Visionaries 'We're Teaching Blind People To Cook'

“We thought it would be great if we could do group classes because it’s so much more fun and we could also reach more people,” says Letitia (39).

- Amy Prebble

Group cooking lessons had never been offered before and both women admit getting the classes off the ground was a massive undertaking – particularly as the people attending range from 20 to 65, and from being completely blind to having limited sight.

“There’s a huge amount of planning, which Latesha is awesome at,” adds Letitia, who trained as an occupational therapist before completing specialised training with the foundation. “We work out their needs, extra lighting if they’re low vision, or if they’re totally blind, we bring in more tactile or audio stuff.”

But both say the hours of preparation are well worth it.

“Some of our clients feel a bit isolated, so getting to learn in a social setting with people in the same situation was amazing,” tells Latesha (23). “They got a real high from it. They were all really excited to be around each other, sharing recipes and swapping phone numbers.”

Many of the people they are working with have never tried to cook before, as family members or carers are understandably nervous that they’ll end up burning or cutting themselves in the kitchen.

“On the last course, there was one guy who had never cooked a single thing in his life and he was in his 50s,” tells Letitia.