The charity was originally founded in 1877. The charitable aims of the Society are to promote the welfare of the blind and visually impaired This is achieved by providing a wide range of services including rehabilitation and sensory assessments, advice on benefits, employment and advocacy services, emotional and psychological wellbeing, computer and IT mentoring, befriending, social activities and support groups. Advice, information and other forms of support are also readily available. Services are available to visually impaired children, young people and adults and their families. For many years the society has worked closely with the City of Sunderland . It provides the rehabilitation and sensory assessment on behalf of Sunderland City Council and is ideally placed to ensure that the Visually Impaired people are offered the support they need in their daily lives. The society is the only organisation providing this range of specialist service for Visually Impaired people throughout Sunderland. The Society holds regular "living with sight loss" courses for the newly diagnosed and offers visual awareness training to employees of local businesses and companies. We aim to work with people to enable them to regain confidence in order to return back into the community. The society offers training and support in computer and accessible IT facilities. It can lead to employment which not only provides an income but also increases confidence and self-respect and it contributes greatly to a feeling of wellbeing. Visually impaired people just want to be treated the same as everyone else with the same opportunities and chances in life. However, given the support and necessary resources we know we can help build their confidence and resilience. Over 80% of our Trustees are visually impaired, one full-time member of staff and several leading volunteers are visually impaired. Our professional counselling service is delivered by a fully qualified counsellor who is visually impaired herself. This is a specialist service supporting those either newly diagnosed or living with a long-term condition. Many conditions are degenerative and require ongoing or long-term support. The Society currently enjoys a membership of over 3,000 visually impaired people. A quarterly newsletter is distributed to every member in a range of formats such as braille, large print, audio and e-mail etc.
