At the start of November Extant took part in an event called Focus on the Future, organised by Bristol RNIB and held at City of Bristol College. Three actors from Extant and Maria delivered three forum sketches plus a song during the day, which was aimed at an audience of educationalists and careers advisors in the South West working with visually impaired students making the transition from school to college and college into employment. City of Bristol College is one of 7 centres of excellence around the country facilitated by the RNIB, which offer comprehensive access in a mainstream institution to visually impaired students. The forum sketches presented by Amelia Cavallo, Christine Laurence and Gerard McDermott, highlighted difficult situations faced by visually impaired young people gaining careers advice, trying to find a job and then gaining promotion when in employment. Maria guided the audience through a forum style discussion about the issues, and re-play of the various situations to attempt a more favourable outcome Organiser Scott Wood fed back that the inclusion of drama in the day had achieved the desired effect and lifted the event from being a potentially dry day of discussions among the suits, to a lively, entertaining and more interactive experience around the issues under consideration.

To hear the song medley created by the Extant team for the event based on young visually impaired people’s aspirations and realities, click here