A woman from Ely has been awarded for organising a festival for visually impaired people.
Elin Williams won the ‘develop and share’ award at the Visionary Annual Awards 2023 for her role in organising LOOKFest at broadcaster Kate Humble’s farm.
The all-age festival is organised by visually impaired young people for visually impaired children, young people and their families.
Elin, volunteer development coordinator at LOOK, a national charity that supports visually impaired young people to thrive, co-led the organisation of the fun, action packed weekend festival.
The charity is described as “small but mighty” and is based in Hereford but works with individuals nationally, supporting visually impaired children, young people and their families.
LOOK is headed up by Charlotte Carson. Her parents founded the charity after she began losing her sight at the age of seven.
The shortlist was voted on by members of Visionary, the national organisation that brings together sight loss charities, including 107 local organisations and 23 national partners.
The Visionary shortlist said: “In voting for LOOKFest and organiser extraordinaire Elin Williams, as an amazing role model, you are supporting VI young people to thrive.
“This is a vote for VI young people everywhere! Dream, develop, and share your ideas!”
Elin has a genetic degenerative eye condition, Lebers Congenital Amaurosis (LCA) and also Nystagmus and can now mainly just see light and shapes, sometimes very high contrast.
Elin uses screen readers and digital Braille tech at work, and is supported by her Guide Dog, Lucy. She was one of the very first Mentors on LOOK’s flagship mentoring programme.
LOOK also organises events for visually impaired young people and their families.
