Eye Believe BlindPod

Episode 30: An Interview with Sameena Karim

Listen to the latest Eye Believe podcast episode, as we share our lived experience in order to empower and inspire others in the vision impaired and BAME communities.
 
Anela, Ashrafia and Saima have a candid, emotional and fun discussion with Sameena Karim. We learn about her childhood, growing up as a vision impaired British Pakistani in the 70’s and her education at a VI boarding school. She talks about her career as a medical secretary, moving onto her volunteering and running her local sight loss charity, VIPON, before sharing stories about being a wife, mother and grandmother. As always we finish off with a humorous anecdote and Sam even treats us to a short song that’s special to her.
 
Don’t forget to subscribe for future episodes, rate us on your podcast platforms and please share across your family, friends, BAME and VI networks.  You can catch us on Instagram, @eyebelievepodcast or send an email to, eyebelieve12@gmail.com.

Episode 29: Attending Religious Ceremonies - Weddings

 
Listen to the latest Eye Believe podcast episode, as we share our lived experience in order to empower and inspire others in the vision impaired and BAME communities.
 
Saima hosts as Darren, Nanjiba and Sameena talk about wedding ceremonies in their particular religions and cultures. We learn about the different ceremonies and traditions, the barriers they have faced attending these ceremonies as blind and partially sighted people, how they have overcome these barriers, and any tips for the visually impaired attending these ceremonies. As always they finish off with some funny stories. Can you guess which one of the panel was left dancing on their own?
 
Don’t forget to subscribe for future episodes, rate us on your podcast platforms and please share across your family, friends, BAME and VI networks.  You can catch us on Instagram, @eyebelievepodcast or send an email to, eyebelieve12@gmail.com.

Episode 28: An Interview with Sadia Shahbaz

Listen to the latest Eye Believe podcast episode, as we share our lived experience in order to empower and inspire others in the vision impaired and BAME communities.
 
Anela, Ashrafia and Saima have an honest and emotional chat with Sadia Shahbaz. They talk about her sight loss diagnosis as a child and how that affected her growing up as a British, Pakistani Muslim. Sadia is very open about her painstaking search for  a husband, eventually finding her gem, and their experience as parents. She shares her volunteering journey and aspirations for the future, before finishing with a funny story or two. Find out what had the Pocket Rocket running round in circles.
 
Don’t forget to subscribe for future episodes, rate us on your podcast platforms and please share across your family, friends, BAME and VI networks.  You can catch us on Instagram, @eyebelievepodcast or send an email to, eyebelieve12@gmail.com.

Episode 27 Health & Wellbeing Part 2

Listen to the latest Eye Believe podcast episode, as we share our lived experience in order to empower and inspire others in the vision impaired and BAME communities.
We have a bumper episode, as Darren chats with seven panellists about health and wellbeing. Darren, Anela, Ashrafia, Grace, Saima, Sameena, Nanjiba, and Alistair focus on sports and leisure activities. They share the activities they take part in, along with the barriers and challenges they have faced and tips for overcoming them. As always they finish off with some humorous anecdotes.  Can you guess which of our panellists ruined their mother’s garden on a motorbike?
Don’t forget to subscribe for future episodes, rate us on your podcast platforms and please share across your family, friends, BAME and VI networks.  You can catch us on Instagram, @eyebelievepodcast or send an email to, eyebelieve12@gmail.com.

Episode 26 An Interview with Amrit Dhaliwal

Listen to the latest Eye Believe podcast episode, as we share our lived experience in order to empower and inspire others in the vision impaired and BAME communities.
 
Ashrafia and Saima have an open, honest and enlightening conversation with Amrit Dhaliwal. They talk about growing up as the solitary vision impaired person in her area and how the barriers that came with that can be overcome. They discuss the struggles Amrit endured on her employment journey and how she has remained positive throughout it. Amrit also shares her experiences as a blind mother of two wonderfully supportive children, before all three of the empowered, vision impaired Asian women end with some humorous stories related to their sight loss.
 
Don’t forget to subscribe for future episodes, rate us on your podcast platforms and please share across your family, friends, BAME and VI networks.  You can catch us on Instagram, @eyebelievepodcast or send an email to, eyebelieve12@gmail.com.

Episode 25 An Interview with Darren Meade

Anila chats with the enigma that is Darren Meade. They talk about growing up as a black British man from Caribbean parents and how that has influenced his life, Darren’s employment history and how he fell into a job working with children heading for school exclusion, some of the funny situations he has found himself in, and why he is considered an enigma.
 
Don’t forget to subscribe for future episodes, rate us on your podcast platforms and please share across your family, friends, BAME and VI networks.  You can catch us on Instagram, @eyebelievepodcast or send an email to, eyebelieve12@gmail.com.

Episode 24 Health & Wellbeing Part 1

Listen to the latest Eye Believe episode, as we share our lived experience in order to empower and inspire others in the visually impaired and BAME communities.
 
Anita chats with Sameena, Faz and Alistair about what health and wellbeing means to them. They explore what barriers they have faced around health and wellbeing as blind and partially sighted people from a BAME background, and share tips for overcoming these barriers. As ever they finish on a light-hearted note with some funny stories related to health and wellbeing.
 
Don’t forget to subscribe for future episodes, rate us on your podcast platforms and please share across your family, friends, BAME and VI networks.  You can catch us on Instagram, @eyebelievepodcast or send an email to, eyebelieve12@gmail.com.

Episode 23: An Interview With Anela Wood

Ashrafia and Saima have an inspiring talk with Anela Wood, discussing her life as a blind, British, Pakistani Muslim. Anela is very candid, chatting about her childhood, schooling, relationships, as well as her immense amount of volunteering work, advocating for blind and partially sighted people, and as ever we end with some humorous anecdotes.
 
Listen to the latest Eye Believe episode, as we share our lived experience in order to empower and inspire others in the visually impaired and BAME communities. Don’t forget to subscribe for future episodes, rate us on your podcast platforms and please share across your family, friends, BAME and VI networks.  You can catch us on Instagram, @eyebelievepodcast or send an email to, eyebelieve12@gmail.com.

Episode 22 Talking Tech

Anela, Ashrafia and Darren join Saima to talk about the technology they use to assist them in their daily lives and the barriers they have faced in accessing technology. They also give their top tech tips and, as ever finish off with their funny stories, which in this episode relate to technology.
 
For the first time Eye Believe has a special guest, Scott Wood. Scott is blind and a friend of the podcast, being Anela’s husband. He has worked with technology all his working life and until recently was a member of the RNIB’s Technology for Life team. We collated some frequently asked tech related questions and put them to Scott. His wealth of knowledge blew us away, and we are sure you will feel the same.
 
Listen to the latest Eye Believe episode, as we share our lived experience in order to empower and inspire others in the visually impaired and BAME communities. Don’t forget to subscribe for future episodes, rate us on your podcast platforms and please share across your family, friends, BAME and VI networks.  You can catch us on Instagram, @eyebelievepodcast or send an email to, eyebelieve12@gmail.com.

Episode 21: An Interview with Saima Ashraf MBE

Anela and Ashrafia chat to Saima about her life as a visually impaired British/Pakistani woman. She talks about some of the barriers she has faced throughout her life, her passions, her projects and achievements, including her recent MBE nomination. She’s got some useful tips that will not only help the visually impaired, but also sighted listeners, and of course, there’s a funny story or two.
 
Listen to the latest Eye Believe  episode, as we empower, inspire and share. Don’t forget to subscribe for future episodes, rate us on your podcast platforms and please share across your family, friends, BAME and VI networks.  You can catch us on Instagram @eyebelievepodcast or send an email to eyebelieve12@gmail.com.