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Visual Impairment Awareness Workshop by RNIB Welfare Rights Services

Learn about the services provided by RNIB Welfare Rights Services, including telephone advice, casework, grants, benefits training, and more. Discover the statistics and breakdown of registered blind individuals, and gain insight into the needs and capabilities of blind people. Find resources for customer care and tips for completing forms for Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance. Explore useful avenues in the community for blind individuals. Get support from RNIB Helpline and website.

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Visual Impairment Awareness Workshop by RNIB Welfare Rights Services

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  1. NAWRA 3/12/04Royal National Institute of the Blind Visual Impairment Awareness Workshop

  2. RNIB Welfare Rights Services: what we do • Telephone advice and consultancy (0845 766 9999) • Casework service (CLS specialist level) • Factsheets and welfare rights newsletter • Grants and pensions for blind and partially sighted people in hardship • Benefits training • Take up campaigns • Policy campaigns

  3. How many people with sight loss? • Two million unable to read newsprint • One million people are eligible for registration as blind or partially sighted • One in twelve people over 60, and one in five over 75, are eligible for registration • About 350,000 people are registered blind or partially sighted

  4. Breakdown of numbers registered blind by age group

  5. Numbers in your area • The Department of Health website www.dh.gov.uk has statistics on registered blind and partially sighted people (as at March 2003) including regional breakdowns • Estimates of the number of people eligible for registration (including regionalbreakdowns) are available from RNIB

  6. What can blind people see? • 4 per cent of people on blind register report being ‘totally blind’ • 96 per cent can see light through a window • 75 per cent can read newspaper headlines RNIB survey 1991

  7. Customer care • A significant proportion of your customers/clients will have a sight problem. But it may not be obvious when you first meet them. • Needs vary - ask individuals what they require • Offer information in accessible formats (RNIB’s See it Right pack gives advice) • Use a minimum of 14 point print as standard • Offer home visits and help with form-filling

  8. Customer care • Consider people with sight problems when publicising your service and doing take up work • Aim to make your premises accessible for people with sight problems • Signpost or refer people to local societies for blind people, RNIB Helpline (0845 766 9999), etc, when appropriate • Consult with your customers and with local societies for blind people

  9. Attendance Allowance • There are only 56,800 AA claimants whose main disabling condition is blindness. (cf 121,000 registered blind people over 65.) • Mallinson hasn’t had as much impact as hoped • Barriers to take up: think AA is only for people with physical disabilities, difficulty with form, underestimate needs

  10. DLA/AA: tips for form completion • Allow plenty of time • Give full and detailed answers throughout the claim pack. • Use RNIB’s form-filling checklist • Be aware that customers may understate their care and mobility needs. • Remember to consider the help they need, not just the help they get.

  11. DLA/AA: tips for form completion • Include details of spoken help, help with reading, and help needed with social and leisure activities (Halliday) • If the customer uses any special equipment, explain the equipment’s limitations. • Offer to read the completed form aloud to the customer so they can check it before signing. Offer a signature guide.

  12. Take up work:Useful avenues • Consider using the sight registers • Local societies for blind people • Social services: Sensory Impairment Teams • Libraries (large print, audio, domiciliary services) • Eye clinics • Talking newspapers • Local radio • Think laterally - chiropodists, places of worship...

  13. RNIB Helpline and website Helpline: 0845 766 9999 Website: www.rnib.org.uk

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