Pia’s a company that’s probably very familiar to many UKAAF members, as well as the wider visually-impaired community. This month, though, we got a chance to get beyond the logo and really get a sense of the company, as Roger sits down with the company’s MD, Sharon Williams, who’s been with the company for 23 of its amazing 35 years of operation.
Based in Cwmbran in Wales, Pia Braille and Large Print transcribes print communication into braille and alternative formats for people with visual impairment and into easy read for people with learning difficulties. Famously, the company is committed to ensuring the user with visual impairment is provided with an accessible format of significant quality; it’s also well known for having very experienced data handlers and extremely low staff turnover, which means its transcribers and producers are not just highly skilled, but also very passionate, about the quality of the transcription it provides.
Sharon’s been a big factor in all this success, as since becoming MD she’s driven growth from Pia being a team of ten to a current staff roll of twenty-five (and growing). UKAAF also recognised her contribution, inviting her to be part of our founding Board, and we’re grateful for her saying how proud she is personally of thus having “helped create a professional and powerful representative body for the accessible format industry”.
In their 30-minute chat, Roger and she review her history with all things Cwmbran—which she claims started with her being “dragged in off the street” back in 1999 into an environment all about dungarees and DM boots
Times have changed, she confirms, especially on the business side: “Growing the business has been an exciting journey–not all of it as comfortable as I would like,” she jokes. “It has been a bit hair-raising, and I can blame some of my grey hairs on that journey.” Just as important in the Pia story, we hear, has been its location and the importance of both Welsh and English culture and language in its development.
Sharon’s biggest business challenge so far: COVID
Technology has also been a big part of that evolution, with Sharon calling out its value in helping make working-life and leisure more accessible, while noting that print’s hardly going away, as there is so much out there that needs to be made accessible.
We then pivot to the history of her involvement with UKAAF, and thankfully, Sharon’s happy with what she sees. “It is different from where we started,” she says. “But it is growing and developing, which is positive and will stand us in better stead as an organisation of the future.”
The conversation then delves into her thoughts on if accessible document formatting is helping share more information, then questions from attendees, including what she sees as her biggest career challenge so far—which turns out to be the pandemic—and a rather lovely bit for any dog lovers. Saying no more for now! 😉
The webinar concludes with Roger flagging that the next in the 2022 series will be a conversation on July 5 with a valued member of UKAAF’s Editorial Working Group, Judith Furse, who runs her own transcription business and has a lifelong connection with braille. (You can pre-register here, if that sounds useful.)
I thought this was a really interesting walk down memory lane with a truly inspirational businesswoman and UKAAF heroine, so hope you have time to check it out yourself.
* The webinar is now available on our YouTube channel, along with the previous webinars. Please go here to access for free—and if you hit the ‘Subscribe’ button, you will get an automated alert on when the next webinar has dropped.
