Both are behind Peter, one of a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.’ .

New College Worcester has been a dedicated school for visually impaired pupils for 160 years, but it has recently joined with an education trust which has enabled them to take in their first cohort of non-visually impaired students. The school's principal Rachel Perks tells In Touch about the reasons behind the change, what impact it might have on pupils and staffing and how this change should secure their financial future.
The Commonwealth Games are regarded as one of the few integrated large-scale sporting events, with disabled and non-disabled athletes competing alongside each other. The 2026 games are underway in Glasgow where some visually impaired athletes have already secured medals. With the help of BBC Scotland's sport correspondent Chris McLaughlin, In Touch provides an overview of the action so far. More to follow on next week's programme.
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: Helen Surtees
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word ‘radio’ in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside of a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.

Can blindness be funny? This week In Touch discusses recent projects by two visually impaired comedy writers.
One is a new podcast called You've got Braille, co-written by visually impaired comedy writer and TV producer Reece Finnegan. The podcast focuses on a young blind man who is muddling through life's complexities, with the disability adding another tricksy layer. The podcast was produced by production company Hat Trick and RNIB.
Blind comic Aarian Mehrabani will soon be hitting the Edinburgh Fringe with his debut stand-up show 'How's your Head?'. Aarian has worked within comedy writing for a while, producing work with his own disability-led theatre company FlawBored. In the run up to Edinburgh, Aarian has been hosting comedy nights at Salford's Lowry Theatre, where he will also be previewing his debut stand-up show.
Presenter: Peter White
Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: Helen Surtees
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word ‘radio’ in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside of a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.

In Touch discusses braille's future and how it adapts alongside today's variety assistive technologies that can aid with reading, writing and consuming information. We are helped by young braillists from St Vincent's School in Liverpool and three seasoned braille users, Jackie Brown, Ian Macrae and Dave Williams.
Presenter & Producer: Beth Hemmings
Production Coordinator: Helen Surtees
Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word ‘radio’ in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside of a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.