The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is a UK charity offering information, support and advice to almost two million people in the UK with sight loss.
Audio description, also referred to as a video description, described video, or more precisely called a visual description, is a form of narration used to provide information surrounding key visual elements in a media work for the benefit of blind and visually impaired consumers. These narrations are typically placed during natural pauses in the audio, and sometimes during dialogue if deemed necessary.
Action for Blind People was a national sight loss charity in the United Kingdom, that provided help and support to blind and partially sighted people of all ages. In 2017 the organisation merged with RNIB with which it had been in a partnership since 2009.
The CNIB Foundation is a volunteer agency and charitable organization dedicated to assisting Canadians who are blind or living with vision loss, and to provide information about vision health for all Canadians. Founded in 1918 as the Canadian National Institute for the Blind to assist soldiers who had been blinded in the First World War, CNIB originally offered sheltered care and specialized employment to people with vision loss. It has since expanded to include other programs and services, including research, public education, rehabilitation counselling and training, advocacy and an alternative-format library for people living with a print disability. It is a member of the Braille Authority of North America.
Blind Veterans UK, formerly St Dunstan's, is a large British charity, providing free support and services to vision-impaired ex-Armed Forces and National Service personnel. Blind Veterans UK is a registered charity in England and Scotland and operates throughout the United Kingdom. It has its head office in London and centres in Brighton, Sheffield and in Llandudno, Wales.
The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, known by the working name Guide Dogs, is a British charitable organisation founded in 1934.
T. V. Raman is a computer scientist who specializes in accessibility research. His research interests are primarily in the areas of auditory user interfaces and structured electronic documents. He has worked on speech interaction and markup technologies in the context of the World Wide Web at Digital's Cambridge Research Lab (CRL), Adobe Systems and IBM Research. He currently works at Google Research. Raman has himself been partially sighted since birth, and blind since the age of 14.
The World Blind Union (WBU) is an international organization representing the estimated 2.2 billion people worldwide who are blind or partially sighted. It consists of other organizations, not individuals.
The Royal London Society for Blind People (RLSB) was a UK charity that existed for 175 years to help blind and partially sighted young people in London and the South East through a blend of sports, education, and creative and developmental services.
Blind artists are people who are physically unable to see normally, yet work in the visual arts. This seeming contradiction is overcome when one understands that only around 10% of all people with blindness can see absolutely nothing at all. As such most blind people can in fact perceive some level of light and form, and it is by applying this limited vision that many blind artists create intelligible art. Also, a blind person may once have been fully sighted and yet simply lost part of their vision through injury or illness. Blind artists are able to offer insight into the study of blindness and the ways in which art can be perceived by the blind, in order to better improve art education for the visually impaired.
BlindArt is a British charity which was established in 2004 to educate the public about the needs of people who are visually impaired and to promote the idea that lack of sight need not be a barrier to the creation and enjoyment of works of art. BlindArt exhibitions typically contain paintings, sculptures, installations and other works of art which have been designed to engage all the senses. BlindArt pieces are created both by sighted artists or by artists who are blind or partially sighted.
Henshaws Society for Blind People, by Oldham businessman Thomas Henshaw, is a specialist charity providing support, advice and training to anyone affected by sight loss and other disabilities.
Warwickshire Vision Support is a registered charity providing rehabilitation services for adults with sight impairments to support them to live independent lives. Services are provided by Warwickshire Vision Support's rehabilitation team based at their offices in Warwick. Founded in 1911, the charity celebrated its centenary year in 2011. In 2014, Warwickshire Association for the Blind changed its operating name to Warwickshire Vision Support. In 2020 the organisation was a recipient of the prestigious Queen's Award for Voluntary Service.
George Harold Marshall OBE was a British schoolteacher, head master, author, academic and campaigner, internationally recognised for his work in the fields of education and assistive technology for children with visual disabilities. Marshall started Exhall Grange, Britain's first school to cater specifically for partially sighted children in 1951, becoming the third and was its head master from 1953 until he retired in 1981, making him to date the longest-serving person to hold that position. He also founded The Partially Sighted Society.
Bradbury Fields is a charity based in Liverpool, UK, which works with blind and partially sighted people. It has been described by the BBC as "Liverpool's main charity for the blind" and is part of the 800 Group, a consortium of Merseyside health and care charities.
Blind in Business is a British charity that helps blind and partially sighted students into employment following graduation by providing a free training and employment service. The charity offers technical help and training courses for schoolchildren with a visual impairment, while also supporting graduates and potential employers with training and technical help. It was founded in 1992 by three visually impaired graduates in order to help others in the same situation. The founders – Neil Heslop, a business planning manager with Northern Telecom who had recently experienced sight loss, Simon Meredith, a blind solicitor with Slaughter and May and Richard Hanson, a partially sighted solicitor with Cameron Markby Hewitt – were surprised to discover as many as 80 percent of people with a visual impairment were unemployed at that time, with very few in work able to pursue a career. Blind in Business was established as a charitable trust with the backing of the Royal National Institute for the Blind and with several high-profile supporters serving as its trustees, including Bank of England associate director Pen Kent, Standard Chartered chairman Rodney Galpin and Conservative MP Emma Nicholson. The organisation's head offices are based in London, but Blind in Business operates on a United Kingdom wide basis.
Text to speech in digital television refers to digital television products that use speech synthesis to enable access by blind or partially sighted people. By combining a digital television solution with a speech synthesis engine, blind and partially sighted people are able to access information that is displayed to other users visually on the screen and therefore can operate the menus and electronic program guides of the receiver.
Royal Blind is a Scottish Charity based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The charity provides care, education and employment for people of all ages who are blind or partially sighted. Royal Blind provides the following services: Royal Blind School, Forward Vision, Braeside House, Jenny's Well, Scottish Braille Press and Kidscene. Royal Blind’s sister charity is Scottish War Blinded.
British Wireless for the Blind Fund (BWBF) is a British charity and a private company limited by guarantee. Founded by Sir Ernest Beachcroft Beckwith Towse in 1928, the organisation provides adapted radios and audio players on free loan to registered blind and partially sighted UK residents over the age of eight, where hardship circumstances can be demonstrated by receipt of a means-tested benefit.
Extant is the only UK-based performing arts company run by, and for, visually-impaired people. The company was founded in 1997 and is led by blind Artistic Director and CEO, Maria Oshodi. It produces a range of work for national and international touring, with an office base at Ovalhouse theatre in South London.
