The John Worsfold interview: sustainability, innovation, place and technology

To reach net zero emissions by the mid-century and achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, society needs radical new models, mindsets and practices. We need to make wise economic, social and political choices today, so that digital innovations work in the service of us all, tomorrow. And, we must do so at speed.

I have been speaking with leading figures who work at the intersection of people, place and sustainability, to discover their ideas for achieving sustainable cities and communities.

John Worsfold is Head of Solutions Innovation at the RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People), where he has worked for the past 17 years. A self-described technologist at heart, he began his career with an electronic apprenticeship at the Ministry of Defence and has since been commissioned on projects by several organisations including the MoD, the European Space Agency, National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts (NESTA), and the European Commission.

In this interview, John discusses digital innovation at RNIB, the importance of inclusive design and what needs to change to create an accessible UK.

Could you give me an overview of your role and how you approach innovation for the RNIB and its communities?

I spearhead initiatives that enhance accessibility and inclusion for people with sight loss. Our approach to innovation is both collaborative and user-centred, we ensure solutions are informed by real-world needs and the experiences of blind and partially sighted people.

Crucially, we can’t do this alone. Everything needs to have accessibility at its heart if we are to create a world where people with sight loss can live the life they want to lead. So we are driving changes across multiple sectors and engage stakeholders from various industries to collaborate and pilot new solutions, technologies, and design approaches.

The RNIB has a long history of leveraging technology to improve the quality of life for people with sight loss. Could you give me a sense of some of those technology enabled products and services?

For more than 150 years, our organisation has been at the forefront of using and developing technology which can help blind and partially sighted people. Founded by Dr. Thomas Armitage in 1868, the organisation began as the British and Foreign Blind Association, with the mission of improving lives through education and advocacy. Dr. Armitage, who lost his sight, recognised the transformative potential of technology and literacy, pioneering the use of braille – still a vital form of communication 200 years after its invention. We’ve also co-developed improved standards and affordable digital refreshable braille devices.

Reading is vital for information, education and entertainment so, through RNIB’s Talking Books service we give free access to thousands of audiobooks, allowing booklovers to get what they want in an accessible format. Our newsagent service delivers accessible newspapers and magazines in audio, braille, or large print formats too.

Sight loss can affect almost every aspect of life, so the need for solutions is constant – here’s just five ways we’ve pioneered innovations to make daily life more accessible to people with sight loss:

• Managing finances: Imagine needing to ask someone else to enter your PIN or tell you your account balance. We pioneered the introduction of audio-enabled ATMs, allowing people with sight loss to access information and complete transactions independently with headphones.
• Handling cash: We worked with the Bank of England as it developed the latest polymer banknotes, which allow you to tell how much a note is worth by touch. The £10 note has two clusters of tactile dots, the £20 note has three clusters along the short edge.
• Watching TV: We enjoy doing the same things, watching television is the top leisure activity among blind and partially sighted people so we worked with the TV industry during the transition from analogue to digital to create accessible set-top boxes and enable TVs with text-to-speech, magnification, and high-contrast functions. These features are now integrated into many mainstream TVs.
• Public transport: We have successfully led initiatives to improve accessibility, including audio-visual equipment on buses and at bus stops, which alert passengers so they know where and when to get on and off.
• Accessible housing: Our Visibly Better accreditation scheme (which covers everything from employment to built environments) supports social landlords ensuring they create environments that promote independence for residents with sight loss.

We’re taking a “design for all” approach to make real change, we want more mainstream products, services, and environments that support all society with inclusive interfaces and functionality.

Is there an approach to digital innovation that you find works well? What are the barriers or challenges?

An effective approach to digital innovation involves co-design and co-creation, ensuring a deep understanding of end-to-end user needs. This requires an empathetic, rather than sympathetic, approach.

Through co-design and co-creation, we bring our audience into the project from the very beginning, empowering them to provide insights and feedback throughout the innovation cycle. This collaboration ensures that the final output addresses the needs and preferences of people with sight loss. An empathetic view fosters a deeper understanding of users’ experiences and challenges, leading to meaningful innovations. In contrast, a sympathetic view recognises users’ difficulties but lacks the depth needed to create effective solutions.

Engaging users directly and consistently helps to identify potential barriers early on, leading to more refined, user-friendly innovations. This approach ensures that the developed solutions are practical, accessible, and beneficial to the end-users.

However, there are numerous constraints—funding, a lack of awareness among co-designers and developers, and the need for rigorous testing to ensure safety and usability, which can slow down the innovation process. Creating awareness about the lived experiences of sight loss helps to shift the mindset from “why we are doing this” to “how we can do it effectively”. When collaborators understand the reasons behind accessibility needs, they are more likely to help create effective solutions.

Over the years, around the world, good prototypes have been developed to support people with visual impairments. What are the common reasons for such innovations only making it to prototype?

There are several reasons why innovations don’t progress: funding for further development, lack of commercial interest, regulatory hurdles, or the complexity of scaling solutions for a relatively ‘niche’ audience.

Another common reason is an insufficient understanding of user needs, framing the problem and the solution too narrowly, rather than taking a broader view. In the built environment, there is often a misconception that resolving a single issue will enable independent access.

Take lifts, for example. Indicators are required by UK accessibility standards, and braille labelling is strongly recommended to support blind and partially sighted people. However, braille is only effective if individuals can locate and read it. Since 93 per cent of blind and partially sighted people retain some residual vision, and only around 10 per cent of people with sight loss read braille, these solutions serve a minority. The provision of audible feedback, such as spoken floor announcements or tonal signals, further enhances accessibility, but it alone does not guarantee independent navigation. Users must still locate the lift, identify the call button, and orient themselves within the broader environment to continue their journey. Therefore, it is essential to design with a holistic understanding of the entire user journey, ensuring that wayfinding, orientation, and interaction are intuitive and accessible for all.

From your experience of working at the intersection of people, place and innovation with the RNIB for 17 years, have you seen a change in the types of barriers that people with sight loss encounter when in public spaces?

There has been a notable shift. While physical barriers remain, there is now greater recognition of digital accessibility. The built environment is no longer just a physical space; it is blending with digital technology, creating a hybrid operating system. However, new challenges have emerged with the rise of smart technologies and digital interfaces that aren’t always designed inclusively – for example, dynamic display boards and interactive information screens.

As the ability to interact with the Internet of Things becomes more common, this also contributes to the blend of physical and digital environments, extending the hybrid operating system. Now, the spaces we occupy contain solutions like mobility-as-a-service, where designated start and endpoints aren’t clearly defined, requiring users to have a new level of contextual understanding.

Attitudes towards disability in the wider world have also evolved during my time at RNIB. Society has moved from a clinical model – which sees disability as an individual medical issue – to a social model, which recognises disability as a societal issue. We still need a cultural shift to dismantle the “them and us” mentality and create a society that values diversity and recognises that everyone, regardless of ability, has an equal right to participate fully in all aspects of life.

When it comes to the design of our shared public spaces, have you seen a change of approach from governments, business and/or civil society in relation to accessibility? 

Policy changes, design codes, and legislation have driven a positive shift towards inclusive design in shared public spaces. Unfortunately, many of these guidelines are outdated – a good example is the Equality Act 2010.

Designing shared spaces with a “design for everyone” approach can face challenges stemming from physical, attitudinal, and systemic barriers. Poor signage, inconsistent or inadequate lighting, and poor acoustics are all challenges for those with sight loss or hearing impairments. RNIB played a significant role in advocating for a temporary halt on shared space schemes in the UK, highlighting that such designs often remove traditional road features like kerbs and designated crossings, which pose challenges for blind and partially sighted people. In 2018, the Department for Transport implemented a pause on shared space schemes, influenced by widespread concerns over the navigability and safety of these spaces for people with disabilities.

What needs to change to ensure greater accessible places in the UK?

Ensuring greater accessibility requires stronger, fit-for-purpose policies, better enforcement of existing legislation, and comprehensive training for designers and planners. We need to remove the bias towards “special accessibility projects” and instead adopt “design for all” as standard practice.

Systemic and attitudinal barriers also need to be addressed, often rooted in stereotypes and a lack of awareness. As awareness of accessibility grows, we will see better implementation of inclusive practices.

What examples of great innovative practice have you seen, related to place-based technology for accessibility?

Great examples of innovative practice are those you don’t notice until you need them:

• Tactile paving: This system of textured ground surface indicators at key decision points on footpaths, crossings, and building entrances is a great example. However, it’s still a big challenge to ensure it’s consistently and correctly in place.
• Audible and tactile crossing signals: These signals provide sound cues and tactile indicators (like rotating cones on signal boxes) to indicate when it’s safe to cross. Here’s a task for you, next time you’re at a crossing, why not see if you can find the rotating cone beneath the signal box?
• Smart traffic management: These systems allow you to use your smartphones to trigger crossings without finding the button. Preferences, such as the time needed to cross, can also be tailored.
• Accessible kiosks: Providing visual and audio adaptations, these kiosks enable users to adjust colour contrast, increase text size, and use audible output.

What projects are you working on at the moment that inspire you and why?

I’m excited about our 10-year strategy and purpose, to build the perfect country for everybody with sight loss, where blind and partially sighted people can live without limits. A key impact area for us we’ve called ‘Getting Around’, and, as you might guess, here we aim to ensure everyone with sight loss to be able to safely make the journeys they want, when they want. We need systemic change and to get that we are collaborating with, and influencing, governments, transport operators, local authorities, businesses, and academia to identify and develop solutions and, ultimately, encourage everyone to change behaviour.

I’m really proud of Eyeware, an eye condition simulation tool which will help everyone understand more about sight loss. We launched it at the end of last year and it’s an app that utilises Augmented Reality (AR) creating simulations of 10 sight conditions to show sighted people what it might be like to live with an eye condition, like cataracts or macular degeneration. Eyeware works by applying filters over your smartphone camera’s feed so you can experience the world around you. Combine the app with a virtual reality headset and you can experience the impact of sight loss on how you perceive your surroundings in real time.

Eyeware provides an immersive, empathetic experience, enabling users to understand the difficulties that people with sight loss face every day. This experience is particularly valuable for professionals who design and shape public environments – such as architects, planners, and policymakers – allowing them to see through the eyes of people with sight loss and make better-informed design choices. Eyeware represents an opportunity to foster greater empathy and understanding on a broad scale.

Its not just about awareness-building. By enabling a deeper connection with the lived experience of sight loss, we can drive real-world change in how environments, products, and services are designed. This could become a powerful educational tool in schools and workplaces, encouraging more inclusive practices and sparking conversations about accessibility. I urge everyone to give it a go using the codes below:

Scan either the NaviLens or ZapVision accessible QR codes with your smart device to launch Eyeware Lite version within your mobile browser. 

Fast-tracking tech innovation has been defined by a ‘make things fast and break them’ mentality underpinning practice. This has proven really unhelpful in many ways and has been discredited by many, although we know that it is still hard-wired into tech businesses. When launching tech-enabled products into the public realm how can we fast-track innovation in ways that do not cause negative disruption and harm to members of the public?

Fast-tracking innovation responsibly necessitates comprehensive testing and the establishment of user feedback loops to identify and mitigate potential risks. It is essential to involve all customers and stakeholders in the development process while adopting an agile approach that implements incremental rollouts. This allows for adjustments based on real-world use. Clear communication and support for users minimise disruption. The introduction of new innovations does not immediately lead to their adoption; there is a transition period during which the cost-benefit analysis influences behaviour changes.

I’ve said this before but it’s worth repeating: co-creation and a deeper understanding of user needs are vital to avoid problems. The needs of the public are often considered all-encompassing, but this is often untrue. Products are typically designed with the average person in mind, unintentionally excluding those who do not fit within the perceived average. 

By designing products, spaces, and environments with consideration for individuals at the extremes of the traditional bell curve, we can address the needs of those labelled by society as disabled, young, or elderly. This approach ensures that solutions are inclusive and effective for everyone.

Currently, it’s incumbent on anyone operating in the digital innovation space to consider the environmental impact of their work. How do you approach environmental sustainability when innovating?

Environmental sustainability is a critical aspect of our innovation processes. We aim to minimise environmental impact by selecting partners and suppliers who adhere to principles of environmental sustainability.

We seek suppliers and partners that employ a comprehensive and multifaceted approach, including the adoption of sustainable design principles, use of sustainable materials, optimisation of energy efficiency, and consideration of the entire lifecycle of our innovations and products. For example, we focus on designing devices that need minimal power and use recyclable materials.

Furthermore, we must account for the behaviour changes that innovations may induce and examine the broader impacts these solutions have in contributing to overall sustainability goals, such as reducing the need for resource-intensive modifications to public spaces.

By integrating environmental sustainability into every aspect of our innovation process, we strive not only to improve accessibility for blind and partially sighted individuals but also to make a positive contribution to global environmental efforts. This holistic approach ensures that our solutions are both inclusive and sustainable.

Is there anything else that you would like to say?

The lived experience of sight loss is at the heart of everything RNIB does. Accessibility isn’t just a legal requirement – it’s a fundamental human right. By embracing inclusive design, we can create a society where everyone can participate fully and independently.

If you’re reading this, please get involved in the areas where we want to make a difference. We need supporters and partners to support us so through collaboration and co-creation, we can ensure that everyone with sight loss can safely make the journeys they want, when they want.

Thank you John for sharing your insight and experience!