Greater London Fund for the Blind
Improving the lives of blind people

Companionship and Emotional Support

Losing your sight can leave you feeling vulnerable and alone. This is especially true as you get older and often people with a visual impairment can become scared of leaving their home as they worry about crossing the street, getting lost or bumping into things.

Your donations help GLFB members to provide support and companionship and stop blind and partially sighted people from becoming prisoners in their own home.

Middlesex Association for the Blind provide volunteers who go out and visit people at home, including husband and wife Edith and Gordon. They are both 75 and registered blind and as much as they help each other out, they also need a pair of ‘seeing eyes’ to assist them.

The volunteer helps them read and write letters, fill in forms and helps them to deal with the bills.

Gordon also struggles with the labels on tinned and jarred food and the volunteer helps him identify the tins and put Braille labels on them. Before getting this help he laughingly recalls the time he accidentally spread horseradish sauce instead of jam on his toast. This proved to be quite a shock!

Many of our members also provide drop-in services and day centres where people can come along and take part in activities, make new friends, talk about the problems they are facing and have a good old natter over a cup of tea.

This may not sound much, but it can have an incredibly powerful effect and help overcome the feeling of isolation.

As one person said: ‘The drop-in sessions make you feel that life is not just contained within four walls – it is still worth living.’

Services that your donations have helped to fund include:

The Blind Social Eyes Club in Kingston upon Thames. As well as providing exercise classes and quizzes the club has recently undertaken a number of artistic projects including making beaded mirrors, decorated mugs and plant pots.