Divij

My name is Divij and I’m a 19-year-old boy living in Windsor. My journey has been full of ups and downs; the credits for my ups go to Berkshire Sensory Consortium. I’m from India and moved to the UK in 2023 with my family. I love reading books and news articles, learning about technology and studying my subjects. As of now, I’m almost blind with no useful vision, but I wasn’t born with this condition. I was born with a weak retina in both of my eyes due to genetic factors, but knowing this fact didn’t really matter to me as my vision was near to perfect… until I turned 14. I was in an examination hall taking my exam, out of nowhere; I saw a black curtain cascading in front of my eye; I went to the toilet leaving my exam and splashed my eyes with water, tried to rub them, but nothing changed. I completed my exam; went straight home and tried to ignore it as the black curtain had only covered a tiny bit of my peripheral vision and I didn’t want to scare my parents either; until the next day… I was riding my bike and noticed that black curtain was getting larger, and now it was also restricting my navigation, that’s when I told my parents. I was diagnosed with retinal detachment and doctors had assured my eye would be back to normal. I can’t blame them; my first surgery was successful!

Life was going perfect after the surgery and things were going absolutely fine… until my second surgery, which was a massive failure. Without being able to see, I saw the hopelessness in the doctors’ eyes. The doctors did their best, they were able to restore most of the vision in my third surgery. But this traumatic experience was enough to break me down for quite a long time. I was stuck somewhere in the middle, with being partially sighted; it was a devastating experience for me. I took a long break from my education, hoping that one day the things would start getting better and then I would resume my education as a normally abled child; I used to hate this disability label. I was severely depressed and traumatised with my vision loss experience; completely hopeless, isolated and just living my life without actually living.

Finally, I had my fourth surgery last year; actually, it was on 31st of Dec so technically it was this year! This surgery was also a failure, but this time I emotionally sensed something else. From being fully sighted; I was almost blind now, but I didn’t really care about it?! I know this sounds so wrong but honestly this is how I felt! I decided to get my life back to normal, resuming my education from where I had paused it and just accepting my blindness and owning it! My parents supported me a lot and motivated me; I can’t thank them enough! I still don’t know how my mother got in touch with Jean from Berkshire Sensory Consortium.

All the credit goes to Jean for making my life better, putting my education in place and connecting me with the right people. She was the one who streamlined my EHCP application and process, she introduced me to braille, to various screen readers and numerous other kinds of technology and devices which are available out there. I’ve finished learning Grade 2 braille and now I’m able to access technology with screen readers; I can’t thank Jean enough! She truly goes out of her way to help and support me. She’s more like a guide and mentor for which I feel grateful to her. Some people that Jean has connected with me are absolutely amazing and always exceed expectations!

One of them is Lizzie, she is my Habilitation specialist. Lizzie works on my mobility and navigation, teaches me how to use a white cane and other necessary skills which help me get more independent. She works tirelessly for me and keeps me motivated whenever I feel frustrated or distressed whilst learning something new. I’ve got Angela and Jas as my QTVIs who are always there to sort out my problems and understand my needs and requirements. They both always put in 100% whilst working for me, I’m endlessly grateful to them! For a short period of time, I had no tutors for my chosen subjects; that was when Angela and Jas came in and taught me English and Maths; really going out of their way to support me! They both still do other things besides their job role to help me succeed and progress. There are so many things they do for me; which I can’t recall at the moment so please do forgive me for that! To be precise, the effort they put in for me really makes a difference in my life! Sheree from BSCS teaches me important life skills and makes the reading and study material accessible for me along with my QTVIs. I’m so thankful to her for what she does for me.

In the future, I fancy becoming a lawyer. I know that’s feasible only because of the supportive people I’ve got behind my back from BSCS. My only goal is to work and live independently, selflessly working and supporting those who’ve always stood besides me, and giving back to the community. Finally, I would like to sincerely thank all the people from the BSCS who tirelessly work for me, and I’d like to address it directly to them; the things you do for me really matter and make so much difference in my life! Thank you so much!

Ellie and Kiarna

I never thought I could go to town by myself, but I did, and here’s how it went! On November 1st 2024, I took the bus on my own to meet Kiarna outside Creams, just by the bus stop, and then we walked across the road to the Broad Street Mall. We both went to Muffin Break, a little cafe on the right-hand side of the entrance of the Broad Street Mall for a latte and talked of many things. After we had our coffee, and chatted for a bit, we had a look around The Works and Poundland – after we did that, we got ready to depart. It was an amazing feeling to be able to go to town independently, and the experience gave me so much confidence to be able to do it again.

Berkshire Vision, as well as my hab specialist, gave me the skills and confidence necessary to be able to take the bus to town by myself – BV helped me to build close relationships with my good friends, and my hab specialist from the Berkshire Sensory Consortium Service supported me with learning new skills on catching the bus independently, crossing the road safely, and loads more to help me build the confidence to be able to go to town for the first time ever. If I could give some advice to any VIP that has not gone out independently, it would be that it isn’t like you cannot do it, it’s just the confidence.

Billy

We are delighted to celebrate the remarkable achievement of Billy, our Year 6 pupil with profound VI, who has recently graduated Level 3 in piano. This is great progress for Billy, who has shown incredible dedication and perseverance. In his own words, 'I am proud of my achievement and my teacher says I am the fastest learner and best pupil he's currently got. I would love to get all the grades done and to be able to be a professional pianist.'

Well done Billy! 

Ummayah

Congratulations to Ummayah for her amazing poetry writing.   

Ummayah’s poem, Our Planet, was chosen by The Young Writers UK Publishing Portal from thousands of entries nationwide from students aged 11-18 who wrote poems on any theme and style.   Her poem has been published in one of their annual anthologies showcasing poems, called The Beautiful Truth - The Poetry Patchwork. 

A copy of this will remain in the National Archives of the British Library forever!

Our Planet

Our planet is not being destroyed,

So do not tell me,

We need to save our planet.

Even though Arctic sea ice is declining,

Even though there's deforestation due to mining.

Even though glaciers are retreating,

Even though our planet is heating.

We don't need to do anything,

It's just a joke.

We say

Our oceans are dying,

Our rainforests are crying,

Our people are experiencing increased drought,

Our animals close to extinction cry and shout.

We can sit back and relax.

We think

It's a huge problem

Massive crop and fishery collapse,

Dirty water coming out of taps.

Forest fires burning,

Very few sustainable wind turbines turning.

Nature doesn't need our help.

Do not think that

Our planet needs saving.

*Now read from bottom to top.  Ummayah

Annie

My name is Annie and I’m in year six. I do a number of sports, but one of my favourites is trampolining.  I have been taking trampolining for about two years now and I still take classes.  I can do a number of skills, such as somersaults, but the one in the picture is of a straddle. Trampolining is an Olympic sport but, they obviously do harder skills than somersaults in the Olympics. Great Britain won the women’s trampolining competition in the 2024 Paris Olympics with Bryony Page and her ground-breaking score of 56.480. I look up to Bryony Page, as she was the first ever athlete from Great Britain to ever win a medal in trampolining.

One of the reasons I love trampolining is because it is so liberating. The feeling of flinging myself into the air takes away any stress that I have. It feels like flying! I touched briefly on some of the skills that I can do, but I can also do front landings, back landings, twists, turnovers and so many more. And, with patience, effort and commitment, anyone can do these moves.  Some things have been harder for me though. I have a visual impairment called Irlens syndrome, which affects my vision. My Irlens is not something I let stop me. I didn’t want to miss out on doing the things I love because I have poor eyesight. So, I didn’t. There is nothing physically wrong with my eyes, it’s just my brain not understanding things very well and affecting parts of my body, like my eyes. But, I found that I just need to relax into what I’m doing and my brain will follow. Ialso have C.P.S (chronic pain syndrome.) This is again my brain being overprotective over my body and not understanding the messages my nerves are sending it. Therefore, causing my right knee pain. Two years ago, I was wheelchair bound and if you’d told me that in two years I would’ve been trampolining, I wouldn’t have believed you. But, doing sports helped me recover and trampolining was no different.

If you want to do trampolining you can. No matter if you’re disabled, young, old or anything! However, you do need to have some key things. It’s very important to have experienced coaches. In your early days of doing trampolining you rely a lot on your coaches, so you need to be able to completely trust them. Also, you must have safe equipment with your trampolines. Crash mats are so important, as you can fall on the trampoline or off the trampoline, but if there are crashmats, you should be fine. I’ve never seriously injured myself on the trampoline. It may sound a bit obvious that you need large trampolines, but you really do. You need space to mess up, fall and push in crashmats. Small trampolines aren’t safe if you want to learn serious skills. Most importantly though, you need to be determined, committed, safe, and able to not just trust and listen to your coaches, but yourself. If something doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. If you are tired, rest. Your coaches will always listen to you, but you need to listen to yourself. If you don’t, the situation immediately becomes dangerous.

My strongest piece of advice when trampolining is to just enjoy it, I always do.