The pictures that help and heal

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. The BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.

1:00The documentary, home of the best documentaries from the BBC World Service. Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service. I'm Ira Anubi and this is People Fixing the World. While the world is fixated on problems, this is the programme that tells you about solutions. Today we'll be finding out about two projects that can help disabled people. A reading club where the books have no words and a picture app that could save lives. Every day many of us rely on words to communicate, to learn, to connect.

2:00But the solutions we'll hear about today have a big impact without any words. First, a book club with a difference and here to tell me more is our reporter Natalie Duod. Natalie, it's great to have you back. Hi, Myla, thank you. Now, Natalie, before we talk about the book club, right, I'm just wondering what's your experience like with reading? Well, my experience with reading. So I properly learn how to read in my late teens. And since then I can't stop reading. What sort of books do you like? I'll read anything from fiction to autobiographies. If you give me a recommendation or if I see any recommendations on social media, I'll buy the book and then I'll just read it. And I mean, we do know you love reading because you're now a published author. I am, yeah.

3:00The book is about its explaining to children what a learning disability is. And I wrote my personal examples of how I've always struggled from being a child to where I am now in life. Tell us a bit more. How does that impact you? My learning disability impacts me on my day-to-day life. So things like doing fancy hair styles, I can't do, doing my shoot, laces, I struggle to do. So another example I can give you is public transport. You can use a different type of airline disability, you may not be able to use the tube or the bus. So they may need a taxi to take them everywhere. Right, right. And for people who can't see you, I just want to say your hair looks lovely. Right. But it's also worth saying that while we use a term learning disability here in the UK,

4:01in many other countries it's different. This kind of impairment is described as an intellectual disability. And that would include people with Down syndrome. So in the UK there are roughly 1.5 million people with a learning disability and a much larger group. About 8.5 million, find reading very difficult. But now let's get back to the solution today Natalie. Tell me about this book club. This book club is run by a charity that is called Books Beyond Words. And they publish special books that don't have any words. They publish specifically for people who have a learning disability. And people come together and read them in book clubs. Right. So instead of the traditional kind of book clubs where people read the book before and then discuss them later, here people read the book together and discuss it in the sessions. Here's an example. Do you want to say? Yes please, let me see.

5:02So this book is called Going Into Hospital. And just kind of looking through the book, you've got illustrations, large ones on each page that continue. But no words, just pictures. But Natalie, I'm just wondering how does it work? Just looking at this book, how do you read this without any words? Well, I went along to a book club to find out the group I joined met in a library in London. And we were reading a new book called Be and Safe Online Amy Story. Hi, everyone. I'm Natalie. Can I please join in today? Yes! I joined about 15 people around the big table and we start to read a new book. Today the group is led by Robert, a project administrator. So I will start. So, story starts with two ladies that are walking in a park,

6:02just having a nice walk and one of them seemed to recognise our tour, Slender Man, it is. I'm going to name the lady with the pink shirt Amy and the lady in the purple jacket, Rose. In these books, the characters don't have any names. Instead the group enjoys making them up themselves. And the man, what should we call the man? Would anyone like the Ben? Ben, let's go Ben. Yes. Everyone takes a turn reading the story. Some people at the book club have a more severe learning disability. Charlene has trouble speaking but she can follow the story and is helped by a camera. Next page, page 10. So see what she is looking on the phone. Oh, that's cute. Dog. Yeah.

7:04Sending a picture to her. There is a man here. She is showing her this dog. The story is about a woman called Amy who makes friends with a man online. We decide to call that man John. Amy and John send each other pictures of their pets. Amy, yes. I think she might be taking a picture of her cats as well. But then I notice that John sends Amy a picture of something else. John is playing the game. All taking a picture. Mmm, we're taking a picture of what you. Mmm. If you put it. John wants Amy to send a picture of her foot too, but our group didn't like that. What would she do if you send your teacher to send a picture?

8:04I would say no. No. At this point I am starting to get worried about Amy. And sure enough things get worse. John soon asks Amy to take a close off while on a video call. She doesn't want to talk to her phone. What's happening now? She's trying to find out for her. And she's still in her own days. Yes, yes. And then John uses the pictures to try and get money from Amy. If you do it, give me money. How show the people? You'll show it to other people. It's blackmail. At first he was such a nice guy. And then Mr. Futsi turned into a monster.

9:05At the end of the book, John is arrested by the police. Thank goodness. Look at that. The police came. I'm very relieved by the happy ending. That's the end of our story. What do you want? What do you want? I want to give you a big hand for that. Yes. Yes, I find it helpful. What do you want to learn about what's happening? Because it happens to anyone. It makes me. I learn a lot of things. Watch what you should do when you're using your mobile phone or when you're online to stay safe.

10:06I enjoyed the book. I just think it's a very difficult topic to go through in general. Thank you everyone. Thank you so much. To be honest, I'm surprised about how much everyone loved reading Amy's story. Because I found it a bit upsetting. I asked Publish in Manager Emily Hollins if other book clubs like the same sort of stories. Some of our book clubs, the longer-standing book clubs, the more exciting for years, they will actually say, we want to read a book about having epilepsy or about a parent dying. And other book clubs just want to do the fan books like Lucy goes riding or they at the beach and falling in love.

11:08I think it's a book that you wouldn't do because you would feel embarrassed to do or it's completely out of your comfort zone. I mean, I recover same-ning topics. One book we recently updated, which was a bit embarrassing for me, was looking after my balls. Lots of pictures of the man with his clothes off. That was a bit embarrassing to work on. But honestly, I can pretty much cope with anything. It's part of a requirement of having this job really. And Emily was born to do this job. She grew up with a brother with a learning disability called Nigel. And 40 years ago, Emily and Nigel's mum, Sheila Hollins, started books beyond words. Sheila is a doctor and now sits in the House of Lords part of the UK Parliament.

12:10Well, my son has a learning disability. And so that's how it all started. Because of his learning disability, and I began to understand more about it, I used to be the child psychiatrist. And then I started working just with people with learning disabilities. Should I tell you how I started making the books? Yes, please. Well, then I was a psychiatrist working in a long stay hospital. And one day I was asked to see a man who didn't speak. And the nurses wanted me to give him some medicine to make him get out of bed. Because he was hurting himself. He was crying. He wouldn't eat. And he wouldn't get out of bed. And when I made further inquiries, I found out that his dad had died. But nobody had told him because nobody thought that he would understand. But his dad used to visit him every week. It was so sad. And so I tried to find some pictures that would show that story.

13:10And the children's publishers all said, we would never do a book about a father dying. That's far too complicated. That's far too upsetting. So I tried doing it in photographs. That didn't work. So I started working with an artist friend, Beth Webb, to see whether she could help me to create a story. And so we created the story. And it's still one of our most, if you like, popular books. That first story was called When Dad Died. After the story came out, they realised that people who struggle to read were unlikely to find out about the book. So that's when they had the idea of starting book clubs. Today, there are more than 300 book clubs in the UK. And books beyond words have published 80 books. You could say that it all started with Nigel, Sheila's son. And that first book, When Dad Died, is still a very special book

14:12for him and the whole family. I'm sure my son won't mind me telling you, but my husband died last year, his dad. And when he died, my son was there. And then he came out of the room, and a nurse had turned up. And she was standing there waiting. And so he went to my study, and he got this book off the shelf. I didn't suggest it to him, but he went and found it. And he came back, and he gave it to the nurse, and he said, this is what happened. Which I think is wonderful, because it meant that he understood. And he was able to be there, because he wasn't scared. He knew what was going to happen. He'd been prepared. That's what he said. This is the documentary from the BBC World Service. Book a Love by Guest Property with Virbo. And you get a top-rated vacation rental that's love for all the right reasons. I love my Virbo for the location.

15:12Good reason. Oh, and for the pool. Because pools are cool. I feel the love. Book a Virbo that's love by Guest. If you know, you're Virbo. Hey, it's your ceiling vent. So I'm dripping. Could be the rain. Could be the upstairs bathroom. Yikes. You could hire the guy your neighbor recommended. But I'm pretty sure that's just his cousin. Do we know if he's licensed? Or does he just don't allow her? Listen to your home. Go with Thumbtack. Upload a photo or voice note, and we'll diagnose your project and match you with the right pro for the job. Thumbtack. We know homes. Hire the right pro today.

16:17I'm Maira Anubi, and on People Fixing the World today, it's all about solutions that need no words. We've just been hearing about a book club for people with learning disabilities from our reporter Natalie duo, who's still with me in the studio. Natalie, you found Amy's story quite upsetting, but I wonder what did you think about the book club? It was a very fun and interesting book club. There was a specifically lovely atmosphere, so it wasn't just about reading the book. It was very much them just having a chat, socializing, talking about their week and then getting on with the book. And just specifically with these books, what's the process of making one of them? Well, the artist does a first version of the book,

17:17then they test it with people who have a learning disability. And with this specific book being safe online, around 50 people tested this book, and it took two years to make. Gosh, two years is a long time. How expensive is this to do? It can be expensive. Longer books can cost up to £70,000. So that's around $100,000? Yep, and they are paid for by charities or grants, but they would love to do more books, especially fun ones that the group would love. Because I'm guessing the grants and all go towards the more serious books. Yeah. I suppose, Natalie, some people might be wondering, why reads such serious books? Reading should be fun. Because it's important to talk about serious topics and for people who have a learning disability to understand serious topics,

18:20like sexual abuse, online abuse. But what really fascinated me is that they all had fun. So even though it was a serious topic, they still had fun. And that's what books should be. Thank you so much, Natalie, for what you've shared with us, this book club, with books that have no words. Thank you. It's been a pleasure. Well, for my next story, I'm sticking with a theme of finding ways to communicate without words. Imagine having an emergency, an accident perhaps, or being the victim of a crime. Think about how you would alert emergency services. Now, ask yourself, how would you do that if you couldn't talk? Well, here in the UK, there are a few ways. There is a text message service, and two years ago, another service was introduced for deaf users to request a sign interpreter. But there's also a third alternative as well.

19:23It's called tap SOS, and it's the world's first smartphone app that's connected to emergency services. It was created by Becca Hume from the company Incutec, and I spoke to Becca down the line from Northern Ireland. So it's a smartphone app, and it allows people to connect to 999 non-ferbally, so 999 be in our emergency number. Anytime that they feel that they're in an emergency, and traditionally maybe we'd pick up the telephone and call 999, we are the digital alternative. Just looking at the app now, and I'm pretty sure I pressed the practice button. One of the things it asks immediately is for your location, and what you need, which I think is quite key. There are four options here, all visual. There are these police, an ambulance, fire, and rescue, or Coast Guard. And you do have the words themselves, but all of these are images. So there are all buttons, those pictures then are clickable. Once you select which service you require,

20:23that then opens up the categories that are relevant to any emergency. Any places related incidents, you might be experiencing, or ambulance situations, they're all presented. It's interesting you said that, because I just clicked on the image that shows up police car, and already there's so many options, you know, damage, property, domestic abuse, drug, gangs. I wonder, does it take the same amount of time for these services to get to you, if you call 999, or if you use the app? We are the only company in the UK that has been government approved to connect digitally into 999. So anybody that uses our app, it's treated exactly the same as left and up the phone, I'm calling 999. So you will get the same response from the emergency services by using our app as you would by making a 999 call. Part of the app, you have a profile in there, and you can add in medical conditions or your own medical profile. And once you click on, I need help now, I invite to make a report.

21:25It's then transferred to the emergency services themselves. So Becca, the app was originally designed for people who are deaf, but then it's now being applied in other ways. So yes, the starting point was deaf and hard of hearing community, but you frequently consider those may be non-verbal, those may be experiencing choking, an asthma attack, or a stroke. And in those circumstances, your losing your ability to speak clearly or confidently. We have had users saying, you know, I'm autistic, and this would work better for me. Like, I'm not comfortable picking up the phone and speaking to people. I prefer this method. Is that okay if I download your app? I'm like, absolutely. This is designed for you. This is for anyone to download. So it's broad. At the moment, tap SOS only works in the UK. But Becca says that there has been more interest from other countries and she's keen for it to become a way of contacting emergency services all around the world.

22:26It's worth saying that it's still quite small, with just 5,000 users here in the UK. One of those users is Jonathan Wright, who heard about tap SOS because he used to work with Becca's father. Jonathan suffers from Crohn's disease, which can lead to his body becoming dangerously dehydrated. Partly out of curiosity, he downloaded tap SOS to his phone a few years ago. And was later very glad he had done so. Jonathan told me exactly what happened. I had spent a few days feeling just a little off, not feeling terrible by any means, still getting on with everything that I could, but just feeling a little bit under the weather. Then I went up to the bedroom, I laid on, and about 30 minutes after that there, I woke up screaming because my leg had went and they crumpled. I couldn't speak a word. I could barely breathe. I don't know who I really hope you've never been in a possession where you've been in so much pain that you can't communicate.

23:28You know, something that should be quite simple effectively. But I knew I wasn't able to communicate verbally. What was wrong? So the phone 999 on the phone wasn't going to happen. So I, you know, I'd been playing with the app a little bit and looking through it. And I'd put all my details into the app, just simply to make sure that everything worked. So I was able to use the app. And the app, because it had a lot of information already there, it made it a lot easier for me to go through and hit buttons. I'm not have to, you know, type out stuff. But basically to get through to the emergency service, what the problem was as quickly as possible. I mean, it is, it's so time-critical. And, you know, I was in hospital, treated an out within a matter of probably 24 hours. But if I hadn't got in as quickly as I got in, if I hadn't got the information as easily as I got the information,

24:30I am a no doubt that I would probably not be here. And I knew you downloaded this app, not necessarily thinking you'd ever have to use it. But now that you have, what does it mean to you knowing that CAPSOS exists? I have since put the app on the phone of just about everybody I know. And when I meet people, I will say, hey, have you seen this? Because once it's there, you might never need to use it. But it will be that moment when you do need the user that you will suddenly realize, I am so grateful this app exists. Jonathan Wright, speaking to me recently, and hopefully CAPSOS will one day be available, wherever you're listening to this podcast. For now, though, it's just in the UK. Now, what do you think about today's solutions? Let me know by sending a message or a voice note to the WhatsApp number plus 4448,321,721. That's all we have time for today. But join me again next week for more uplifting

25:32and interesting ideas that can make a difference in our world. Until then, thanks for listening to People Fixing the World on the Documentary. The AT&T Guarantee is all about having your back. With AT&T Internet Air, your home Internet is backed by the AT&T Guarantee. In the rare event of a network outage, you'll automatically get a credit for a full day of service. It's like waking up from a nap, the warm blanket resting on your shoulders. Ah! Visit at att.com slash guarantee to learn more. When the connection matters, that has to be AT&T. Credit for Internet Air, downtime lasting 20 minutes or more restrictions and exclusions apply. See att.com slash guarantee for full details.