A BLIND teenager who is a Doctor Who fanatic has launched a mission to bring the Time Lord’s adventures to others who cannot see.
Louis Moorhouse has been blind since he was 18-months-old because of Neuroblastoma – a type of children’s cancer.
However, his parents were keen for him to have the same opportunities as his sighted peers and they discovered Kingsclere based charity Living Paintings, which creates Touch to See books for blind and partially sighted people.
Louis has been using Living Paintings’ books since he was two-years-old.
Now, aged 19 and about to finish his first year at university, the student was inspired to create his own version and has teamed up with the charity to bring the iconic imagery of Doctor Who to life for people living with sight loss.
“I’m a big fan of the show Doctor Who, but I have yet to really meet the weird and wonderful characters, aliens, monsters and devices from the show because I can’t see them,” explained Louis, adding: “I asked Living Paintings to help and they said ‘yes’. Together we aim to produce a series of tactile and audio books that will let me see in my own way, images of the different doctors, Daleks, the Tardis and so much more.”
He said the books will help blind people “really meet the amazing characters and bring them to life. The books will help us open our eyes”. He added: “Doctor Who has such a long history of being a family show and Living Paintings is all about family which is why I thought the two would go well together.”
Times are tough and the charity, which offers a free postal library of Touch to See books benefitting 2,000 blind people across the UK, doesn't have the funds to implement this project.
Inspirational Louis, from Bradford, has decided to launch a fundraising campaign to make his dream a reality and fund the project, with the aim of raising £15,000.
His efforts are supported by previous Doctor Who Master, Sir Derek Jacobi, who said: “Louis’ idea is excellent. Having portrayed The Master, in the wonderful TV series Doctor Who, I love the idea of blind and partially sighted children and young people being able to enjoy the visual spectacle of the show just as sighted people do.”
Liz Davies, publishing manager at Living Paintings, said: “To have the possibility of creating the world’s only tactile and audio book series about Doctor Who for blind people is incredibly exciting and so we are delighted that the people at Doctor Who have given us permission to create three Touch to See books.
“The universe of Doctor Who is an immensely visual extravaganza that we will capture and share with blind people. Through evocative tactile pictures coupled with atmospheric and descriptive audio guides, plus music and sound effects - we’ll bring the spectacle of Doctor Who to life, hopefully with a little help from some of the Doctors, their companions and adversaries too."
Living Paintings’ chief executive, Camilla Oldland added: "I’ve had the honour of watching Louis grow up with our special Touch to See books and it touches my heart to know what a difference our work has made in helping him to become the inspirational young man he is today.
“This will be the most amazing project but what is so special about it is that Louis has taken on this incredible challenge to raise the money to make it possible. Even more incredible is that this isn’t just for him - he wants other blind people to benefit too and we can make that happen through our free postal library.
"We are proud to have Louis as our friend and here's to him raising the money we need.”
Louis asked sighted people to put themselves in his shoes by closing their eyes and imagining never being able to open them again.
“This is how it is and now you want to read a book or watch Doctor Who. How are you going to do that? How important is reading a book to you? As a sighted person how would you feel if that was taken away from you and you couldn’t read anymore?” he asked, adding: “Then you discover Living Paintings and the books are full of characters you’ve heard about and imagined all the time, they’ve been on TV, you’ve listened to the audio books, you may have had the books read to you and you never quite understood what they looked like and now, because of Living Paintings you do.”
Living Paintings sprung into action after hearing of Louis’ idea and has gained permission from the BBC to proceed with the project, with plans to create three books each featuring tactile images of The Doctor in various incarnations along with many other characters including Daleks.
The books will be accompanied by an audio soundtrack, with the hope of enlisting the help of one or more of the Dr Who actors.
To support Louis’ crowdfunding campaign click here.
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