VISUALLY IMPAIRED IN CAMDEN C/o Somers Town Community Centre 150 Ossulston Street, NW1 1EE Tel: 07980 328 959 Email: [email protected]

Newsletter – May 2015

Contents

1. Future Members’ events. 2. Steering Committee Membership 2015-16. 3. Launch of Camden Disability Action – 27 May. 4. Camden Real Friendly group – 27 May. 5. Visual impairment workers face crisis despite Care Act’s emphasis on their role. 6. Spotlight on: The International Glaucoma Association. 7. Mum who spent 30 years thinking she was going insane was actually going blind. 8. Museum of the Year 2015 Short List with Audio Description announced. 9. Joseph Pulitzer, newspaper editor and publisher. 10. May’s quick quiz.

And finally… Blind Quotes

1. Future Members’ events 19 May – Alan Benson, Transport for All (TfA) Member and activist will be the main speaker at this event. TfA provides information and advice for disabled transport users in London and champions the rights of disabled and older people to travel with freedom and independence in the capital.

Just some of the issues that Members already have identified to raise are (i) the problems created when bus stops are closed and the lack of temporary bus stops; (ii) so-called ‘island’ bus stops; (iii) making all quiet vehicles safe (bringing in silent buses as well) through the fitting of an artificial sound generator; and (iv) street clutter & other obstructions and overhanging obstacles.

This event will be held at Community Centre, 19 Winchester Road, NW3 3NR, from 2pm to 4pm.

16 June – Exploring Camden on foot Peter Twist, who specialises in guided walks for blind and partially sighted people, and several of his colleagues from the Camden Tour Guides Association, will be hosting this guided walk of a section of The Regent’s Canal, starting and finishing at Granary Square, the magnificent new square at the historic heart of King’s Cross.

Meet at 2pm, Granary Square, N1C 4AA.

We shall be learning something of the history of our area and the transformation brought about by the arrival of the canal quickly followed by the growth of the

VIC Newsletter May 2015 This issue is sponsored by Earth Natural Foods, 200 Road, NW5 Page 1 railways. Dumbfounding everyone who witnessed the decline of the area, this transformation is continuing with the re-development of the King's Cross neighbourhood and Regents Canal into a vibrant new city quarter.

Come along to be transported back in time and propelled into the future by experiencing the fusion of the old and the new in what is becoming London's most exciting new destination.

To aid planning it would be helpful to let Rosemary know if you will be going on this walk, Tel: 07980 328 959. Thank you.

21 July – This will be an outing to the Caldwell Lavender Farm in Hitchin, Herts.

The coach will leave from Swiss Cottage Community Centre, 19 Winchester Road, NW3 3NR at 10am and will arrive back at the community centre at around 6.30pm.

The cost will be £10.00 with one companion at the same rate; this includes the coach and entry to & a guided tour of Caldwell Lavender Farm.

2. Steering Committee Membership 2015-16 The Annual General Meeting held on 21 April 2015 elected the following officers and members to the Steering Committee for the year 2015-16: Chairperson: Glen Coull Vice-Chairperson: Mary Hynes Treasurer: Mark Pampel Members: Klara Clements Jasmine Nickson Benedicta Tumwesigye

Linda Willmott was once again co-opted to the Steering Committee.

There are still a couple of places available on the Steering Committee so if any member would like to come along to observe a meeting and check out whether membership of the committee is something you might be interested in please call Rosemary on 07980 328 959. Steering Committee meetings are held on the first Tuesday of the month at the Charlie Ratchford Centre, Belmont Street, NW1 8HF, from 2pm to 4pm.

3. Launch of Camden Disability Action – 27 May

Camden Disability Action will be launched on 27 May.

Since DISC closed there has been a desperate need for a new user-led disability organisation to represent deaf and disabled people in Camden, Camden Disability Action (CDA) will be that organisation and the launch will be an opportunity to find out all about it.

The launch details are as follows:

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Date: Wednesday 27 May Time: 5.30pm – 7.30pm Venue: Small Hall The Camden Centre Camden Town Hall Judd Street, WC1H 9JE Agenda:  Why is CDA needed and what will its role be?  Progress made so far to charitable status and what becoming a member will mean  All your questions answered  Becoming a member.

If you cannot attend this meeting, do not worry. There will an opportunity to attend further meetings later in the year.

If you do wish to attend, you MUST contact Ricky or Monica at Voluntary Action Camden (VAC)* to register: call 020 7284 6553 or email [email protected].

The meeting will be fully accessible, but please let Ricky or Monica know your access requirements when you register.

(*VAC is helping to organise this event of behalf of CDA.)

4. Camden Real Friendly group 27 May VIC’s very own Mark Pampel will be running a music workshop at the Camden Real Friendly group’s next meeting on Wednesday 27 May, at Swiss Cottage Community Centre, from 11am to 1pm.

Mark says: “The workshop will be highly participative, with fun and games on the way to creating music. The term musical instrument will be very loosely defined – anything that makes a sound!”

As regular readers will know Mark, who is both deaf and blind, is a pianist, composer, an improviser and a communicator who, among many other accolades, has had his work premiered as part of the London Cultural Olympiad in 2012 and has played with the LSO at the Barbican.

5. Visual impairment workers face crisis despite Care Act’s emphasis on their role Visual impairment officers have a critical role to play in helping councils meet their Care Act duties but their numbers are being cut, says Simon Labbett, chair, Rehabilitation Workers Professional Network.

In December 2013, The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) re-issued its Position statement on visual impairment rehabilitation in the context of personalisation. At the time one wonders how much attention was paid to it or its key assertions that, “unlike generic reablement programmes, visual impairment

VIC Newsletter May 2015 This issue is sponsored by Earth Natural Foods, 200 Kentish Town Road, NW5 Page 3 rehabilitation is a specific intervention”, and that such interventions “cannot necessarily reach a successful conclusion within a six-week timeframe”.

Now the 2014 Care Act validates this approach in full in its statutory guidance. Not only is the ADASS guidance cited directly in section 22 of the guidance, but paragraph 2.61 of the guidance, on prevention, also reiterates the specialist nature of visual impairment rehabilitation and the time-limited, but not time prescribed, approach to intervention.

The ADASS guidance, tellingly, adds: “Local authorities should consider securing specialist qualified rehabilitation and assessment provision… Certain aspects of independence training with blind and partially sighted people require careful risk management and should only be undertaken by a fully qualified Visual Impairment Rehabilitation Officer (ROVI).

Low numbers of rehab officers Given the high incidence of visual and hearing loss among the older population and the learning disabled population – people with learning disabilities are 10 times more likely to have serious sight problems than other people – and the unquestionably disabling nature of blindness and deafblindness, you might wonder how many rehabilitation officers there are in your local authority to meet demand… The average number is three.

According to a Freedom of Information Act request by the RNIB this year, there are some forty local authorities that have at most one solitary worker (or less). But how many should there be? A benchmarking exercise by the Welsh Local Government Association in 2006 recommended a good practice ratio of one full-time equivalent ROVI to every 50,000 of the population. The population of most , some of which only employ one ROVI, is about 200,000.

Now consider that the referral rates for someone being identified as blind or partially sighted in that same local authority will be around 200 per year. Around 120 of these will be formally registered via the statutory Certificate of Vision Impairment (CVI). Again, the Care Act guidance is clear (22.16) that “upon receipt of the CVI the local authority should make contact with the person within two weeks” to arrange their inclusion on the council’s register of sight-impaired people. Where there is appearance of need for care and support, the council “must arrange an assessment of their needs in a timely manner”.

Phone or non-specialist assessments no solution How can a solitary worker (or even two) assess and manage a programme of rehabilitation for a workload of this size and with clients trying to rebuild their lives after losing their sight? Screening assessments by phone is seen as a solution. It would be a brave service manager who felt it appropriate to assess someone who is going blind or blind and deaf over the phone or by using someone who is not trained in specialist solutions.

To complicate service provision further, vision and hearing loss are frequently encountered in people with poor cognitive function. Assessing and providing

VIC Newsletter May 2015 This issue is sponsored by Earth Natural Foods, 200 Kentish Town Road, NW5 Page 4 independence skills in these settings requires specific communication skills and a clear understanding of risk and safeguarding.

I would suggest there is a workforce crisis of service-threatening proportions. Visual and dual sensory impairment specialists have seen their skills marginalised. This is partly because of a poor understanding of how blindness affects physical function and wellbeing and partly because sensory teams have been lost in favour of reablement teams, where some managers may feel inclined to skill-up generic workers on inadequately short courses.

Short-term approach Very few social service departments are supporting home-grown workers in their teams to train to be ROVIs. Poaching workers from neighbouring authorities may have worked in the past but there are not enough specialists out there to make this practical any more. This short-term approach seems bizarre when the initial training costs will be more than recouped though the savings these workers make through falls reductions, smaller care packages and lower costs attributable to depression and social isolation.

One final thought on the Care Act that service users may want to use to encourage local authorities to plan ahead is section 2.37 “Local authorities should put in place arrangements to identify and target those individuals who may benefit from particular types of preventative support”.

6. Spotlight on: The International Glaucoma Association The International Glaucoma Association (IGA) is the charity for people with glaucoma, an eye condition that may lead to loss of sight. The IGA’s mission is to raise awareness of glaucoma, promote research related to early diagnosis and treatment, and to provide support to patients and all those who care for them.

To achieve this, the IGA:  Provides information, advice and support through its telephone Sightline service and internet forum for patients and others with specific concerns  Publishes and distributes in print and via the IGA website a wide range of booklets* and leaflets aimed at patients, carers and professionals  Distributes regular newsletters to its members covering various issues related to the care of people with glaucoma  Funds a range of research projects to advance the knowledge of the causes of glaucoma and to develop more effective methods of diagnosis and treatment  Organises patient support groups and organises meetings for patients where members can hear from experts in glaucoma and share their experiences  Campaigns for improved quality of care and services at local and national levels  Organises an annual National Glaucoma Awareness Week (in 2015, from 8 to 14 June)  Works with other organisations worldwide.

IGA origins

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The IGA was formed over 40 years ago at King’s College Hospital in London.

At that time, doctors at King’s were keen to improve patient care and find out more about the practical issues associated with living with glaucoma.

Exploratory meetings with patients revealed that they too were eager to have a means of keeping in informal contact with eye specialists and fellow patients. Many people were also motivated to find a way to improve the limited resources available for treatment and to encourage research into glaucoma.

At one of these meetings in 1974, the Glaucoma Association was officially formed. Building on King’s College Hospital’s well-established contact with similar centres abroad, the organisation was soon renamed the International Glaucoma Association.

In 1978 the IGA became a Representative Member of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness.

In 1996 the IGA moved from the King’s College Hospital site to its current location in Ashford, Kent.

For help and advice contact Sightline Phone: 01233 64 81 70 Email: [email protected]

Mon – Fri 9.30am to 5.00pm. The IGA operates an answerphone service after office hours, where you can leave a message and someone will contact you back.

*For example: Cataracts – A Guide Dry Eye Syndrome – A Guide Eye Drops and Dispensing Aids – A Guide Ocular Hypertension – A Guide

International Glaucoma Association Woodcote House, 15 Highpoint Business Village, Henwood, Ashford, Kent TN24 8DH Tel: 01233 64 81 64 Email: [email protected]

Next issue: About RP Fighting Blindness.

7. Mum who spent 30 years thinking she was going insane was actually going blind Ruth Hollingshead suffered hallucinations for years at a time before being diagnosed with Charles Bonnet Syndrome.

By PA Real Life Features

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A mother who has been haunted by hallucinations for more than 30 years has told how she thought she was going insane – when she was actually going blind.

Ruth Hollingshead, 41, suffers from a bizarre medical condition which has led to her imagining cars, cobwebs and even an intruder looming over her baby’s cot. She has jumped into bushes to avoid vehicles smashing into her – only to subsequently realise they were a figment of her imagination. She has also had conversations with lamp posts in the street.

Miss Hollingshead, from the Isle of Wight, suffers from Charles Bonnet Syndrome in which loss of sight causes the vivid visions which appear out of the blue and last for several hours. Usually hallucinations last only a year, but Mrs Hollingshead has had them for more than 30 years.

‘Doubted my sanity’ The mother of two said: “I didn’t want to say anything to anybody about the hallucinations. I doubted my own sanity.

“When I was young I realised I would see things other people couldn’t.

“I’ve jumped into bushes because I’ve seen a car coming straight at me, only for it to vanish into thin air.

“I’ve started conversations with lamp posts in the street, thinking they were people.

“The scariest time was when I went into my baby’s room and saw an intruder stood over her cot. I froze and thought someone was stealing my baby.”

The former receptionist has suffered from the hallucinations since she was aged eight.

Miss Hollingshead said: “As a kid I’d often see things in my peripheral vision – spiders, branches, even figures.

“Doctors thought it was just attention seeking.”

Her sight started to deteriorate aged 10 and two years later she was diagnosed with rare condition cone dystrophy.

She said: “It meant I would gradually lose my central and colour vision. I’d eventually go completely blind.

“But still, nobody connected it to my hallucinations, so I suffered in silence.”

‘Knew something wasn’t right’ But living with the visions was difficult.

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She said: “There were times when I’d be walking along the street and I’d leap out of the way because I’d seen a dog or person in my path.

“I felt under attack but when the vision faded, I’d realise it was a stray plastic bag on the floor.”

Miss Hollingshead went back and forth to doctors but it was not clear why she was seeing hallucinations.

When she had her daughter Erica, now 17, she was still keeping the visions to herself.

She said: “When Erica was two months old I crept into her room at night and saw a dark figure hovering over the cot.

“Too terrified to scream, for a split second I stood still, frozen.

“But then I flicked on the light and knew what I’d seen. There was nothing there.

“Seeing the spectre near Erica had freaked me out, so I told my ex-husband.

“I didn’t mention all the other times and he reassured me it must have been a trick of the light.

“But I knew something wasn’t right.”

After researching her symptoms online, Miss Hollingshead discovered Charles Bonnet syndrome. She took the information to her ophthalmologist who confirmed it.

No cure Miss Hollingshead said: “He explained it was like phantom limb syndrome, where people who’ve had a limb amputated feel a sensation where it used to be.

“My brain is overcompensating for fading vision so you see things that aren’t really there.

“Even though there isn’t a cure, I had an answer and my sanity.”

Miss Hollingshead and her husband separated in 2005 and the condition has made it hard to meet someone new.

“My central vision is now so bad I can’t look someone straight on, as everything is indistinguishable and blurred, making me seem painfully shy, when I’m really not.

“I’ve only got 5% colour vision.”

She has started using a cane to assist her day to day. But she insists her sight does not hold her back. Miss Hollingshead, who volunteers for the Isle of Wight Society for

VIC Newsletter May 2015 This issue is sponsored by Earth Natural Foods, 200 Kentish Town Road, NW5 Page 8 the Blind, said: “I keep fit by swimming, but I do sometimes see a woman in a black swimming costume beside me.”

Her children Erica and Fletcher, 15, both see the funny side when their mother chats to lamp posts or jumps into bushes to escape cars.

She said: “You have to keep your sense of humour.

“I’m just happy to see my kids growing up before my sight disappears.”

The Royal National Institute for the Blind said: “There is currently no medical cure for Charles Bonnet Syndrome.

“When you experience CBS, the most effective form of treatment can come from knowing that the condition is not a mental health problem or a symptom of another disease but is due to sight loss.

“Knowing that CBS usually improves with time, even if it doesn't go away completely, might also help you cope with the hallucinations.

“Having information on CBS and sharing your experiences with friends or family can also help.”

8. Museum of the Year 2015 Short List with Audio Description announced For a second year the Art Fund and VocalEyes will be working together again to create audio described introductions for each of the six finalist museums for the Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2015. VocalEyes will also be training volunteers and Front of House Staff on how to welcome and guide blind and partially sighted visitors to their venues.

The six museums shortlisted for the Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2015 were announced on Friday 24 April 2015 during The BBC Radio 2 Arts Show with Claudia Winkleman. They are: Dunham Massey (National Trust), Altrincham IWM London The MAC (Metropolitan Arts Centre), Belfast Oxford University Natural History Museum HM Tower of London (Historic Royal Palaces) The Whitworth, Manchester.

The audio described introductions to each will be available on both the Art Fund (artfund.org/prize) and VocalEyes’s (vocaleyes.co.uk) websites from 18 May 2015.

The introductions provide a useful guide to each of the finalist museums, highlighting their 2014 achievements as well as providing detailed descriptions of distinctive architecture and features of each, and enhancing overall engagement with the arts for blind and partially sighted listeners.

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Onsite at the museums, VocalEyes, will train volunteers and Front of House Staff on how to welcome and guide blind and partially sighted visitors. VocalEyes will also work with each of the venues to share the facilities, events and interpretation to ensure that the venues connect with their audience.

The Museum of the Year annually surveys museums and galleries across the UK, awarding one outstanding winner a prize of £100,000. Previous winners have been diverse in scale - from the British Museum (2011) to Walthamstow's William Morris Gallery (2013). Last year's winner was the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, an outdoor museum cited for its "perfect fusion of art and landscape" and its major projects with artists such as Yinka Shonibare MBE and Ai Weiwei.

The announcement of the 2015 winner will be made at an awards dinner at Tate Modern on Wednesday 1 July 2015.

The members of the Museum of the Year 2015 Jury are: Stephen Deuchar (chair), director of the Art Fund Michael Landy, artist Alice Rawsthorn, design critic and author Fiammetta Rocco, books and arts editor of The Economist Axel Rüger, director of the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam

In a new partnership with the BBC, the Art Fund Prize for Museum of the Year 2015 will be celebrated on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 3 and BBC News Online, in a series of broadcasts and online interactive presentations during the period leading up to the announcement of the winner, enabling a widespread national debate about the value of the UK's museums.

Continuing our occasional series on famous blind people 9. Joseph Pulitzer, newspaper editor and publisher The namesake of one of the world’s most coveted honours was also legally blind. Joseph Pulitzer, of whom the esteemed Pulitzer Prize for journalism, music and literature is named, was born in Mako, Hungary in 1847 and emigrated to the United States in 1864, where he began his reporting career. Pulitzer soon segued into politics, winning a state legislature seat in Missouri. He was known for his hard stance against corruption and illegal gain.

In 1872, he bought the St. Louis Post and later the St. Louis Despatch, which he combined with the Post. Pulitzer used his political clout and investigative reporting skills to expose illegal lotteries, gambling rings and tax dodgers. In 1883, he bought the New York World and worked to expose the seedy underbelly of public government waste and fraud.

During these acquisitions, Pulitzer’s eyes were failing him and he was completely blind by 1889. However, he never turned a blind eye to social crimes and continued to be a watch-dog for injustice. Pulitzer died in 1911 and left behind more than $2 million to establish a school of journalism at New York’s Colombia University. In his honour, the Pulitzer prizes – which are considered the top national honour for music, literature and journalism – are awarded every year.

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10. May’s quick quiz Q.1. Who wrote: “Bring me my bow of burning gold: bring me my arrows of desire...”? Q.2. Which king of put his seal to the Magna Carta in 1215AD? Q.3. What is the common name of the sub species Ursus arctos horribilis? Q.4. What were ‘The Beatles’ called before they were called ‘The Beatles’? Q.5. Who was the first monarch to use Buckingham Palace as the official residence? Q.6. Which Poet laureate was Sylvia Plath married to? Q.7. Who fired the arrow that struck Achilles in his heel? Q.8. Which animal forms the legs of a griffin? Q.9. What is a nautical mile per hour usually called? Q.10. Who’s slogan was Put a Tiger in Your Tank? And the tie-breaker! Q.11. Which word can go before Biscuit, Bottle and Colour to form three new terms?

The answers are given after ‘And finally…’

And finally… Blind Quotes

An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind. Mahatma Gandhi

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. Mark Twain

Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind. William Shakespeare

In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don’t. Blaire Pascal

Strengthen the female mind by enlarging it, and there will be an end to blind obedience. Mary Wollstonecraft

The answers to May’s quick quiz are: A.1. William Blake. A.2. King John. A.3. The grizzly bear also called the silvertip bear. A.4. The Quarrymen. A.5. Queen Victoria. A.6. Ted Hughes. A.7. Paris. A.8. Lion. A.9. Knott. A.10. Esso.

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And the answer to the tie-breaker! A.11. Water.

Thank you for reading the newsletter.

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VIC Newsletter Supplement: Things to see, places to go

Community Festivals in Camden

Primrose Hill Festival Sunday, 17 May Regent’s Park Road, NW1 and around.

Kentish Town Festival Saturday 6 June, 1pm – 6.30pm Taking place at Kentish Town Community Centre (17 Busby Place NW5 2SP), along Busby Place and inside Gardens.

South End Green Summer Festival Sunday 28 June, 10.30am – 5.00pm South End Green, NW3

Galleries and Museums

Imperial War Museum (IWM) London

VocalEyes have been working with IWM London on an updated version of the recorded audio described guide for the Lord Ashcroft Gallery and their Extraordinary Heroes Exhibition.

This exhibition displays personal objects and artefacts belonging to those awarded Victoria and George Crosses, revealing the people behind the medals, the stories of their lives and their extraordinary deeds.

VocalEyes also worked on the recorded audio described guide for the recently opened First World War Galleries. Live Audio Described Tours of the First World War Galleries are also available upon request.

To find out more visit the Imperial War Museum's website at www.iwm.org.uk. To pre-book a place on one of the tours, please call 020 7091 3157 or email [email protected].

IWM London, Lambeth Road, SE1 6HZ

Natural History Museum: Spirit Collection Free Audio described tours The Natural History Museum are now offering free audio described tours of the Spirit Collection for blind and partially sighted visitors. During the tour you will have the chance to get up close to specimens such as lizards and a giant squid plus other specimens collected by Charles Darwin.

With 22 million specimens, the Natural History Museum’s Spirit Collection is named after the alcohol in which the specimens are stored, a mixture of 95 per cent ethanol and 5 per cent methanol.

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This impressive collection includes approximately 170,000 type specimens, the specimens by which species are first named and described.

Free audio described tours of the Spirit Collection are available for blind and partially sighted people on request but you must book at least two weeks prior to your visit by calling 020 7942 5000.

Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 5BD

Wellcome Collection

Forensics: The Anatomy of Crime – audio described exhibition tour Thursday 21 May, 6pm Explore the history, science and art of forensic medicine at Wellcome Collection by joining this free guided tour for blind and partially sighted visitors.

The exhibition travels from crime scene to courtroom, across centuries, exploring the specialisms of those involved in the delicate processes of collecting, analysing and presenting medical evidence. It draws out the stories of victims, suspects and investigators of violent crimes, and our enduring cultural fascination with death and detection.

One of Wellcome Collection’s knowledgeable Visitor Experience Assistants will lead you through this gallery with audio description, investigating some of the hidden layers and secret connections in this fascinating exhibition.

You must book a place in advance. Please call 020 7611 2222 or email: [email protected]

Wellcome Collection, 183 Euston Road, NW1 2BE

Theatre highlights: Audio-described performances

Oresteia Friday 10 July – 7pm (Touch Tour: 5.30pm) Almeida Theatre Almeida Street, N1 1TA Ticket price: £19 (reduced from £38) Bookings: 020 7288 4999 Lia Williams stars in Robert Icke’s bloody, sprawling reinterpretation of Aeschlyus’ epic family drama.

Temple Saturday 18 July – 2.30pm (Touch Tour: 1.30pm) Donmar Warehouse 41 Earlham Street, WC2H 9LX Ticket price: £15 (reduced from £35)

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On 15 October 2011 Occupy London makes a camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral. On 21 October 2011 a building that had been kept open through floods, the Blitz and terrorist threats closes its doors. Steve Waters’ new play is a fictional account of these events, set in the heart of a very British crisis – a crisis of conscience, a crisis of authority and a crisis of faith.

Aida Sunday 19 July - 2.00 pm (Touch Tour: 1pm) Opera Holland Park 37 Pembroke Road, W8 6PW Ticket price: £17 - £72 (concessions available) Bookings: 0300 999 1000 One of the great misunderstood operas of the 19th Century, Aida is more than an epic procession: the choruses, scale and the perception are countered by what is a deeply intimate final dénouement. Verdi gave his masterwork Aida some of the greatest choruses and arias of the era.

As You Like It Saturday 8 August – 2pm (Touch Tour: 12 noon) Shakespeare’s Globe 21 New Globe Walk, Bankside, SE1 9DT Ticket price: £5 - £21.50 (reduced from £43) Bookings: 020 7902 1409 As You Like It runs the glorious gamut of pastoral romance: cross-dressing and brilliant conversation, gentle satire, forgiveness and reparation.

Matthew Bourne’s The Car Man Saturday 8 August - 2.30 pm (Touch Tour: 1pm) Sadler's Wells Rosebery Avenue, EC1R 4TN Ticket price: £12 - £55 (50 per cent concession available) Bookings: 0844 871 0090 Matthew Bourne's internationally acclaimed dance thriller returns. Loosely based on Bizet's popular opera, The Car Man has an instantly recognisable and exhilarating score. Set in 1960s America, Bourne's vivid storytelling brings the inhabitants of a small town to life as they are driven into an unstoppable spiral of greed, lust, betrayal and revenge.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers Saturday 22 August - 2.15 pm (Touch Tour: 1.15pm) Regent's Park Open Air Theatre Inner Circle, Regent’s Park, NW1 4NU Tickets: £25 (concessionary rate) Bookings: 0844 826 4242 From the Golden Age of the movie musical, this much-loved show includes Bless Your Beautiful Hide and the dance spectacular, Barn Dance.

The Importance of Being Ernest Saturday 22 August – 2.30pm (Touch Tour time: TBC)

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Vaudeville Theatre 404 Strand, WC2R 0NH Tickets: £35 (reduced from £55) Bookings: 0844 482 9675 David Suchet will star as Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde’s satire on Victorian manners.

Bakkhai Saturday 5 September – 3pm (Touch Tour: 1.15pm) And Friday 11 September – 8pm (Touch Tour: 6.30pm) Almeida Theatre Almeida Street, N1 1TA Tickets: £19 (reduced from £38) Bookings: 020 7288 4999 Ben Wishaw makes his Almeida debut as Dionysos in Euripides’ hedonistic, visceral story of revenge.

Medea Thursday 24 September – 3pm (Touch Tour: 1.1.5pm) Almeida Theatre Almeida Street, N1 1TA Tickets: £19 (reduced from £38) Bookings: 020 7288 4999 Kate Fleetwood takes on the title role in Rachel Cusk’s chilling new version of Euripides’ tragedy. Medea’s marriage is breaking up. And so is everything else. Testing the limits of revenge and liberty, Euripides’ seminal play cuts to the heart of gender politics and asks what it means to be a woman and a wife.

Gypsy Saturday 26 September – 2.30pm (Touch Tour: 12.30pm) Savoy Theatre Savoy Court, WC2R 0ET Tickets: £24.50 - £90 Bookings: 0844 871 7677 One of Broadways greatest musicals, transfers to London’s West End following its sell-out, rapturously acclaimed five-star run at Chichester Festival Theatre.

Richard II Sunday 27 September – 1pm (Touch Tour: 11am) 21 New Globe Walk, Bankside, SE1 9DT Ticket price: £5 - £21.50 (reduced from £43) Bookings: 020 7902 1409 Dazzlingly eloquent and ceremonious, Richard II invests a weak and self-dramatising man with tragic status and represents Shakespeare’s most searching exploration of the meaning of kingship and the rising powers that can destroy it.

How to book… To make a booking, call the number given against the individual show. Please ensure that you tell the operator that you are booking for an audio-described

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National Theatre Forthcoming Audio-described performances

Light Shining in Buckinghamshire Saturday 20 June at 2.15pm, with a Touch Tour at 12.45pm.

Everyman Saturday 27 June at 2pm, with a Touch Tour at 12.30pm Saturday 8 August at 2pm, with a Touch Tour at 12.30pm.

The Beaux Stratagem Saturday 4 July at 2pm, with a Touch Tour at 12.30pm Saturday 12 September at 2pm, with a Touch Tour at 12.30pm

The Red Lion Saturday 25 July at 3pm, with a Touch Tour at 1.30pm

Three Days in the Country Saturday 29 August at 2.15pm, with a Touch Tour at 12.45pm

Pomona Saturday 26 September at 3pm, with a Touch Tour at 1.30pm

Booking Tickets – National Theatre Access List To book tickets at the Disabled concessionary rate, you will need to be subscribed to the National Theatre’s Access List. Read more information and print off a sign-up form online. For more information call 020 7452 3000 or email: [email protected].

National Theatre, Upper Ground, South Bank, SE1 9PX

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