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Leonardo Gagliano, general manager, and Jessica Lawrence at Hilton Maidstone present the DM Thomas Foundation for Young People grant to Tony Dart, CEO of Seeing Ear, and Luda Vanina-Dart.

Leonardo Gagliano, general manager, and Jessica Lawrence at Hilton Maidstone present the DM Thomas Foundation for Young People grant to Tony Dart, CEO of Seeing Ear, and Luda Vanina-Dart.

1,000 books for young people with visual impairments

£6,540 has been awarded by DM Thomas Foundation for Young People to help provide 1,000 books adapted for young people with visual impairments to the National Accessible Library run by Seeing Ear. The foundation reports.

Based in Hastings, Seeing Ear runs the National Accessible Library. Books in the library are available free of charge to anyone in the UK who has a visual impairment, print blindness caused by dyslexia or a physical disability and is unable to hold or manipulate a book.

DM Thomas Foundation for Young People

DM Thomas Foundation for Young People is committed to transforming the lives of sick, disabled and disadvantaged young people in communities across the UK. By providing specialist equipment and facilities, important training and support, and vital care, the foundation works to improve the education, health and well-being for young people to achieve their full potential.

The grant will provide books that focus on topics such as university, independent living and sex education to help prepare visually impaired young people as they move towards adulthood. The books can be read as giant print, Braille or with synthetic speech and users will be able to access them on computers, tablets or internet audio players designed specifically for visually impaired people.

Benefits of access

By having access to the books, young people will be able to engage in reading for pleasure, broaden their horizon, increase their skills and realise their potential as they transition into adulthood.

Supporters of DM Thomas Foundation for Young People at Hilton Maidstone, Leonardo Gagliano, general manager, and Jessica Lawrence presented the Foundation’s grant to Tony Dart, CEO of Seeing Ear, on Wednesday 30 January at the hotel.

Jessica Lawrence said, “It was a pleasure to host Tony and hear about Seeing Ear and the wonderful work it does for young people across the country. The team at Hilton Maidstone hopes the grant will help many more young people with visual impairments to fulfil their potential.”

Seeing Ear

Tony Dart, CEO of Seeing Ear, said “This is absolutely brilliant! We are probably one of the tiniest national charities but with a huge volunteer base that lets us send out tens of thousands of books every year to blind and disabled people – a gift of this size is going to have a huge impact.

“Youngsters growing up face a pretty tough and confusing world and need all the resources they can get. Now, disabled young people will also be able to have these resources. Many, many thanks!”

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Posted 12:58 Monday, Feb 18, 2019 In: Young People

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