The blind Salford author working to make communities more accessible for disabled people

Salford-based Author, Ben Andrews, is releasing a new series of children’s book to encourage people to make local areas ‘better’ for disabled people.

Published by Stockport-based publisher, Tiny Tree Children’s Books, the ‘Better Places’ series will launch on February 23rd 2023 with the first book, Nicky and Candy’s Street focused on blind and disabled people.

Illustrated by Charlotte Jenkins, the book hopes to offer a creative way to discuss the issues disabled people face on a daily basis.

Mr Andrews has the degenerative condition, Retinitis Pigmentosa, registering him blind. He explained: “It’s things like streets cluttered with posts, signs and tree’s, buses with no audio signalling or buildings with dull lighting that make life more difficult.”

Research by the Royal National Institute for Blind People (RNIB) found that one in three blind and visually impaired people had been injured over a three-month period in attempting to access their local area, with some feeling so intimated by the risks outside they’d end up staying inside resulting in loneliness and isolation.

Named as one of the Shaw Trusts ‘most influential disabled people’ in the Disability Power 100 earlier this year, Mr Andrews hopes to use the book as a creative way to spread awareness of his challenges.

“A lot of the barriers disabled people face don’t have to happen”, he said. “They often come from a lack of understanding and awareness from those putting these things in place.

“My hope is that ‘Better Places’ will help children become more aware and considerate of access and inclusion for disabled people so that it’s just part of who they are, who they think and operate as they grow so that these issues aren’t being repeated generation after generation.”

Nicky and Candy’s Street aims to shed light on the barriers blind and visually impaired people face in street settings, being of particular significance to the author as a dedication to his mum, ‘Nicky’ Nicola Andrews, who passed away due to cancer in 2016.

“My mum was a real force and overcame so many barriers as a blind woman,” said Ben. “She was committed to educating others about the issues disabled people face but always did so in a really compassionate, caring and empathetic way… I hope that my mum’s work will live on through Nicky and the ‘Better Places’ series.”

Better Places Nicky and Candy’s Street is available for pre-order from Friday 14th October from Tiny Tree Books’ website.