Reading to Ruth › Advice for families

A UK list you can start this week

Things to do for an older person who is blind or losing their sight

This summer my grandmother Ruth, who's 101 and almost completely blind, said to me: "I'm just so bored. I feel like I'm sitting here... waiting." I was heartbroken. If your mum or dad has said something like it, you'll know the feeling. Here's what helps, most of it free, all of it doable this week.

By Tara Button, Ruth's granddaughter and the founder of Reading to Ruth · Updated 20 October 2026

Before you start

Ask them what they miss. It's usually something specific (the paper, the garden, a bit of gossip), and that's your first clue. Small and regular beats big and rare: a phone group every Tuesday does more than a grand day out once a year. Where you see good with dementia, that idea tends to work for someone living with dementia too, and it's worth trying first if memory's an issue.

I checked the details below in October 2026, but they'll change, so do look at each service's own site.

Listening

Talking books

RNIB Talking Books is free for anyone who struggles to read because of their sight, with more than 54,000 books. They'll stream on an Alexa speaker, or they're posted on USB stick or CD if you ring the RNIB Helpline on 0303 123 9999. There's more, including the small-fee libraries, in our guide to talking books in the UK.

A talking newspaper

Volunteers record the local paper, and it's posted free to the listener on a memory stick. The Talking News Federation represents more than 300 of them and has a page to help you find the nearest; most can also be played on Alexa. And if there isn't one nearby, you can make your family's own.

Radio and telly

RNIB Connect Radio broadcasts around the clock, with presenters who are blind or partially sighted, on Freeview channel 730, online and on smart speakers. On the telly, switch on audio description. It's free on digital TV, and it talks them through what's happening on screen. Many remotes have an AD button; Sight Advice FAQ explains how for each type of box.

If an app or a speaker is too much for them, that's the gap I built Reading to Ruth for. There's more at the end.

Music good with dementia

Songs from their teens and twenties tend to go in deep. Playlist for Life, a dementia charity, has a free Playlist Maker to help you build a list of the music that means most to them. Music for Dementia runs m4dRADIO, which you can stream at m4dradio.com. And don't underrate singing along, badly, together. (Nobody's marking it.)

Conversation and remembering

• A weekly phone group. RNIB Talk and Support runs free telephone groups for adults with sight loss, matched by age and interests, meeting at the same time each week for 55 minutes. Don't be put off if they're hard of hearing: RNIB says plenty of members are, and asks people who use a hearing aid or amplified phone to email so it can help.
• A friendly call. Age UK offers a free weekly friendship call with a volunteer (Advice Line 0800 678 1602). For anyone over 55, The Silver Line answers 24 hours a day, free, on 0800 4 70 80 90.
• Something to hold and talk about (good with dementia). Bring one object with a story: a medal, a shell, a christening spoon. Hands remember when eyes can't help. My grandmother served as a Wren; if yours has a story like that, ask the question nobody's asked in years.

Keeping hands busy

• Knitting by feel. If they knitted for years, a simple pattern with chunky wool and big needles may still be in their fingers. Squares for a blanket are forgiving.
• Sorting and folding (good with dementia). A tin of buttons to sort by size, or a basket of tea towels to fold, is calming, and it's genuinely useful.
• Baking with you. They knead and stir, you read out the weights, and you've both got cake.

Games

The RNIB shop sells large print playing cards for £7.50, large print cards with braille for £7.20 and tactile dominoes with raised dots for £21.60. People who are blind or partially sighted don't have to pay VAT on eligible items, which knocks the price down. And if you haven't got any kit, read a quiz aloud, or play Twenty Questions on the phone.

Gardening and scent good with dementia

The gardening charity Thrive has advice for gardeners with sight loss, and RNIB works with it. Its tips include raised beds or containers instead of borders, seed tapes instead of loose seeds, and plug plants so someone else has done the fiddly start. If they haven't got a garden, a pot of rosemary, mint or lavender on the windowsill is something to rub, sniff and look after.

Getting out, and meeting people

• Macular Society groups. Local support groups meet across the UK, in person or by phone. Ring 01264 560 259 and they'll help you find one.
• Your local sight-loss society. Ask the RNIB Helpline what's near them.
• Theatre and museums. VocalEyes brings audio description to theatres, museums, galleries and heritage sites, and keeps an audio library of described tours.
• Learn to guide them yourself. Guide Dogs runs live online Friends and Family Sighted Guide Training, so a walk doesn't feel like a risk for either of you.
• For a born campaigner. Sight Loss Councils, funded by Thomas Pocklington Trust, are local groups of blind and partially sighted volunteers who push for better buses, pavements and services.

Technology

A smart speaker can do a lot by voice: "Alexa, open RNIB talking books", "Alexa, open Talking Newspapers" and "Alexa, call RNIB Helpline" all work. It's great for someone who can hear it clearly and remember the words. If they're hard of hearing too, as Ruth is, try one in their room before you buy.

Help from charities

What I built for Ruth

Ruth didn't get on with the RNIB devices. She needed something she could work herself, so I built Reading to Ruth. It turns a tablet, phone or laptop into one big Play button that keeps her place and says each title aloud, and we slowed the narration because normal speed was too quick for her. The family choose her books and send voice messages from their own phones (my mum, Ruth's daughter, helps), and the messages play before the story.

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