What Visably means to me: Laura's story

My daughter and I both live with sight loss. Here's why tech and the charity Visably is becoming matter so much to me.

If there's one thing that makes us human, I think it's our ability to connect. It's those first sparks of love. It's laughing 'til you cry with your besties over the latest dodgy Love Island plot twist ("can you believe he actually did that!?") It's connecting with what's happening in our world, and each having a stake in it. Because we all matter, don't we?

I am passionate about Visably, because they helped me find that simple, oh-so-human feeling of connection at one of the most important moments of my life.

I've been that kid who – when all my classmates were riding dragons and playing Quidditch with Harry Potter in the playground – was still waiting around for the large-print versions of the Harry Potter books to finally drop.

It's all inside of you bursting to come out, but-because of your eyes-sometimes what others take for granted feels out of reach.

A different future

It was after Daphne arrived that I came across British Wireless for the Blind Fund – the charity now called Visably. They were so friendly and down to earth as they helped enrich mine and Daphne's lives with all that tech can offer. But they gave more than tech. They helped me and Daphne bond. And they helped me – a new, nervous mum learning the ropes – to know Daphne's experience of growing would be far from mine.

Through Visably, her life was rich with sound from the start. Dinnertime became 'super fun dance party time'. Because, have you ever tried getting new foods into a toddler who can't see? And it doesn't stop there. Her development, her sleep, her language-you name it, tech and Visably played a part.

It's those little moments that can colour your life. Little gaps, moments when you can't quite do things that others can, when you can't quite get in on the joke – when you just can't quite connect.

Why Visably matters to me

Tech isn't just computers, gizmos and shiny blue-sky futures. For someone like me, it's colour, sound, connection, expression. Honestly, it can be an absolute godsend. But, when it's not working, it can really hurt.

That's where the new, flexible tech support Visably is trying to build comes in – giving people a helping hand when they need it, how they need it, and all with that friendly, human touch that meant the world to me.

For me, Visably is about being seen. It's a team of people who are as passionate as I am about making sure that people with sight loss – Daphne, me, and the 2 million other blind and partially sighted people in the UK – can stay connected.

Together, we can make sure tech doesn't leave a single person behind. Because, yes, we all matter.