Blind in Business

Salwa Abdellatif shared her producing and directing skills to help make a new short film about the work of the charity Blind in Business. BIB is a charity which supports people who are blind or have partial sight into work, and supports employers with training.

‘I saw a fresh perspective from some really innovative young talented people’

I wanted to push myself and to break the daily safe area, as well as to refresh my skills and my mind. I found a new approach with a new experience in the community. I felt lucky to work as a volunteer producer with BBC Outreach making a short video for Blind in Business.

I became inspired when I met amazing, talented young students and graduates – some are blind and some are sight impaired. I found a new theoretical approach to how I can I challenge an unexpected difficulty and turn it into positive thought.

I am a promo producer at BBC Creative; it is a role which looks into editorial and creative sides and delivers multi-layered stories in a creative approach and style. I have experience as a documentary film maker and producer. I love my career which allows me to create something real, original, based on true stories of the people.

Documentaries touch others’ hearts, reaching their souls and minds. Documentary-making is an enjoyable process which engages with people’s fears, dreams and hopes. It challenges you to reflect the valuable core story being told.

It was great and useful experience to be with BBC Outreach on the ground and to meet other volunteers and charity contacts, to achieve a collaborative goal.

I saw, and was part of, the BBC working hard to reach out to new audiences, and Blind in Business’s modern social approach.

The Blind in Business film we made together shows what the challenges are for someone who is blind or sight impaired in the business world. What a student or a graduate can face when searching for job and what a charity like this offers, and why.

I saw a new fresh perspective by some really innovative young talented people who were the true voices of the film.

I loved them because they are loyal to their dream and they believe they deserve a good life and do not stop themselves from going forward.

For me, each story was like a circle of positive energy being renewed by giving and re-giving a means to work hard and to build up your own career and reach your own goal.

I really like the sentiment that Asel, a PhD student with a visual impairment said in her interview that “just because you might not have the best vision it doesn’t mean that you don’t have a brain behind your eyes”.

I found it worthwhile to meet the challenge of different views and opinions for the final piece. Sometimes we should know how to achieve the required output within limited time and facilities, while staying open to creating and accepting a collective mind and team spirit.

I look back and recall some fun moments and one embarrassing time.

I was on my way to the first ideas meeting with the BBC Outreach Manager Allison Hinds and Blind in Business staff.

Distracted from a sleepless night with excitement about the project, I got off at the wrong train stop. We eventually met and had our meeting; and I recall Allison’s cheeky grin when she suggested, for our second meeting, she could pick me up!

We were seeing things from different angles and that is why we were able to deliver a rich output and this makes a good team - we will keep nice memories.

Blind in Business was a successful applicant through BBC Outreach's Community Doorway scheme which offers community and voluntary groups and charities the opportunity to apply to work with BBC volunteers on mutually-beneficial projects.

BBC Outreach & Corporate Responsibility brings the BBC closer to its audiences - particularly those audiences we have identified as harder to reach - with face-to-face activity, community support and staff volunteering.