Zoe Fudge-Ajadi & Vicki Ashmore: Why we set up BRIGHT for Deafblind people – and why we are raising money for Moorfields (BSL)

To sponsor Zoe and Vicki’s walk on Sunday, Please click this link!

Our names are Zoe Fudge-Ajadi and Vicki Ashmore. Zoe is director of BRIGHT Deafblind back in 2015 with Vicki, she is also co-founder.

You wouldn’t think we have much in common by looking at us! Zoe is deafblindwith Usher Syndrome. Her first language is BSL, and she grew up in Bristol with her sister.

Vicki is hearing, her first language is English, and she grew up in America. But we soon realised we had lots in common– especially as Vicki’s grandmother was nearly deaf and later lost most of her sight. We realised how passionate we both are about making the world a fairer place for deafblind people.

One day we were talking when I (Zoe) told Vicki about my sister, who had Ushers but much worse than me. As time went on, I watched as my sister stopped talking to her friends because she couldn’t see well enough to keep up with the conversations. She stopped reading because she couldn’t see the print.

She stopped going out because there were no real deafblind-friendly events or places to go to. There were barriers everywhere. It was like she was disappearing in front of me and there was nothing I could do. But I felt there was something I could do – I could start a charity for deafblind people like my sister and create events that she could go to.

Vicki listened and asked, “What’s stopping you?” I said there was no way I’d do something like setting up a charity myself because of children and commitment. So she said, “We’ll do it together”.

And after that conversation we set up BRIGHT deafblind. Since then, we’ve set up either a coffee morning or an event for the deafblind community every month for the past nine years! (Ok, Covid did force us to take a break, but it was only a break).

We’ve been on museum touch tours and had drama and art workshops, but some people think deafblind people can’t do muchmore than that. So to prove them wrong, our group has climbed the O2, been on speedboats and gone Zorbing, where we bounced down hills inside giant plastic balls! We’re even planning to go paddleboarding soon. We do this because we want to show people that, with enough patients and a few adjustments, we can do anything,

We always tell people that BRIGHT is the best ‘job’ we’ve ever had, even though neither of us have ever earned a penny from it. We do it because we’re passionate about supporting the deafblind community, and that’s enough for us. We don’t get any funding – all the money BRIGHT owns has been fundraised through cake sales, quiz nights and raffles.

We use the money to subsidise our events – sometimes to make them more affordable, and sometimes to make sure a ‘PA/Guide goes free’ so that even if we are charged for two people, the deafblind person only pays for themselves. We’ve even managed to run a CPD workshop for anyone wishing to work with deafblind people.

But one of the greatest things we’ve accomplished is sharing a chair on the BSL Advisory Board. The Board advises the government on the implementation of the BSL Act of 2022, and thanks to BRIGHT we have been able to give deafblind people, their friends and families the representation in that conversation that they deserve.

So as you can see, since 2015 we’ve done more than just run BRIGHT deafblind. Zoe is a team leader and project manager for a national charity, and Vicki works as a BSL interpreter – often at Moorfields, where Zoe(and many of our BRIGHT members) are patients. So when we saw that Moorfields Eye Hospital Charity was running a sponsored walk to raise money, we knew we had to be there to represent BRIGHT and the deafblind community.

So now, we are walking as the BRIGHT team. Anyone who sponsors us via our Just Giving link will be supporting both Moorfields and BRIGHT! So please donate to our Just Giving page to support research at Moorfields AND the beautiful deafblind community we love.

To learn more about us please have a look at the information below.

We are walking as a BRIGHT Team to celebrate Moorfields Eye Charity’s epic 10th anniversary Eye to Eye walk. This is because so many of us are patients at Moorfields and want to support this charity.

Moorfields Eye Charity funds life-changing eye research to help bring new treatments to patients faster than ever before. They support staff, equipment and new ideas at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Trust to help patients across the country access world-class eye care.

If you sponsor our team, you will be supporting both BRIGHT Deafblind and Moorfields! We are working together to make this event inclusive for Deafblind people and make life a little bit easier for all of us.

So please dig deep and donate what you can as we take on this challenge- every little helps in the fight against sight loss. AND… if you want to walk with us, please let us know by emailing BRIGHT at brightdeafblind@gmail.com

TO SPONSOR US Please click this link!