Tips for VIPs: Travel and transport

Following our collection of tips on food and cooking as a visually impaired person (VIP), we asked you to share your advice on getting out and about. And you didn’t disappoint!

Enjoy the view

"Although I no longer go birdwatching, I use my binoculars to read signs and look at flowers, paintings, exhibitions, or just the scenery.

"When travelling on public transport, I carry my “monocular” unobtrusively in my fist. It magnifies ten times so I can bring it up to my eye to read the boards on the station platform, or spot the route number on a bus from up to 100 metres away."

Keep tabs

"Add bumpons (tactile sticky dots) to your luggage to help you identify it on the luggage rack or carousel."

"It used to be difficult for me, when out shopping with my husband, to find our car in the supermarket car park.
But now there’s a yellow sticker in the rear window, I can locate it easily."

Delegate the driving

If you regularly make the same journey, list it on www.liftshare.com/uk and see if you can get a lift with someone who has a spare seat in their car.

See if there’s a “Daisy” in your area. Driving Miss Daisy is a network of “community companions” whose accessible cars can be booked to get you to and from medical appointments