Downloaded from www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 THE ATTACHED TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT. BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE BBC CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS COMPLETE ACCURACY. IN TOUCH In Touch from Ireland with Tom TX: 17.01.2017 2040-2100 PRESENTER: PRODUCER: TOM WALKER CHERYL GABRIEL Actuality Belfast Bus Station Good evening from Belfast s very busy main bus station which is full of people rushing in all directions after a day s work. I ll be setting off from here around Northern Ireland to meet three people who prove that the visually impaired and human spirit can be indomitable. In a country whose love for music is legendary it s almost inevitable that I ll run into people who ve made it an integral part of their lives. Maybe less predictable however, anywhere in the United Kingdom, is Laughter Yoga. [Laughing] And this week I am very excited because I am recording a piece for In Touch. [Laughter] I m now on a bus heading to Omagh which is just over an hour and a half from Belfast. I m going to meet up with Claire who at the age of 15 lost her sight in the Omagh bombing of 1998. Piano music It s Tom from the In Touch programme how are you doing?
I ll get the kettle on. Brilliant. I remember sort of being thrown to the ground. And I had no sight straightaway. But at that time thought that maybe just some dirt of something had got into my eyes. Never for one second sort of realised the extent of my injuries. I knew that I had lost a lot of blood because they d had to cut my jeans and that off me because to check for other injuries but the only injuries I actually had was across the bridge of my nose. So I was in surgery that night, when I got there, and that was to remove a piece of metal. I then spent a further two weeks in hospital where I had another few surgeries, one of which was to remove my right eye. And I remember at the time, when they told me they were going to have remove my right eye, I was devastated, I was 15, up until this date everything in my life had been completely normal and I was being dealt this blow that I was having an eye removed. And I sort of you know all the usual things god what am I going to look like, is it going to look really different, nobody s going to be interested in me with only one eye and all these sort of thoughts. But anyway there was nothing could be done. When I initially lost my sight on the 15 th August I didn t get out of bed for a week because I was too scared to. I couldn t cope, I suppose it was the whole trauma of it, maybe some denial but I was too afraid to get out of bed. And then I got home, at the end of August, so I was at home for a week or so, so then did start having to try and make my way around a bit myself and that was a strange experience because it was a house that was so familiar to me beforehand and I had to relearn everything again. Was it one of those houses that was full of ornaments and things that a visually impaired person could knock over? Not so much but I m the oldest of five, so I was 15 at the time, my younger sister was five. So there was like toys and things To trip over. Yeah because it never was an issue before. So it was a learning experience for everyone at home because they then had to start keeping things out of my way and become more aware. So it was a big it was life changing for the whole family. I can t say that there was just a particular time when I was like so this is it but that probably around that time when my consultant told me that I was never going to see again, I suppose that was sort of the reality check, sort of right this is how it is.
I ve been reading quite a bit about you and I don t know if this is true but I hear you were back in school within weeks. Yeah I was so bored. I had nothing to do. How did your teachers react to you when you went back as a totally blind person and the other students as well? There was never any issue. My teachers were fantastic, they would have sat and recorded notes on to which was then cassette tapes for me. They did everything they could to help me as much as they could. There was never any issue with the rest of the girls in my class or my year or anything. Piano music So you did your GCSEs and A Levels and then went to Queen s to study music how was that? I loved it. Again I was just determined that I was just going to follow the path that I should be following I always wanted a career in music, so that was what I always would have done. Music s always been a love of yours and I know you worked at RNIB for a while but you left RNIB and you set up a music academy here in Omagh. Actuality Keever Hi Claire how are you? Hi Keever, how are you? Keever Good. How did you get on this week? Keever Good yeah. Any issues or anything or are we happy enough with everything?
Keever There s probably a few Go from the start and see how it goes. Piano music You re in charge of quite a big operation 140 off students. What are the challenges for you as a visually impaired person of running that type of music academy? I suppose I m very fortunate in that I have fantastic staff. All the tutors are extremely likeminded and we all help each other out. So I will go to them with queries, obviously about what s written on the sheet music because I teach all my students to read music and because I used to read music I m able to do that. But the business side, the less fun side, has to be done too. Is it lots of access technology? Yeah I have my laptop that I use with voiceover, I have a Mac, and I would be lost without it. Actuality Could you stop at the end of that section there Keever. Do you see how as you re playing that you re kind of hesitating Are there any aspects of your job where you occasionally think god I wish I could see? Yeah all the time. Obviously it would be much easier to teach if I could see because I would know exactly what my students were doing and I would know exactly what s on the page. Like I have to go and listen to the music and learn the music that I m going to teach every student myself and I have well over 30 students. So there s a lot of planning involved and if I could just lift the sheet music and look at it that would be much easier. Piano music But I love it. I can t quite remember who said this but I ve heard that laughter is the music of the soul. If that s the case there ll be making plenty of music here at the Bridge Community Centre in Lisburn. [Laughter]
While many of us will be familiar with yoga, laughter yoga is certainly new to me. Apparently laughter can have a whole range of therapeutic benefits and it isn t as new as I thought it was. Joanna is totally blind and is about to get the latest of her laughter yoga sessions underway. Joanna, what is laughter yoga? Well laughter yoga was created about 23 years ago by a cardiologist in India and he was very concerned about the general health of his patients and wanted to do something to improve things in general for people. So he got together with a few of his friends in a park in Mumbai and they just started telling jokes for each other. And within a couple of days the group had grown in popularity and everybody turned up on these days to have a good laugh really. But what they discovered after a while is that the jokes ran out. So Dr Madan Kataria, who was the fellow who started all this off, he went away and did some research and he discovered that our bodies cannot tell the difference between real laughter and simulated laughter. So he created a series of exercises and games that could help us simulate some laughter and get the same effects as if we were with our best friends having a good laugh or watching our favourite comedy. Actuality Right, so to start off with, because we re all a little bit rusty, we haven t done this for a month, we need to warm up our laughs. So I m going to start off and I want everybody to introduce themselves and then laugh and tell me one thing about your week and then laugh. Katy Hello I m Katy. [Laughter] And this week I went to the gym and did an exercise class and my arm has been killing me ever since. [Laughter] One of the objectives appears to be to encourage people to lose their inhibitions. Do you find as a blind person that really helps you? Yes because most of us who come here are visually impaired there is this sort of sensation of well nobody can see me anyway so why should I worry. I have noticed occasionally somebody comes who s never been before and you have to kind of almost be overly welcoming, so as they don t feel out of place. Musical orchestra, this is music of the soul is laughter so now we re going to prove it. Pick an instrument and play it laughing. [Laughing] Adam My name is Adam. [Laughing] And I spent Wednesday afternoon getting lots of food at Belfast market. [Laughter] What skills do you use to teach the sessions because obviously you can t actually see what the people taking part are doing?
Yeah that can be quite difficult and it s taken a little bit of getting used to and some groups are better than others, it depends on the dynamic of the group. With a fresh group that I ve never taught before I m very open and I tell the group that I can t see what they re doing and I can t see if they re running into any trouble. So I make it the group responsibility to look out for each other and for people to take responsibility for how they re feeling, I m not going to pick up on it. I think that s probably a lesson for life as well that we do need to take responsibility for how we feel and you speak up. Shirley I m Shirley. I m a South African. I ve been living in Northern Ireland for about 24 years. Now you re fully sighted and Jo is totally blind, how does that work from your point of view, how well does she interact with the group? Shirley I don t really see a difference between a sighted instructor and Jo because Jo is very aware of what s going on. What I ve observed from knowing Jo is that she can hear the different nuances. [Laughter] Lynne My name s Lynne. [Laughter] And we have had a distinguished guest stay with us this week. [Laughter] And I think that Tom should do I think Tom should do it as well. So introduce yourself please Tom. I m struggling to maintain my composure. My name is Tom. [Laughter] I ve had an interesting week a week of two halves. The second half of the week has been spent here in Northern Ireland which has been amazing, as it always is. [Laughter] Excellent. And as we do at the end of every laughter exercise we do some clapping. [Clapping] So it s ho, ho, ha, ha, ha etc. It s about increasing your confidence and trying to get to your comfort zone. And you don t learn or improve or become tougher unless you push yourself. TV Clip The Voice The artist with the most viewer votes tonight and therefore the winner of the Voice 2013 is it s Andrea. In 2013 Andrea Begley, who s visually impaired, won the BBC talent contest The Voice. The aim of the show is to find a pop star based on their voice and not their appearance. In the
early stages of the competition judges sit with their backs to the contestant and base their judgements on what they can hear. I ve come to the Crescent Arts Centre near Queen s University in Belfast to have a chat with Andrea. Andrea, you ve performed in here haven t you? Begley Yes that s right, Tom, I ve had the privilege of performing in the Crescent Arts Centre and attending a number of their classes on Irish traditional singing and oh on song writing as well. The opportunity to perform in The Voice came along for me as a bit of a coincidence. It actually came through a contact of a friend of mine in music circles in Belfast who said that the judges were coming from the production side over to Belfast to maybe look at some talent that might be interested in performing in the show. I think it did appeal to me the fact that the judges wouldn t look at you and wouldn t be judging you on your appearance and maybe on your stage performance if you were moving around or doing all the things that people typically expect from musicians or pop singers if you like. It must be quite difficult for you, as a visually impaired person with very limited vision, to feel totally comfortable on a stage especially in a television studio. Begley There s certainly a number of barriers there and in a way people might say actually we have an advantage because we can t see all the cameras and the lights and all the hundreds of people staring you in the face, which possibly is true but equally you can find difficulties with just even getting on and off the stage can be a challenge. But I was with the production staff who were always very helpful and very friendly. I know from my own experience just even having my photo taken I find it hard to look properly at the camera, directly at it, how did you find that in terms of television cameras? Begley It s definitely difficult. There were cameras really at all angles up above and to the sides and really I was reliant very much on the production staff leading me to the correct part of the stage and indicating to me how I should direct my body or what direction I should look. But certainly it is a bit of a difficult one and you want to make sure you re facing the audience and not facing sideways. How did you deal with the dilemma of announcing that you do have a visual impairment?
Begley I actually thought that I would be able to tell if the judges had turned because I d hear the noise there s usually a noise whenever their seats turn or they press the button. But I actually found out later that that noise doesn t happen in the studio, it s superimposed in after whenever the editing is done. With the result that whenever I got to the end of my audition genuinely I had absolutely no idea if anyone turned because I hadn t heard anything to even give me any sort of audible cues really. And I think I just dealt with it fairly naturally and just said look I m visually impaired I don t actually know if anyone s turned round. And then at that point Danny O Donoghue announced that both himself and Tom Jones had. But at the final you had of course made it clear, made it public that you re visually impaired. Did that have an effect on anything do you think? Begley I do recall reading some of the articles that had a bit of a slant about has this girl got to where she has simply because she s visually impaired and going down the whole route of is this a bit of a sympathy vote scenario or is this person actually talented. And I did find those a bit challenging, simply because I entered the show as a singer, first and foremost, my visual impairment is something that s a part of me and that I deal with it on a daily basis and I ve adapted to it and that s that. While there are parts of the industry that are very ruthless I also feel that there are parts of the industry that still reach out to authentic musicians, to singers, who want to be more than just the traditional pop package, if you like. I think the best advice I would give anybody is that if you really want to do it just give it a go and give it your best shot and I wouldn t definitely say that you need to feel in any way inhibited because of your vision and I think that s really the approach most visually impaired people take with life in general, we don t let a lot of things hold us back. In particular sometimes when people do tell you can t do something it almost makes you more determined to do it.