RNIB Cymru has been awarded a £10,000 grant to run the Insight into the Past project, which is one of 31 projects across Wales to receive funding from the All Our Stories programme.
The year-long project will record people's experiences and document the development of services, while also charting society's changing attitudes towards blind and partially-sighted people.
Workshops will be held across Wales and a DVD and booklet, including audio, large print and braille formats, will be produced and distributed to blind and partially sighted people throughout the UK.
Once complete, the project's findings will be presented to the National Museum of Wales and the capital's Cardiff Story museum. A grand opening and reception celebrating Insight into the Past will also be held next summer at RNIB Cymru and the Cardiff Institute for the Blind's new centre of excellence, based at Jones Court, Womanby Street, Cardiff.
Ceri Jackson, Director of RNIB Cymru, said: "We're delighted to have received this funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, and are very excited to start working on this project. Services for people with sight loss, and attitudes to blind and partially sighted people, have transformed in a generation. We spend a lot of our time campaigning for further change and greater improvements and, whilst we will continue to do so, it is also important to look back and reflect on how far we have come.
"Many of the blind and partially sighted people we work with tell stories about their experiences that really demonstrate how society has changed; we want to capture those stories, to share them with the widest possible audience and preserve them for the future. We believe it is an important piece of social history, and the grant we have received from the Heritage Lottery Fund will allow us to do just that."
Jennifer Stewart, Head of the Heritage Lottery Fund Wales, said: "I have been amazed by the interest in All Our Stories - clearly the success of this new programme has reinforced the fact that we are indeed a nation of storytellers and that we want to explore our past and discover more about what really matters to us. This is exactly what the grant will do for the Insight into the Past project as the RNIB Cymru team embarks on a real journey of discovery.
"I am really pleased that we have been able to find the money to support so many fascinating projects."