Our impact

We know we’re making a positive difference to thousands of people’s lives every day, but too many blind and partially sighted people are still being deprived of a proper education, unable to secure employment and denied their democratic right to vote independently.

We believe now is the time to get to the root of the problem by tackling ill-informed stereotypes and influencing long-term, sustainable change. By improving everyone’s understanding of what it really means to live with sight loss we’ll highlight everyday exclusion in our society and demand an end to injustice.

• We’re challenging and improving the system by collaborating with the right organisations, campaigning against injustice, holding those in power to account and influencing decision-makers who have the authority and means to take us closer to our vision of “a world where blind and partially sighted people can participate equitably”.
• Until that day, we’ll continue to fill the gap created by an unequal society by providing practical and emotional support to anyone who needs it; helping them to overcome barriers, boost their confidence and not let sight loss hold them back.

For more than 150 years RNIB has played a key role in driving positive change. But the hard truth is, life is still much more difficult for people with sight loss, with many experiencing inequity which negatively impacts on their quality of life.

That’s why our strategy is focused on tackling the causes of inequity. By challenging attitudes and behaviours, and by helping people to understand what it really means to live with sight loss, we’ll work with our customers, supporters and partners to remove the barriers that still exist for blind and partially sighted people in today’s society.

At the same time, we’ll work towards ensuring that more people experiencing sight loss are supported on their journey right from the moment of diagnosis. We’ll do this by working with our partners across the healthcare sector and beyond, and by continuing to provide direct emotional, practical support and information to anyone who needs it; helping them to overcome barriers, boost their confidence and not let sight loss hold them back.

You can read about this and more by downloading our strategy summary. Together, we’ll deliver sustainable, positive change and impact and help create a society that works better for everyone and sees the person, not the sight loss.

The Annual Report is the story of our year and how we’ve supported blind and partially sighted people to lead the lives they want.

In 2021 and 2022 we continued to support people affected by sight loss and accelerated our work to change the misconceptions and attitudes that too often put barriers in their way. We did this across all areas of our work, from campaigning and advocacy to advice and support services. We also continued our far-reaching transformation of the charity. We built on operational, financial and governance changes we’ve made in recent years to ensure that we’re in a strong and sustainable position to achieve our big ambitions.

You can download the full Annual Report and Accounts or read on for a summary.

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The following link below leads to the RNIB Group Annual Report and Accounts 2021/2022:

Our year at a glance: highlights of 2021 to 2022

• Our Sight Loss Advice Service provided vital emotional and practical support, and information to blind and partially sighted people, their friends and families, and professionals. Our advisers responded to more than 200,000 calls to our helpline and answered nearly 35,000 emails.
• We established 12 new RNIB Eye Care Liaison Officer (ECLO) services and increased the number of ELCOs to 108 so that we could support more people with sight loss from the moment of diagnosis, helping them to face the future with confidence. This helped us to support more than 60,000 eye clinic patients, their friends, and families.
• Our services had a strong positive impact on our customers, helping to increase their wellbeing and sense of connection, with four-fifths reporting an increase in confidence as a result of RNIB support.
• We worked with some of the UK’s largest employers to ensure that their recruitment systems are accessible and that they meet the needs of blind and partially sighted jobseekers.
• We provided employment advice and information to more than 2,400 people and supported more than 800 people to stay in work.
• As the aftershocks of the pandemic continued to be felt, we trained more than 1,000 staff and volunteers at COVID-19 vaccination centres so that they had the knowledge and confidence to assist blind and partially sighted people coming in for vaccinations.