About Us

RNIB past and present

Summary: Information about the history of RNIB and its services.

• History
• Our key services
• Governance and RNIB today
• The future
• Further information

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Two million people in Britain are blind or partially sighted. They have sight problems that cannot be corrected by the use of glasses or contact lenses. For some, even the simplest tasks can be very difficult without the right help and support. RNIB’s pioneering work helps anyone with a sight problem.

History

RNIB’s founder, Dr Armitage

The founder of RNIB, Thomas Rhodes Armitage, was born in Sussex in 1824. He became a successful doctor but had to retire in his mid thirties because of failing eyesight. He decided to devote his energy to improving the terrible conditions that existed for blind people. At that time few people with impaired vision had any formal education and most had to beg in the streets or rely on their relatives for food and shelter.

Although a wealthy man himself, Dr Armitage recognised that money alone didn’t answer long term problems particularly with regard to independence. The solution lay in enabling blind people to gain both self respect and new opportunities through education, training and employment. Dr Armitage knew that the only way that people with sight problems could achieve these things was if they could learn to read and write for themselves.

British and Foreign Society for Improving the Embossed Literature for the Blind

In 1868 following a meeting in Dr Armitage’s house in London led to the formation of an organisation known as the British and Foreign Society for Improving Embossed Literature for the Blind. Later this became the British and Foreign Blind Association.

The new organisation set about investigating all the known forms of embossed writing. After two years thorough research, Dr Armitage and his colleagues concluded that Braille was the most effective form of tactile writing available to blind people. Braille’s major advantage over other tactile systems was that in addition to being able to read it, blind people could also write it themselves.

Our key services

Braille

Promotion of braille became an immediate priority for the Society. It began publishing literature in braille, selling braille writing frames and teaching individuals how to read and write in braille.

More than a century later the technology which makes braille production possible has become increasingly sophisticated enabling greater amounts of material to be transcribed. Today RNIB is Europe’s largest braille publisher producing a wide variety of literature from our Production Centre in Peterborough.

Publications include books, leaflets, magazines, exam papers, knitting patterns and even bills and bank statements. Since its first issue in 1927, over six million copies of the Braille Television and Radio Listings have been produced. This equates to 346 million pages of braille!

Braille music is also in demand from blind singers and musicians. RNIB is the only professional producer of braille music in the United Kingdom with over 14,000 titles in its holdings.

Schools

While the adoption of braille was an important landmark in allowing access to information, Dr Armitage realised it was worth very little without education. The Society therefore began providing educational facilities for children and young adults.

The first schools to be opened were the Sunshine House Schools from 1918 onwards. They were founded as homes for young blind children and the first one, at Chorleywood in Hertfordshire, had an intake of 25 blind infants.

Since then it has been recognised that the needs of blind and partially sighted children are more complex. With the appropriate resources, many children with sight problems can be successfully taught in mainstream schools.

However, more than half of all blind and partially sighted children have additional disabilities, which makes mainstream education more difficult. RNIB Sunshine House School in Northwood specialises in helping children unlock their potential and cope not only with blindness but with other learning and physical difficulties.

RNIB also runs Rushton Hall in Warwickshire, which is a school for older children.

RNIB Schools and Colleges - further information

Training and employment

Finding opportunities for blind and partially sighted people in open industry has been a key objective of RNIB since its earliest days.

One of the first professions for blind people in open employment was massage. In 1915 the National Institution for Massage by the Blind became part of RNIB. Over the years we have trained blind and partially sighted people from all over the world to degree standard. Today RNIB’s Physiotherapy Support Service is located at the University of East London.

During the Second World War demand for switchboard operators, typists and secretaries led to RNIB opening a commercial college. As employment patterns changed we began to train computer programmers. In 1989 the renamed Vocational College moved to Loughborough. In 2005 it changed its name to RNIB College Loughborough. It is the only specialist college offering residential and day courses in partnership with a mainstream college on the same campus.

In 1956 Hethersett College was opened to provide training in clerical and manual skills. Renamed Redhill College after a move in 1992, it has over the years been particularly successful in developing employment and personal skills for school-leavers and adults.

Since 1927 we have worked with companies to open up employment prospects for people with sight problems and have supported those who wish to work from home or start their own business. Today RNIB’s Employment Officers provide information and consultancy to employers and advice and guidance to blind and partially sighted people looking for work.

Improved support and equipment means blind and partially sighted people can work on equal terms with others across an increasingly wide range of professions and trades.

Employment - further information

Rehabilitation

In 1940, Captain Sir Beachcroft Towse, Chairman of the Institute, and himself blind since action in the Boer War, opened his own home as the first rehabilitation centre. Here, newly blind people learnt to adapt to their disability, learnt new ways of doing everyday things.

RNIB Scotland has an Employment and Learning Centre based on the campus of Jewel and Esk Valley College in Edinburgh. The Centre offers rehabilitation courses for people who have lost their sight as adults, or whose sight has deteriorated and wish to stay in their present jobs or find new employment.

Rehabilitation workers are trained at the RNIB School of Rehabilitation Studies, part of Birmingham City University. The School is jointly administered by RNIB and the University. Its graduates are usually employed by local authority social services departments.

RNIB have always provided support for professionals who work with blind and partially sighted people of all ages. Today we work with and train members of the National Health Service, Social Services and other Government agencies to help improve the services they provide for people with sight problems.

Rehabilitation - further information

Equipment

From its earliest days RNIB has sold braille writing frames. Today we sell over 1,000 different items, from daily living, clocks and watches, out and about, keeping in touch, games, toys and leisure to technology products.

Where possible, equipment and games are designed to be shared by blind and sighted people. Adapted equipment helps blind people to participate in the same sports that sighted people can enjoy.

Products and equipment - further information

RNIB National Library Service

Perhaps our most famous service is RNIB Talking Books, now part of the RNIB National Library Service. The Talking Book Service began in 1935 and has grown from 500 members in the 1930s to about 41,200 members today.

Originally, a talking book consisted of a special designed gramophone record that held 25 minutes of recorded material per side. After that books were recorded, unabridged, onto special long-playing cassettes that could hold up to 12 ours of reading. Now books are produced digitally using audio CDs, which hold up to 21 hours. The player has control buttons that offer easy navigation through the book using DAISY technology.

In January 2007, RNIB merged with the National Library for the Blind to form the new National Library Service. Today, in addition to 14,500 Talking Books, blind and partially sighted readers can borrow fiction and non-fiction titles in braille, Moon, giant print (24 point type) and large print (16 point type). Readers also benefit from free access to online reference material. The Library's aim is to enable blind and partially sighted children and adults to have the same access to books and information as sighted people.

Audio description

Audio description is a verbal commentary describing scenery, costumes, body language, facial expressions and action during silent interludes in video, film, television and theatre. It enables people with sight problems to follow what is happening and to enjoy such entertainment to the full.

In 1992 RNIB and CIC Video launched the first audio-described video movie in the UK. “Hear My Song”. We now have over 130 titles available to rent or buy.

RNIB Helpline

RNIB Helpline was launched in 1997 and currently deals with around 50,000 enquiries a year. The helpline offers information, support and advice to anyone with a sight problem, their families and their friends. Contact the RNIB Helpline team on helpline@rnib.org.uk / 0303 123 9999.

RNIB Research Library

RNIB Research Library has the largest collection of materials in the country on the subject of sight loss. It offers a range of reference, loan and enquiry services, including sophisticated reading aids for blind and partially sighted users. It is part of RNIB National Library Service.

RNIB Talk and Support

RNIB Talk and Support has grown over recent years and celebrated it's 1000th participant in 2007/08. It offers a range of telephone groups for people with sight loss and includes our award winning Tele Befriending (weekly social groups) and Telephone Book Clubs. The telephone groups give people with sight loss an opportunity to socialise, make new friends, learn, share tips and support each other, without leaving the comfort of their homes.

Website

In 1995 RNIB launched its website. Today it is the largest source of UK-based information on blindness and partial sight on the internet. The website is designed to be fully accessible to sighted, partially sighted and blind visitors.

In 2000, RNIB’s See it Right Web Accessibility Consultancy Service was launched. This service offers information and advice about how to make an accessible website so that it works with speech and magnification software. Today the team audits around 150 websites a year.

Membership

In 2002 the launch of RNIB Membership and name change from Royal National Institute for the Blind to Royal National Institute of the Blind emphasised our role as a campaigning organisation and a voice for people with sight loss. We want membership to enable a greater proportion of blind and partially sighted people to get involved and have a say on how we deliver our services and what we do. We also want RNIB to have a stronger voice when negotiating on behalf of people with sight loss with the Government and other organisations.

Campaigning

RNIB has been at the forefront of campaigning for the rights of blind and partially sighted people and has achieved some groundbreaking successes.

We campaigned for free postage for braille and audio materials, which led to the Articles for the Blind scheme. We later secured the agreement of the Post Office to include large print and for the scheme to reach across Europe.

We continue to campaign for welfare rights for blind people. As a result of our work blind people qualify for Incapacity Benefit and are entitled to apply for the middle care component of Disability Living Allowance. We campaigned for the Blind Person’s Tax allowance to be raised annually, secured free eye tests for pensioners and stopped proposed cuts in the Access to Work scheme.

We campaigned tirelessly on the Disability Discrimination Act and persuaded Parliament to strengthen it in key areas. We also influenced the Disability Right Commission Bill as part of the Disability Charities Consortium.

Other areas where RNIB has campaigned successfully are audio description, accessible information for NHS patients, getting guide dogs allowed in taxis, and raising the concession for a television licence for blind people from £1.25 to 50 per cent of the fee.

RNIB campaigns - latest news

Prevention of blindness

RNIB gives grants and fellowships for research into the prevention of blindness. In 1962 we started the National Eye Donor Scheme to encourage people to donate their eyes after death for corneal grafting and other therapeutic purposes. Today it is a major distributor of the multi-organ donor card, issued by the Department of Heath.

Governance and RNIB today

Royal charter

In 1875 Her Majesty Queen Victoria became our first patron and over the years the organisation has continued to enjoy Royal patronage. We eventually received a Royal Charter in 1948 and subsequently changed our name to the Royal National Institute for the Blind in 1953.

Today our Patron is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. The Queen Mother was also our Patron until her death in 2002. Our President is His Grace Duke of Westminster DL.

Moving offices

RNIB is a national organisation with branches and services in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. RNIB headquarters are in Central London. Until 2002 these were at 224 Great Portland Street, London. Designed in 1909 by Claude Ferrier, a leading architect of the day, the building was opened by patrons His Majesty King George V and Queen Mary in 1914.

In early 2002 our headquarters moved to 105 Judd Street, London WC1H 9NE. The newly developed building houses a Resource Centre, Research Library, Low Vision Services and a Family Room for young children and has been renovated throughout to make it accessible to people with disabilities.

Board of Trustees

RNIB is governed by a Board of Trustees. The Board has 24 members, and, under the terms of our Charter and Byelaws, over 50 per cent of Trustees must be blind or partially sighted. The Board meets six times a year, in alternate months.

A number of committees support the work of the Board, including the Executive Committee, which meets in between Board meetings and has delegated authority to deal with business that cannot reasonably be deferred until a full meeting of the Board; the Audit Committee; the Policy and Advocacy Committee; the Access and Innovation Committee and the Direct Services Committee. There are also committees that support the work in the countries - Scotland, Cymru and Northern Ireland.

RNIB also has an advisory Assembly of 90 people. This is made up of representatives of organisations "of" and "for" blind and partially sighted people; representatives from the three countries and people who are elected by the RNIB membership. The Assembly meets three times a year.

RNIB Chair

Colin Low CBE was elected Chair of RNIB in August 2000. In May 2006 he was appointed to the House of Lords as one of the seven new non-party-political peers. Colin Low was recommended by the House of Lords Appointments Commission for his work as Chairman of RNIB, President of the European Blind Union and long-time campaigner.

Born in Edinburgh in 1942, he grew up with congenital glaucoma and lost his sight totally at the age of three. He was educated at Worcester College for the Blind, Oxford and Cambridge Universities. He went on to become a criminology specialist for Leeds University before moving to London as director of the Disability Resource Team, an organisation providing advice and services. He then went on to become senior research fellow at City University, researching theories of disability. In 1966 he began his long relationship with the National Federation of the Blind and in 1970 was the founder-secretary of the Association of Blind and Partially Sighted Teachers and Students (ABAPSTAS).

Chief Executive

In January 2004, Lesley-Anne Alexander became the RNIB’s new Chief Executive. Lesley-Anne was previously Director of Operations for The Peabody Trust (a large pan-London regeneration agency and housing association), Director of Housing in the London Borough of Enfield, the first woman Chair of the British Judo Association and Chair of the European Union Judo Confederation.

Previously Ian Bruce CBE was RNIB’s Director General for 20 years.

Another name change

In June 2007 we changed our name to Royal National Institute of Blind People. We also changed our logo and our strapline to “Supporting blind and partially sighted people”.

New corporate identity - further information.

The future

Each year of our existence has been spent working towards independence for blind and partially sighted people. Although there have been many milestones and triumphs, our work is far from over.

The 1995 Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) established the need for a new way of thinking about people with disabilities. The purpose of the Act is to help remove the barriers that cause inequalities in the treatment of people with disabilities. RNIB continues to campaign for change so that those barriers are removed.

The founding fathers of RNIB would be pleased to see how active the organisation is today. Both staff and volunteers have every reason to be proud of our achievements to date. But with the demands on our services ever increasing, as more people become aware of them, our essential work will almost certainly continue for many years to come.

Further information

For further information about RNIB past and present, please contact the RNIB Research Library on 020 7391 2052 or email library@rnib.org.uk

Content author: webeditor@rnib.org.uk

Last updated: 27/03/2009 9:38