Great piece of news.
Alison
From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Clive
Lever
Sent: 13 March 2018 19:43
To: BCAB Discussion List <bcab@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: vi-genaccess@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; ncwfsa@xxxxxxxxx; access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [access-uk] Slightly Off Topic - Braille on passports - a result
Hello all,
Last year, when I applied to renew my passport, I commented that, though it
was nice to have a Braille label on the front of my passport as per my
request, It would be more useful to have the Passport holder's name, the
passport expiry date, and even the passport number on the front. Rachel
Pearce, the lady I spoke to at the passport office last year called me today
to say that staff at the Passport office received an email on Friday saying
that as from now, Braille labels on passports would show the holder's name
and the expiry date. Apparently the email was silent on the question of
including the passport number. This will mean that:
1. People living in households with no sighted people and more than one
blind person will be able to distinguish between each other's passports, and
those of their kids, without having to resort to makeshift improvisations of
their own. The expiry date will help to make sure that we can renew our
passports in time when travelling abroad close to the end of the document's
life. The value of having the passport number available is that sometimes
companies ask you to provide it when you are making online holiday and
flight bookings, and this could be a pain if you're half-way through
completing the form, and can't complete until you can get sighted help -
that's the on-topic bit, folks!
As a result of the change made by the Passport Office, it could become
easier to effect 'a campaign for real Braille', to make sure Braille legends
on other items are any use. Here are three examples where braille is
currently shown, but itdisplays information you could easily do without
instead of the genuinely useful info:
1. Disabled Persons' Rail Card holders are given the option to have a
Braille label on their cards. The label simply says "Railcard. A second line
saying 20-11-2021 would be handy, so that you didn't have to ask someone
else to tell you when you needed to re-apply.
2. Similarly, the expiry date would be useful on a blue badge, and
would be better written boldly on a label than very faintly on the card
itself. At present, all it says on the front is: Front. The legend itself is
so faint that I wouldn't expect people with limited sensitivity in their
hands to be able to make it out easily. For example, some people have
reduced sensitivity in their fingers as a symptom of diabetes, another
symptom of which can be deteriorating sight.
3. We have a Recycling bin, a General waste bin and a garden waste bin
in our front garden. It would be helpful to have the legends "General",
"Recycling" and "Garden" written on these bins, rather than, of all things,
the number of litres each would hold! That info strikes me as eminently
irrelevant to a householder.
Best,
Clive]
