Braille week aids the blind

Press, 27 July 1976, Page 7

Braille week aids the blind

Braille Week, the annual rational campaign bv the! Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind to draw; public attention to blindness and work being done with 'he blind is being held this week. During the week, posters | and street banners will be n display, foundation members will speak at schools, and next Saturday, between 5.000 and 40.000 people will be door-knocking throughout New Zealand for the house-to-house collection Last year the national total < ollected was $750,000. and •his year to keep ahead of inflation the foundation is hopeful of $950,000. says the assistant branch manager in Christchurch (Mr C. Fisk) In Canterbury las: year $83,000 was collected. For the branch region, including the West Coast. Nelson, Blenheim and Timaru, the total was $134,500 The national director (Mr F W Christiansen) says inflation has added an extra $400,000 to the cost of providing essential special services needed by New Zealand’s blind. The extra

$400,000 this year is needed ’merely to maintain existing, services at the same level.: without allowing for expansion. The cost will be almost' $2.5m. I Mr Christiansen says the! foundation is affected par-) iticularly deeply by inflation) ;>as it has no way of recover-’ ing extra costs. The founda-i , tion makes no charges fori i,services, so it cannot in-! I'crease prices as an ordinary! business can to meet its! costs. The foundation’s hostels.) I which provide accommoda-i I tion for the elderly blind, will' ■ cost $500,000 to run. the 20 j ■ per cent increase being due! ■ to higher food costs, staff,' i and other housekeeping ex-1 penses. The talking-book library! • which provides a free service! ; to blind borrowers costs' , more than $145,000 a year to) : run. an increase over last; year of 16.5 per cent. Last' • year 80.000 cassettes were • circulated to borrowers free; i of charge. Welfare services offering j • help and advice to the blind,) ■ including grants or loans for) i those unable to make ends!

I meet, will cost an extra 12.5: ; per cent. The foundation’s income comes from three main “sources. Two of them, an an-i nual Government grant to; !’cover the cost of educating) • blind children at Homai Col-! i)iege. Auckland, and an in-i •'come from investments, give) • the foundation virtually a! •'fixed income, which takes no) 'account of inflated costs. The) .third is voluntary contribu-i • 'tions. the only area where) the foundation has a chancel ,|of increasing its revenue' ■Through public good will. I' This year it is estimated; ijthat 800 New Zealanders will) o'go blind, and by the end of ,'1976 the blind population; • iwill have reached a high of! '5OOO. The foundation also) '(estimates there are several, ■ thousand people in New Zea-; ;'land on the way to almost; ((certain blindness, without) (knowing it. : The blind population in-i ! creases by 300 each year,! i made up of 800 new cases (less the 500 blind, mainly >(elderly people, who die in a ,jyear, says the foundation. •(“The tragic fact is that as ilmany as half the new cases)

i might have been avoided or prevented.” • As the biggest danger i period for blindness is old • age, the foundation suggests) i (that everyone over 40 should • .have their eyes checked by a. ! I doctor, preferably twice a .(year. Early'childhood, up to .(the age of five, is another; ,'danger time for eyes, says' l , the foundation. Some chil- • ,;.dren have a condition called );“lazy eye” and it is vita! for 1 ~ parents and teachers who ,Inotice abnormality, such as ).a squint, to ensure the child ' sees a doctor. Accidents are .also a common cause of' 1 [blindness. The foundation offers edu-j! location for blind children, re-i ■ habilitation for newly-blind .(adults, and a variety of wel-' I fare services for blind of all ..ages, especially the elderly. (Each may need thousands of (dollars worth of specialised (training to enable them to dead normal lives without (sight, says the foundation. Twenty-eight guides dogs ■ are in use in New Zealand , and although the numbers are increasing, there are ! ■ never likelv to be more than ( , 80. The supervisor of the adult ' 'rehabilitation unit for the I foundation (Mr Brian Peel) 1 isays guide dogs are very (complex to work with and lonlv about two per cent of' the total blind population ' .can benefit from the use of 1 ia dog. Often the blind do not' 1 (like or get on well with dogs and for the elderly the ( natural faster walking pace i jof a dog can be difficult to 1 ( keep up with. Two-thirds of 1 'the blind in New Zealand are | lover 65.1_i

Each dog is put through highly-specialised training, with four weeks intensive training at the end for the (owner. Bv the time the dog and owner go home, about $4OOO will have been spent. The foundation says a single case of blindness prevented, besides being good 'on humanitarian grounds; alone, also means the foundation has one person fewer to care for and makes more of the foundation resources available for those not lucky, enough to escape blindness. “We are one of the few organisations in New Zealand that actually wants to attract fewer customers. If; (those 800 annual cases of! blindness could be cut in half,; iwe should be very happy indeed,” says the foundation.