One organisation we support through the Vision Fund is Beacon Vision. This Midlands-based organisation offer services such as health and wellbeing activities, employment skills and digital support.
Our 2022 report, The Unseen, uncovered the shocking scale of visually impaired people’s experiences of domestic abuse. We invested £200,000 in projects to break the barriers to support for victims and survivors of domestic abuse. Our research revealed three in four domestic abuse professionals didn’t know about their organisation’s accessibility policies. Our project with Beacon Vison targets that.
“Our project is ambitious; we’re hoping to improve the accessibility of refuges for blind and partially sighted victims across the country. We’re developing a toolkit that ensures refuge staff offer a VI-friendly service,” shared Helen Brown, Campaigns and Grants Manager at Beacon Vision.
“Our team at Beacon has had domestic violence awareness training. This training programme will increase awareness around domestic abuse and sight loss, highlighting the specific issues faced by visually impaired victims and survivors.
Without Vision Foundation’s funding, we simply wouldn’t be able to offer this level of support to the most vulnerable members of our community.”