From 1917 to 2017: NB magazine's 100 years of eye health and sight loss

Post date: 
Friday, 31 March 2017
Birthday cake

‘We feel that with the publication of this, our first number of The Beacon, a new milestone in the history of The National Institute has been passed,’ read an article in 1917. Today, The Beacon has become NB Online, and The National Institute has become RNIB. We mark some of the milestones that have happened during a century of publication.

 
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1917

The Beacon is published. With increasing numbers of soldiers coming back from the trenches of the First World War with visual impairment, there’s a renewed attention on sight loss issues
 

 

 
 

 

   ​1918

First ‘Sunshine Home for Blind Babies’ opens in Chorleywood, looking after blind children aged between six months and six years old
 
 

 

1920

Blind Persons Act – a landmark in legislation for blind people – makes it a duty of local authorities to provide for the welfare of the blind, and extends the old age pension to blind people at the age of 50 instead of 70.

1921

Bristol photographer James Biggs, who has been blinded in an accident, paints his walking stick white so that motorists can see him more clearly.

1921

Chorleywood College for Girls opens. It is the first college for girls with visual impairment. Worcester College for the Blind Sons of Gentlemen was first set up in 1866.

1925

Bannow House home for blind convalescent veterans and holiday-makers opens at St Leonards-On-Sea. Today is it a retirement home.

 

 

1930

The Beacon becomes ‘New’ Beacon, with a new approach. ‘The thirties must be different’ says the editor

1931

Muriel Crooke and Rosamund Bond set up the Guide Dog Committee (which is now, after several changes of name, known as Guide Dogs).
The four people in their first trial class are extremely pleased with their new dogs

1931

Guilly d’Herbemont launches a scheme for a national white stick movement for blind people in France.  Rotary Clubs sponsor a similar scheme in the UK, and BBC Radio broadcasts programmes suggesting that all blind people are provided with one

1932

The Scottish Association of Occupational Therapists (SAOT) is founded

 

 

1933

Blind Voters Act – permits the blind voter to take a companion to the polling station

1935

RNIB starts its Talking Books service, initially for blind veterans of the First World War

Pedestrian crossing introduced in Britain

1936

The Association of Occupational Therapists is founded for England, Wales, Northern Ireland

1938

The Association of Occupational Therapists offers the first diploma examinations for occupational therapy in England

 

 

1944

Education Act makes new responsibilities for education provision for children with disabilities
 
Disabilities Person (Employment) Act
 
1947

The Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital (Moorfields), the Royal Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital, and the Central London Ophthalmic Hospital merge to become Moorfields, Westminster and Central Eye Hospital

 

1948

The National Health Service is established. Initially it provides free glasses

1949

Ophthalmic surgeon, Harold Ridley, implants the world’s first intraocular lens at St Thomas’ Hospital, London, in a breakthrough for cataract treatment. The operation is internally televised – another first – so that other surgeons in the hospital can watch it, as long as they promise to keep it secret.

 

1950

Harold Ridley leaves the first artificial lens permanently implanted in an eye. This is widely disparaged as far too dangerous and is viewed with considerable scepticism for some years but it opens the door for ocular implants of all kinds. By the end of the 1980s it has become a common technique for cataracts in the US, and is now standard in the UK. (At the end of the 1980s Ridley has his own lenses replaced and points out that he is the only man to have invented his own operation.)

RNIB Northern Ireland established in Belfast

1951

Training college for blind telephonists and typists opens at Pembridge Place, London

 

1953

UK’s first ophthalmic pathologist, Professor Norman Ashton, discovers that the excessive oxygen given to compensate for breathing problems associated with premature birth can cause blindness. As a result, oxygen is delivered with much greater care and fewer babies develop retinopathy of prematurity

1955

A braille edition of New Beacon is introduced

 

1962

RNIB establishes the National Eye Donor Scheme, encouraging people 
to donate their eyes after death for corneal grafting and other therapeutic purposes

1965

Norman Ashton sets up the research funding organisation Fight For
Sight, which provides funding for some of the major breakthroughs including Professor Robin Ali’s work in 2007 and genetic research into congenital cataract and keratoconus

1967

Dr Charles Kelman introduces phacoemuilsification surgery – using ultrasonic waves to remove cataracts without a large incision – which revolutionises the procedure

1968

RNIB celebrates its centenary, with a special exhibition showing its progress over the previous hundred years

1969

RNIB opens Tate House, its first purpose-built care home for deafblind people 

 

1974

The British Association of Occupational Therapists (BAOT) is formed from a merger of The Association of Occupational Therapists and The Scottish Association of Occupational Therapists

 

1976

Education act requires local authorities to ‘make provision for handicapped children in ordinary schools’ wherever practicable

 

1983

Professor Alan Wright of the University of Edinburgh identifies the first gene in retinitis pigmentosa (RP), which becomes one of the main subjects for genetics research

UK Corneal Transplant Service established

Boots Opticians opens its first offices
 

1984

Dr Shomi Bhattacharya of the University of Edinburgh locates the first gene locus associated with retinitis pigmentosa. This builds on Wright’s research and opens up the field of genetic research into the eye further
 
Chorleywood and Worcester Colleges merge to become RNIB New College Worcester (since 2007 a separate independent school, New College Worcester)
 
 
 
 

1986

Professor Roy Taylor of Newcastle University starts his mobile eye screening programme for people with diabetes from the back of a second-hand ambulance. Over the next two decades the programme is taken up across the UK. Today, the NHS Diabetic Eye Screening Programme, introduced by the UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) in 2003, invites approximately 2.5 million people for screening every year and is a major reason why diabetic eye disease is no longer the leading cause of blindness in adults of working age

 
1987
 
First Rehabilitation Worker Course is introduced by the National Mobility Centre, the North and South Regional Associations for the Blind

 

1991

London Association for the Blind (first founded in 1857) changes its name to Action for Blind People

1995

The Disability Discrimination Act makes it illegal to discriminate against people on the basis of their disability, and compels employers and others to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for disabled people

1996

The Broadcasting Act 1996 legislates for a percentage of TV programming to provide audio description for viewers with visual impairments.

New Beacon is first produced on electronic disk, on a trial basis 
 
 

1997

RNIB launches The Helpline telephone service. Today it encompasses departments including eye health, counselling, bursaries and benefits, and a talk and support service

1999


The World Health Organization and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness launch VISION 2020: The Right to Sight, the global initiative for eliminating avoidable blindness

 

2001

The Age-Related Eye Disease Study1 study concludes that very high levels of vitamin and minerals including vitamin C, vitamin E, and zinc reduce the risk of advanced age-related macular degeneration by 25 per cent
 
New Beacon celebrates its 1000th issue

2005

The Royal College of Nursing publishes its first competence framework for ophthalmic nurses
 
Apple launches its first version of VoiceOver on desktop and server Macs. Over the next decade this feature is extended to iPhones and iPods
 
 

2007 

The launch of the London Project to Cure Blindness, a collaboration of scientists and clinicians working on stem cell treatments for eye disease, especially age-related macular degeneration
 
Professor Robin Ali and his colleagues at University College London begin the world's first gene therapy trial in the eye, delivering the RPE65 gene to retinal cells in patients who have Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), an inherited form of retinal disease. Initial results suggest that the technique is safe and can restore night-vision in some cases
 
National Library for the Blind (founded in 1882) merges with RNIB to form the RNIB National Library Service   
 
Action for Blind People and RNIB combine their services throughout England
 
2008
 
NICE approves Lucentis for treating wet AMD. The demand on local services increases dramatically, leading to developments such as ophthalmic nurses leading clinics, reviewing scans, conducting fundoscopies and delivering injections into the eye
 
Local screening programmes for diabetic retinopathy cover the whole of England
 
Stock markets around the world crash sparking a global recession

 

2010

Professor Eberhart Zrenner of the University of Tuebingen, Germany, and his colleagues report that their trials of an electronic retinal implant have restored some sight to three patients with retinal degeneration
 
The iPhone app Siri is introduced by Siri Inc. Apple acquires the company and relaunches the upgraded app in 2011
 

2012

Professor Robert MacLaren and his colleagues at the University of Oxford start treating patients with the rare condition choroideremia (affecting 1 in 50,000 individuals) in their clinical trial, injecting the missing CHM gene into the light-sensing cells in the retina
 
King’s College Hospital and Oxford Eye Hospital pioneer a UK trial of a retinal implant for patients with retinitis pigmentosa
 
2013
 
The Rehabilitation Workers' Professional Network formed. 
 
The NHS introduces cataract screening for newborn babies
 
Ophthalmic nurses start delivering injections for patients with AMD at Moorfields and other hospitals
 
 

2014

Professor MacLaren and his colleagues announce significant improvements in the first patients on their clinical trial

2015

Netfix launches audio description service
 
NB becomes NB Online
 
2016
 
MacLaren reports that his team’s trial of gene therapy for choroideremia has remained effective. This is the first indication that the treatment is viable and could be widely used on patients
 
NB Online, along with the UK Vision Strategy launches the first Vision Pioneer Awards to celebrate excellence in the sector