Sound and Vision (Sensory) CIC supports deaf, blind and sensory impaired people to access their community, take part in leisure activities, enjoy positive mental health activities and much more.
Through their support, deaf, blind and sensory impaired people are able to access activities they would like to experience to improve their well-being.
They have received funds through the Mid and South Essex Integrated Care System’s (MSEICS) Inequalities Microgrant Programme, to introduce new activities into deaf blind people’s lives by providing specialised support at no cost to them.
Empowering people and communities
Their team has a real passion and ambition to work collaboratively to support organisations and service providers, creating more empowered and inclusive communities.
One of the support activities was for their clients to attend an indoor archery session at the Braintree Bowmen. For one client, the club went our of its way to make the session accessible, as they made a ‘rest’ for his hand alignment from a camera stand, document holder and screw, which although sounds basic, worked a charm.
The shoot lasted for three and a half hours with the client included in each session and lined up the other bowmen, with a quiver of three arrows, bow and finger guard all supplied by Braintree Bowmen.
Making a difference
The client was completely elated by attending this event, his archery skill soon came back to him. He needed to focus his mind to line up against the rest and listen for when the arrow hit the boss. Walking to and from the boss to collect his arrows is also a good form of physical exercise as it’s a 100 yard walk roughly every ten minutes, as well as exercising his upper body through firing the arrows. He really enjoyed the camaraderie with the other bowmen and smiled, chatted and laughed a lot during the evening, which made a real difference to him not only for one day, but long after.
This experience has had an incredibly positive impact on his mental wellbeing. He told me he’d be living off this one for weeks, as he said: “Tonight I was treated like an Archer, not a blind Archer, but an Archer”.
Mike Bloomfield, from Sound and Vision