Beacon Centre CEO Lisa Cowley talks about the past, present and future of the charity

Express & Star

James Vukmirovic talks to Lisa Cowley about the 150th anniversary of the Beacon Centre for the Blind and what the charity has in store for the future.

Transcript

00:00Hello, I'm James Lutmerovich and I'm here at the Beacon Centre for the Blind.

00:04It's 150 years since this particular charity started its work helping the people with sight loss, with blindness

00:11and helping them to empower themselves, find skills and find lives.

00:15I'm here with the CEO, Lisa Cowley. We've spoken a lot about this charity and the impact it's done.

00:20So, what does 150 years mean to you?

00:23It's such a privilege to be Chief Executive of this charity.

00:26It does amazing work every day and to lead a charity in its 150th year is something that most people can only dream of.

00:33We continue to make such a huge difference to individuals, communities and change people's hearts and minds and that's what I love doing.

00:42And it's not just giving them the skills to live, as I may have said.

00:45It's also empowering them to work here, have a working life and basically have a quote unquote normal life.

00:52Yeah, so absolutely. Sight loss might mean that you have to do something in a slightly different way.

00:56It might change kind of what you want to do, but actually there's so many opportunities.

01:01We have a huge number of staff that have sight loss and we also have people that have come and work with us, volunteered,

01:06that have been members and gone on to amazing different careers and opportunities.

01:09And it's putting them in the spotlight because that is what changes people's perceptions.

01:13People still face huge barriers every single day and a lot of that is about misconception and that's a huge part of what I do.

01:21Going out and raising the profile, sharing people's stories that change people's minds.

01:26And 150 years being celebrated, but obviously planning for the next 150 years as well.

01:31Absolutely. So as a charity, you know, in a strange way, we're always trying to make ourselves redundant.

01:36We're trying to solve those problems. You know, the problems that people with sight loss face are huge,

01:41but we're actually making so many strides ahead.

01:43And over the next strategic period, so the next five years, we're really focusing on how we change the whole system.

01:49So not just focusing on what Beacon does, but what we all do in collaboration to make things better for those that are impacted by sight loss

01:57and make the whole health and social care system better for everyone.

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