SEEING IS BELIEVING - IN YOURSELF AND OTHERS!

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 20th Sep 2006

Jenny Randerson, Liberal Democrat Assembly Member for Cardiff Central, has congratulated UCAN Perform, a creative arts project for visually impaired young people, in winning the Wales Heat and reaching the UK final of the National Lottery Awards 2006.

Jenny said:

"My congratulations to UCAN Perform and RNIB Cymru, who were involved with the project to link drama and confidence building for blind and partially sighted young people.

"Visually impaired children from schools across Wales took part in a series of drama workshops which concluded with a performance which not only boosted the confidence and self-esteem of the participants but also challenged the perceptions of sighted members of the public towards people with visual impairment.

"As at March 2005, 1,082 blind people and 937 partially sighted people registered with Cardiff Council. However, this does not represent the total number of people with serious sight loss as many people never register and it is estimated that, for every one person on the register, there are probably three or four with serious sight loss who are not. None of us know when or if we will be one of those numbers, either as a result of cataracts, glaucoma, diabetes or a host of other diseases that may befall us and it is important that our sometimes "tunnel vision" attitudes should be challenged.

"I will certainly be watching the national final which will be broadcast on BBC1's "Everyone's a Winner" Programme on Saturday, 23rd September."