Having no sight shouldn’t stop anyone from enjoying the things they love, which is true for books and art. Such is the mandate of Living Paintings Charity, a non-profit that adapts and creates unique braille, tactile and audio experiences for blind people.
It’s easy for blind people, with more than two million in the UK, to feel excluded and marginalised. That’s more so for the 20,000 or so blind children who can’t participate in the same activities as their peers, leading to isolation and feelings of depression.
Who’s Living Paintings and What’s in Their Library for the Blind?
Someone is told they’ll lose their sight every 15 minutes, including four children each day. This leaves parents devastated about how their child or teen will follow school work, make friends or join in with activities.
Apart from the educational impact, such kids face social exclusion, struggling to socialise with their visually informed counterparts. Not to mention the elderly, for whom blindness will mean isolation and shattering lonesomeness, especially if they live alone.
Living Paintings helps the visually impaired explore an extensive braille library full of tactile and audio books and books for blind people. These act as friendly companions, with audio voices that are familiar and informative to inspire interest while relieving isolation. The talking books for the blind are inspirational, helping these learners explore friendship, true crime, weather, romance, historical events and famous people.
What Ages Benefit From the Audio books for the Blind By Living Paintings?
Living Paintings offers free books for the blind, specialising in books for visually impaired children and young teens. Within their tactile, braille and talking book library, you can tour a popular gallery or museum, go bird-watching or discover your country’s heritage and famous sites.
For adults, each touch to see book contains between three and 17 tactile pictures curated on a topic or theme. There are entertaining audio guided fingering around tactile images, discussing their stories and describing the illustrations. Audio is enhanced with sound effects and music, with voices sometimes performed by notable people like actors and musicians.
Which Titles Can You Find Within Living Paintings’ Audio books for the Visually Impaired?
In the Living Paintings library for the blind, you’ll find titles like Zog and the Flying Doctors by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. A sequel to the award winning ‘Zog’, it’s a brilliant story that’s now adapted as one of their audio books for the visually impaired. The protagonist is a clumsy dragon that teams up with Gadabout the Great and Princess Pearl, who’ve taken to the skies as a flying doctor team.
BBC’s Blue Peter presenter Richie Driss read the atmospheric audio guide for Zog and the Flying Doctors, helping adapt the title into one of their books for the blind. You can browse other titles in Living Painting’s library, which has recommended topics for children and adults.
How Do Living Paintings Free Books for the Blind Impact People’s Lives?
The work that Living Paintings do changes lives by giving them free audio books for the blind that are enjoyable and educational to read. Adults can discover new interests, meet socially in their community, and build friendships. Statistical evidence of this charity’s impact includes;
• 98% of Living Paintings beneficiaries have an improved quality of life
• 82% of children are more interested in reading for pleasure
• 88% of Book Club members have improved self-confidence
Borrow Tiles from Living Paintings Braille Library or Donate to Support Their Charitable Work
Living Paintings is a charitable organisation specialising in ‘Touch To See’ free audio books for the blind. These contain audio, recorded by famous figures, and they have tactile images that compensate for the lack of sight to meet their educational or entertainment needs. If this article interests you and you want to discover more about their library for the blind, visit Living Paintings. Library for the blind.
