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Training

Our training is offered through our social enterprise, Visibility Trading and Training.

Welcome to our training

By purchasing training from Visibility Trading and Training, the social enterprise of Visibility Scotland, you are directly supporting individuals with vision impairment across Scotland. All training income is reinvested into our charitable services, creating real, lasting community benefits.

Why Visibility Scotland?

We have been supporting people with vision impairment in Scotland for over 165 years. Our expertise in inclusive communications, human (sighted) guiding, vision rehabilitation, assistive technology, and the sensory loss pathway means you can book our training with confidence.

 

Why our training?

In Scotland, over 180,000 people have some form of vision impairment. Our training equips organisations to effectively support vision-impaired people in a variety of environments, including:

  • Workplaces
  • Educational settings
  • Public spaces

 

Training Consultation

Upon request, a member of our professional team will provide a one-on-one digital or telephone consultation to assess your organisation’s needs and design a customised training solution.

We can tailor our off-the-shelf training to meet your organisation’s needs or, on request, develop a fully bespoke training programme.

 

Cost

This consultation is provided free of charge.

 

 

Customised training 

Visibility Trading and Training can design a training package to meet the organisation’s needs and budget.

 

Online training

Many of our training sessions can be delivered digitally via Microsoft Teams or Zoom.

 

Cost

  • £250 per hour (up to 10 attendees)
  • £300 per hour (up to 20 attendees) *

*For events with more than 10 attendees, at least two employees from Visibility Trading and Training are required to be present.

 

In-person training

Face-to-face training enables highly interactive and immersive experiences, particularly valuable for sessions such as human guiding (sighted guiding) training.

 

Cost

  • £300 per hour (up to 10 attendees)
  • £400 per hour (up to 20 attendees)

 

Off-the-shelf training programmes

 

How to be an accessible and inclusive employer for employees with vision impairment (virtual)

Duration

Two hours.

 

Theme

A two-hour interactive session designed to increase awareness of vision impairment and equip employers with the tools and understanding to build an inclusive and accessible workplace.

 

Contents

  • Prevalence of vision impairment in Scotland and understanding the lived experiences of employees with vision impairment
  • Barriers to employment faced by individuals with vision impairment
  • How to create an inclusive workplace culture

 

Key objectives

  • Understand vision impairment and its prevalence in Scotland
  • Develop confidence in implementing reasonable adjustments
  • Gain the skills to support employees in navigating the Access to Work programme
  • Learn how to embed positive, inclusive communication practices within your organisation

 

Cost

  • £400 (up to 10 attendees)
  • £600 (up to 20 attendees)

 

Inclusive Communications: enhancing equality, diversity, and inclusion (virtual)

Duration

Two hours.

 

Theme

This interactive, two–hour virtual workshop focuses on enhancing communication practices to promote equality, diversity, and inclusion in the workplace and during customer interactions. The session will highlight the importance of accessibility and provide actionable guidance for inclusive digital communication.

 

Contents

  • Communication needs of people with vision impairment and other accessibility requirements
  • How inclusive communications contribute to a more equitable and respectful environment for all
  • How to design and deliver digital content that is accessible to everyone, including users of assistive technologies (e.g., screen readers, magnifiers, braille displays)

 

Key objectives

  • Understand vision impairment and its prevalence in Scotland
  • Develop the skillset to confidently and successfully make accessibility a top priority
  • Learn how to embed positive, inclusive communication practices within your organisation
  • Leave training with a robust accessibility and inclusion protocol that can be integrated into your day-to-day operations

 

Cost

  • £400 (up to 10 attendees)
  • £600 (up to 20 attendees)

 

Understanding Sensory Loss and the Sensory Loss Support Pathway (in-person)

 

Duration

Two-day course.

 

Theme

Providing expert knowledge and practical techniques on how to appropriately support someone with a sensory loss and how professionals navigate and access the support pathway.

 

Contents

This information-packed two-day course includes the following modules:

  • Introduction to vision impairment, dual sensory loss and deafblindness
  • Vision impairment assessment tools (impact of vision impairment on quality of life and the vision impairment screening assessment)
  • Practical strategies for sensory loss
  • Understanding the support pathway and the certificate of visual registration process
  • How to be a human guide
  • Inclusive communication
  • Aids and equipment for sensory loss
  • Environmental assessment and considerations

 

Key Objectives

  • Understand the five most common age-related eye conditions, including stroke-related vision impairment
  • Understand dual sensory loss and deafblindness (including congenital or acquired)
  • The definition of deafblindness
  • Understand the certificate of registration (CVI) and its benefits
  • Understand the responsibility of holding the CVI register
  • Review a variety of vision-based assessment tools, CVI notes/ medical notes
  • How to navigate and refer to appropriate support services
  • Confidently guide someone with vision impairment
  • Effective communication, including deafblind manual, British Sign Language (BSL), tactile, guide communication, and braille
  • Understand the See Hear framework
  • How to make documents and emails accessible

 

Cost

  • £3,600 (up to 10 attendees)
  • £4,800 (up to 20 attendees)

 

Vision impairment awareness training (full-day, in-person)

 

Duration

A full-day course.

 

Theme

Providing expert knowledge and practical techniques on how to appropriately support someone with a vision impairment and how to navigate the vision impairment support pathway.

 

Contents 

This engaging six-hour training is divided into four impactful modules:

  • Vision impairment awareness, strategies and aids
  • Understanding the vision support pathway and the certificate of visual registration process
  • How to be a human guide
  • Inclusive communication

 

Key Objectives

  • Understand the five most common age-related eye conditions, including stroke-related vision impairment
  • How to navigate and refer to the most appropriate vision support services (both locally and nationally)
  • Confidently guide someone with vision impairment
  • Effective communication
  • How to make documents and emails accessible

 

Cost

  • £1,500 (up to 10 attendees)
  • £1,800 (up to 20 attendees)

 

 

Vision Impairment Awareness Training (half day, virtual)

 

Duration

Three hours.

 

Theme

Awareness of vision impairment and good practice for inclusive communication.

 

Contents

This engaging three-hour training is divided into three impactful modules:

  • Vision impairment awareness, strategies and aids
  • Understanding the vision support pathway and the certificate of visual registration process
  • Inclusive communication

 

Key Objectives

  • Understand the five most common age-related eye conditions, including stroke-related vision impairment
  • How to navigate and refer to the most appropriate vision support services (both locally and nationally)
  • Communicate effectively
  • Guidance on how to make documents and emails accessible

 

Cost

  • £750 (up to 10 attendees)
  • £900 (up to 20 attendees)

 

Note: This does not include human guiding training.

 

Introduction to human guiding training (in-person)

 

Duration

Two hours

 

Theme

Human guiding (sighted guiding) equips participants with the knowledge, practical skills and experience needed to confidently and safely guide people with vision impairment in a variety of environmental settings.

 

Contents

This interactive, indoor session equips attendees with the introductory human guiding skills needed to confidently and safely guide people with a vision impairment within an indoor environment. This training includes the following modules:

  • Awareness of accessibility needs
  • Live demonstration and practice of human guiding techniques
  • Building confidence in supporting people with vision impairments navigate safely within indoor environments

 

Key objectives

By the end of the training, participants will be able to:

  • Understand the different types of common vision impairment and their impact on mobility and independence
  • Use appropriate language and etiquette when interacting with vision-impaired people
  • Demonstrate safe and respectful guiding techniques, including:
    • Approaching and offering assistance
    • Guiding in narrow spaces, stairs, doorways, and seating
  • Understand best practices for communication and safety while guiding

 

Cost

  • £500 (up to 10 attendees)
  • £700 (up to 20 attendees)

 

 

Advanced human guiding training (in-person)

 

Duration

Four hours.

 

Theme

Advanced human guiding (sighted guiding) equips participants with the knowledge, practical skills and experience needed to confidently and safely guide people with vision impairment in a variety of environmental settings, including outdoor travel and transport.

 

Contents

This interactive, outdoor session teaches practical human guiding skills that equip attendees with the correct skillset to confidently and safely guide people with a vision impairment through various environments. This training includes the following modules:

  • Accessibility awareness
  • Live demonstration and practice of human guiding techniques
  • Building confidence in supporting vision-impaired people in daily life, public spaces, transport, road crossings, workplaces, and customer service environments.

 

Key objectives

By the end of the training, participants will be able to:

  • Understand the different types of common vision impairment and their impact on mobility and independence
  • Use appropriate language and etiquette when interacting with vision-impaired people
  • Demonstrate safe and respectful guiding techniques, including:
    • Approaching and offering assistance
    • Guiding in narrow spaces, stairs, doorways, and seating
    • Navigating different environments (indoor and outdoor)
  • Understand best practices for communication and safety while guiding

 

Cost

  • £1,000 (up to 10 attendees)
  • £1,400 (up to 20 attendees)

 

Note: All prices above for in-person training options do not include travel time or expenses. Travel expenses are priced at £0.45 per mile, and travel time is £50 per hour per facilitator.

 

Testimonies

  • “Thank you to Visibility Scotland and your team for such fantastic training. Everyone learned loads including those of us who have been here a while! It was really well delivered and very comprehensive.” – Sight Scotland, bespoke training.

 

  • “It was a really engaging session. I think being able to experience how a visually impaired person would navigate really helped in my understanding and empathy.” – Human guiding training attendee, charity sector.

 

  • “My biggest takeaway was gaining a deeper understanding of the challenges that people with a visual impairment face on a day-to-day basis and how to make communications more inclusive in my practice.” – Inclusive communications attendee, NHS.

 

By purchasing training from Visibility Scotland’s social enterprise, you are actively contributing to the social good while supporting your local and national vision impairment charity. Income generated from our training will be used to support our charitable services.

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