Milton Keynes Reader Service
Charity number: 1169548
Website: www.miltonkeynesreaderservice.org.uk
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Description:
Reading service
A confidential and reliable face-to-face reading and writing service in the comfort of the member’s own home, to assist with general correspondence and other reading materials. Assistance is offered by our volunteers to help with things like reading and responding to mail, assistance with managing finances by checking bank/utility statements and household bills and assistance with payments, addressing birthday and Christmas cards, reading instruction manuals, books, magazines and newspapers. Individuals using the service decide what they require, with assurances that confidentiality and privacy will be respected and maintained at all times.
Shop and see service
There are sight impaired and disabled people who require support and assistance when shopping, including transportation, for many different reasons. Assistance can be offered for all your shopping needs, be it groceries on a regular basis or for less frequent and one-off purchases such as clothing, furniture, crafts and other type of markets etc. Arrangements are made directly between the user and volunteer and it is a very successful part of our service. There is a small charge to cover volunteers’ fuel or parking fees..
Facilitation service
The Facilitation Service was introduced to ensure that support sight impaired and disabled people have an equal opportunity to attend and take part in Adult Education classes as well as other cultural pursuits and to allow more people to take up activities outside of their own homes. As the potential of this service continues to grow, its scope is constantly under review.
The Facilitation Service provides a volunteer (facilitator) to enable a disabled person to take part, as fully as possible, in a range of educational, leisure and cultural activities, such as:
• Educational classes e.g. learning a foreign language, cookery or obtaining an academic qualification
• Visiting an exhibition, library, museum or gallery
• Attending a meeting, interview or other appointment
• Accompanying someone to the theatre
A good rapport between the volunteer and the user is needed so that practical tasks can be shared e.g. in art or cookery classes. Additionally, tasks like reading important information can be dealt with promptly and descriptions of objects on a museum tour can be made instantly accessible. The volunteer works under the direction of the user to enable them to integrate, as far as they can, in any array of activities.
Transcription and recording service
An individual, tailor-made service to convert written material into more accessible formats, such as recorded information. Using analogue and digital technology, the Service provides, free of cost to service users, audio-recordings of a wide range of materials in various formats including audio cassette, CD, memory stick or MP3.
Transcription can also include processing literature and other material into easy to read large print, or Braille documents. Examples of materials requiring transcription could be instruction manuals, cooking and baking recipes, timetables, aid memoirs etc.
Our transcription service is also available at low cost to other charities. Additionally a commercial service is provided to external organisations who need recorded information.
