Zurich: ‘Not’ Seeing Is Believing

Gavin Douce, claims handler at Zurich, ran a 5k 'park run' with the support of Zurich Community Trust (ZCT), which was a big challenge, as Gavin is sight impaired.

It was one of Gavin’s aims, post 5k, to visit one of the charities that Zurich helps support and who could benefit from all the generous sponsorship.

So along with four other Zurich employees he visited Queen Alexandra College (QAC), attending their ‘seeing is believing’ (SIB) workshop. QAC work closely with young adults who are sight impaired and/or have learning difficulties.

Throughout the day the group:

-      Were taught how to sign the letters of the deaf/blind alphabet using the palm and fingers of the left hand - so they could communicate with a deaf blind person

-      Completed a ‘sensory artistic copy challenge’ – using play doh, pens and paper to replicate a picture that was being described verbally, learnt the correct way to guide a sight impaired person when indoors and out-and-about, doing ‘sighted guiding training.’

-      Ended the day with a Victoria sponge baking challenge - where a sighted person needed to provide verbal instructions to a sight impaired person, so that the sight impaired person could make a Victoria sponge.

Gavin commented;

‘I cannot stress enough how fulfilling the QAC workshop was, and I suspect the other Zurich employees that attended felt the same. I believe we all left the day having gained something from the workshop - I even got a new lightweight white cane to trial run!’

Gavin is a member of Zurich’s Disability Inclusion Group (DIG), and has helped raise awareness of disability within Zurich, and the network, by sharing his story about his 13 year battle with losing his sight.

When asked about his involvement with DIG, Gavin said:

'Becoming involved with the DIG network has really broadened my Zurich horizons. With my sight deteriorating I could easily have become stuck in a rut, but DIG has allowed me to reach out to other individuals who have experienced illnesses/disabilities and offer support/information where needed. Zurich really wants to aid people in their day-to-day jobs regardless of their disability - they have helped me obtain specialist sight software, which enables me to stay in the job I enjoy.'

To find out more about QAC you can visit their website here.

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