Charities share £260,000 to expand support for people with sight issues

Seven charities and community projects supporting people with sight issues are to share £260,000 in funding.

The money has been allocated by sight loss charity Vision Foundation. It has been made available as grants for projects in London that can improve the range of support available to visually impaired people.

This includes £50,000 to Blind Veterans UK to develop remote support services for older visually impaired people.

Meanwhile, the Royal Society for Blind Children has scooped £47,450 to provide one-to-one employment support for young people and to engage with employers.

Sutton Vision has received £9,500 to recruit an assistive technology co-ordinator, while the Macular Society has received a similar amount (£9,990) to recruit and train volunteer telephone befrienders.

Others to benefit from the funding include SeeAbility, Disability Advice Service Lambeth and Metro Sports and Social Club (Metro Blind Sport).

Excited to say we are receiving £50,000 - With this we will recruit 2 people to be advocates for commissioning learning disability eye care pathways across all London boroughs.

Thank you for helping us make a difference for people with learning disabilities #EqualRightToSight 👁️ https://t.co/6GkxdGSjlS
— SeeAbility (@SeeAbility) March 24, 2021

“This exciting round of Vision Foundation grants will enable seven unique projects which will enhance the lives of blind and partially sighted people across the capital,” said Vision Foundation chief executive Olivia Curno.

“The Vision Foundation supports projects that reflect the real issues impacting blind and partially sighted people.

“We’re so grateful for the hard work and commitment of passionate community champions who we know will unlock the opportunity this funding brings. I congratulate each of the successful organisations and look forward to seeing these brilliant ideas come to life.”

Vision Foundation trustee and chair of its grants and impact advisoty committee Darren Barker added that the Covid-19 pandemic has has a “huge impact on the visually impaired community”.

He added: “We believe each of the innovative projects we have chosen has the potential to be a catalyst for wider change.”