History of the Charity
Since 1834, BlindAid has been delivering emotional and practical support to blind and visually impaired Londoners.
Our long and distinguished history has earned an excellent reputation amongst both our service users and the professional organisations we work alongside.
Naturally, throughout such a long period of time, we have evolved and developed:
1834
The Indigent Blind Visiting Society was founded by Lord Shaftesbury and Thomas Rhodes Armitage, (Armitage is famous for introducing Braille into England and for being one of the founders of RNIB), with the purpose of visiting and aiding the blind poor in their own homes.
This was the first ever Home Visiting service for blind and visually impaired people.
The founding organisation also provided education and assistance in reading using Frere type and other printing systems and provided practical support to teach blind people craft work, allowing them to find employment:
In 1866, the Society visited 200 people and provided £212 in aid.
By 1885, this had increased to 875 people visited and £2,720 in aid.
You can read more about the Indigent Blind Visiting Society here:
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bloomsbury-project/institutions/blind_indigent.htm