South Ayrshire Council News

Demonstration to councillors of how the new magnifier works.

South Ayrshire Council has installed two electronic magnifiers, one in Carnegie Library in Ayr and one in Girvan Library, to make more library services available to to people who are visually impaired.

The versatile stand alone auto-focus electronic magnifiers, with 48.26 cm (19”) screens are specifically for use by people who are visually impaired. The magnifiers make reading and writing possible again for many of the users and easier for others. The magnifiers moving table makes it simple to view personal documents such as letters, books, newspapers and television guides.

After watching a demonstration of one of the machines at Craigie Library in Ayr Councillor Margaret Toner, Depute Leader of the Council and the Portfolio Carrier for Community Services said: “Many of us take reading and writing for granted but for the visually impaired simple tasks can be very difficult. Approximately two million people in the UK have a sight problem, of which almost 400,000 are registered as blind or partially sighted.

“Reading a bank statement or any other private document would be impossible for some people without the use of an electronic magnifier. Being able to read their own mail, and other printed material, will help people who are visually impaired to be more independent.”

The machines have been sympathetically located in the libraries in positions were the users will be able to view their documents with as much privacy as possible.

The number of people with sight problems is increasing as the number of older people in the population rises. The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is working with libraries and other information providers to improve the availability of technology, and alternative forms of reading materials, to make information more accessible for people with impaired vision. Through two campaigns, ‘Right to Read’ and ‘Information is Power’ the RNIB is striving to make everyone more aware of the difficulties poor sight causes people.