On a very wet Tuesday 20^th October 2009, 18 of our students and over 400 blind and partially sighted people from all over Northern Ireland travelled to parliament buildings at Stormont to show their support for RNIB Northern Ireland ‘RIGHT TO READ’ rally.  After meeting up at The Park Avenue Hotel for tea, coffee and scones we headed off to Stormont.  Armed with posters, horns and loud voices we disembarked from the buses into the rain. There were 79 MLAs in the building that day, and we were the largest group ever to lobby at Stormont.  Some of the MLAs braved the weather and came down the steps to meet with us.  Shane Logan, director of RNIB Northern Ireland spoke, highlighting the fact that people with sight loss have the same right to information as their sighted counterparts, but still only 5% of all printed material is made available in alternative formats such as large print, audio and Braille. Whilst the rally outside Stormont showed the level of frustration and anger that 48,000 people with sight loss feel, 7 of our students and over 50 blind and partially sighted people met with their MLAs in the Long Gallery to further highlight this issue and raise its political profile.  A little wet, but with a positive feeling we went back to the hotel for a buffet lunch and then homeward bound. Since returning from the event and settling back into school life, Shane Logan, Director of the RNIB has emailed expressing the outstanding contribution our students made to the smooth running of this campaign – “It is no understatement to say that we could not have coped without them. With over 500 blind/ partially sighted people at the event we relied heavily on them and they exceeded our expectations. In addition to their considerable practical assistance it was noted by staff and participants how well the young people related to and engaged with the blind/ partially sighted people they were guiding.”

Pictured above are some of those who attended the rally along with some of our 18 students who helped out on the day