Our Centenary Appeal
To mark our 100th year, we aim to raise £1,000,000 and reach 4,000 blind and partially sighted people with employment services in local communities across the capital.
Our Centenary Campaign - a focus on employment
Help us to celebrate one hundred years by paving the way for hundreds of futures
With a hundred years of experience and a helicopter view of sight loss services in the capital, the Vision Foundation understands what works and where investment can achieve the greatest impact.
In marking our centenary we are putting a greater focus on the issue of employment within London’s Visually Impaired (VI) community.
In London today, only a quarter of blind and partially sighted people of working-age are in employment, that compares to half of all disabled people and 80% of non-disabled people. When you add that all up it means there are more than 40,000 blind and partially sighted people out of work. Sadly there are many barriers to employment: the assumptions of potential employers; a lack of access to the right technology; inaccessible routes to work; and low confidence from repeated rejections.
We believe that the barriers to employment are eminently solvable with the right services and attitudes in place. We’ve all witnessed one of the biggest shifts in our working patterns and behaviours in the past year due to Covid-19. If we can take that thinking and consider who we employ and why then anything is possible.
Together we can unlock talent, improve employment opportunities and change attitudes. Help us to celebrate a hundred years by paving the way for hundreds of futures.
“I had enormous struggles in my own life as people often associated a lack of sight with a lack of vision. Through determination, patience and the support of my loved ones, I graduated as an engineer and have built a full-time career in financial services.”
Naqi Rizvi, Centenary Appeal Board co-chair
During our centenary year, we have set ourselves the challenge of raising £1,000,000 to change the employment landscape for blind and partially sighted people and create more opportunities to help people to work. With invaluable support from our Centenary Appeal Board our Centenary Appeal will:
- reach 4,000 blind and partially sighted people – one in ten of London’s visually impaired community who are unemployed;
- invest in local, tailored services provided by grassroots organisations;
- transform employer attitudes through campaigns and targeted partnerships;
- unlock the best technology and mobility support.
You can find an accessible Word version of our Centenary Strategy document at this link