Sight Village London 2025 – Day 1
A showcase for people with vision impairments and those who support them
Sight Village London is always an impressive mix of exhibitors, seminars and networking opportunities, and this year was no different. Having moved from their previous venue of Kensington Town Hall and, switching from a one-day to a two-day event, this Sight Village felt much more spacious, both in terms of physical space and in the scheduling. The ILEC Conference Centre in West London is warm and welcoming and felt much easier to navigate.
Deputy Head of CENMAC & QTVI, Mary Long and CENMAC Advisory Teachers David Howard and Maureen De Longhi attended and we’ll be sharing their thoughts in two blogs.
Day 1 Sight Village
Mary Long attended on Tuesday 18th November, meeting with many of the London Sensory Service teams, who CENMAC works closely with.
Mary also spoke with many of the suppliers at the show, finding it a useful chance to catch up with some companies that are based outside of London.
Sight Village London – Day 1
It was great to connect with such a wide range of suppliers and to hear about all the latest updates in technology for people who have low or no vision. Mary was particularly impressed to see the developments that some companies are making with adjustments to their operating systems from Android to Windows.
Humanware evolve
One example of this is the newest addition to the Braillenote family from Humanware: the “Braillenote evolve” with Windows 11 Pro running the device, meaning that pupils using it can more easily access Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint through braille.
Braillenote evolve is expected to launch in Spring 2026 and it will be a powerful tool for braillists.
> Find out more about the Braillenote evolve
TactileView software
It was also interesting to see (and feel!) the latest innovations for those who rely on tactile images and graphics to support their learning.
TactileView from HumanWare is a new software used for creating pictures which can then be turned into tactile images using a braille embosser or swell paper.
> Download a trial version of TactileView
CENMAC will run a Thursday Thirty information session on TactileView software in the new year.
Image: © Humanware – Image of three people at a desk with laptops and a Braillenote
Dot Pad X
Another tactile device that Mary has been following with interest since its launch in 2022 is the Dot Pad, and so she was delighted to have a hands-on one-to-one demonstration of the latest device, the “Dot Pad X” at Sight Village.
The Dot Pad X was launched in September and promises to “bring real-time tactile graphics and multiline braille to your fingertips”.
It’s amazing how far the product has come in just the last three years, and exciting to see the difference that this will make to people.
Image: © dot. Dot Pad X is a multiline braille and tactile graphics display
Speaksee solutions
As well as all the stands and seminars focusing on support for those with sight loss, Mary was also keen to find out about Speaksee solutions, primarily designed for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, providing live subtitles for group conversations. This was on the Sight and Sound stand, and great to see in action, with accurate subtitles even within the noisy environment of the exhibition space.
Notebook LM
Mary also attended an interesting seminar on how AI can be used to assist people with vision impairments. Sydney May (Education Technology Coordinator at Thomas Pocklington Trust) gave a whistle-stop tour of all the tools that she finds most helpful. One that Mary has been using herself and really recommends is Notebook LM – a Google tool which can quickly summarise content, turning multiple documents into study guides or audio content, to make written content more accessible. Why not try it out with this blog?!
Stay tuned for Sight Village Day 2 coming soon!
Image: © Speaksee. The Speaksee Microphone Kit