A WORCESTER technology company has been involved with an audiobook to raise money for Guide Dogs for the Blind written by a user of its software.

Confessions of a Guide Dog is the story of Uska, written by his owner Joanne Roberts, who lives near Chester but uses software developed by Dolphin Computer Access, which is headquartered on Blackpole Trading Estate West.

Mrs Roberts lost most of her sight 14 years ago as a result of diabetes and was registered blind. Uska has been her guiding companion for the past eight years. During their time together they’ve had lots of adventures, which Mrs Roberts has decided to write about from Uska’s point of view.

She said: "Losing my sight meant I was unable to use a computer in the same way I had previously. But then I discovered Dolphin Computer Access, which develops software to enable blind and visually impaired computer users access technology in the same way as fully sighted users.

“The way I turned my life around was learning through its SuperNova software. I used it to develop my computer skills, making use of the built in magnification with my remaining sight and the addition of speech to read screen content aloud, enabling me to navigate websites, emails and Microsoft Word. I would recommend SuperNova to anybody who is in fear of losing their sight or has actually lost their sight.”

Confessions of a Guide Dog was first released as an ebook available on Kindle, but Mrs Roberts wanted to make her work fully accessible to all audiences, and began working on an audio version. Audible.com, part of Amazon, commissioned the work, and matched mischievous Uska with the voice of well known radio and TV broadcaster, Nicholas Parsons.

A guide dog will cost £50,000 during their lifetime, and Joanne was keen to raise money for the charity to thank them for the difference Uska has made to her life. Uska is nearing retirement age and Mrs Roberts is now on a waiting list to be matched with a new guide dog, although Uska will remain with her as a faithful family pet.

Confessions of a Guide Dog is available to download as an audiobook now, and 10 per cent of the purchase price will be donated to the UK charity.