Royal National Institute of Blind People

RNIB

Royal National Institute of Blind People
Formation	16 October 1868 (1868-10-16)
Type	Registered charity
Headquarters	154a Pentonville Road, London N1 9JE
Location	London
Coordinates	51.5317°N 0.1148°W / 51.5317; -0.1148
Region served	United Kingdom
Chief Executive	Matt Stringer
Key people	Anna Tylor (Chair)
Website	Official website

RNIB (formally, The Royal National Institute of Blind People) is a charity in the United Kingdom that offers practical and emotional support to blind and partially sighted people, their families and carers. It raises awareness of the experiences of blind and partially sighted people and campaigns for change to make UK society more accessible for people with sight loss.

Organisation

Anna Tylor has been RNIB's Chair since 2020. Matt Stringer was appointed Chief Executive in 2019.

King Charles III is the charity's Patron. His mother, Queen Elizabeth II, was RNIB's Patron from the start of her reign in 1952 until her death in 2022.

History

RNIB was first established on 16 October 1868 as the British and Foreign Society for Improving the Embossed Literature of the Blind. The first meeting, which was held at 33 Cambridge Square, Hyde Park, London, involved founder Thomas Rhodes Armitage (a physician who was partially sighted) and Daniel Conolly, W W Fenn and Dr James Gale (all three of whom were blind).

Later, the organisation became the British and Foreign Blind Association for Improving the Embossed Literature of the Blind and Promoting the Employment of the Blind – generally shortened to the British and Foreign Blind Association.

In 1914, the organisation relocated to larger premises in Great Portland Street and changed its name to The National Institute for the Blind, or NIB, to reflect its status as a national body involved in all aspects of the welfare of blind people.

The organisation was officially renamed the Royal National Institute for the Blind in 1953, having received a Royal Charter in 1949. In 2002, the organisation was renamed the Royal National Institute of the Blind ("of" rather than "for" blind people) when it became a membership organisation. To coincide with the launch of the UK Vision Strategy in 2008, it was renamed the Royal National Institute of Blind People.

In October 2008, RNIB and Action for Blind People agreed in principle to combine some services across England. The new arrangement began in April 2009, resulting in Action for Blind People becoming an associate charity of RNIB. It merged with RNIB in 2017.

From 2000 until 2023, RNIB operated from premises on Judd Street, in Bloomsbury, London, which it shared with Guide Dogs. The Duchess of Edinburgh opened the organisation's new headquarters in the Grimaldi Building on Pentonville Road, London in 2023.

Since its foundation there have been discernible trends in both the methods and content of RNIB’s work. While the method of direct service delivery to blind and partially sighted people has remained a priority, from the mid-1970s onwards, campaigning and pressure group work has become increasingly important. This recognises that RNIB cannot meet need alone and that society’s institutions and practices need to be persuaded to change. From 2020, this has been extended to concerted persuasion of the general public to change their attitudes and behaviours towards people who “see differently”.

RNIB's remit has always included reading and writing (e.g. Braille), education and employment. From the 20th century, welfare/social support has been important. However, it was not till the late-1980s that eye health became a major focus. Previously, eye health was seen as the sole prerogative of ophthalmologists and optometrists.

Programmes and services

RNIB provides a range of services and support for blind and partially sighted people, friends and family, and carers and support workers. Key services are offered at the point of a sight loss diagnosis and beyond; the focus is on giving practical and emotional support to blind and partially sighted people.

Helpline

RNIB’s helpline gives access to sight loss experts for questions and guidance.

Eye health and eye care

RNIB’s ECLO (Eye Care Liaison Officers) service aims to help patients understand the impact of a sight loss diagnosis and can give them direction to the support they need.

Employment services

RNIB offers employability skills and practical advice to people with sight loss who are seeking new roles or upskilling within an existing job. Resources include e-courses, preparation for interviews, and support with procuring government schemes and benefits, including Access to Work.

Reading services

RNIB offers an extensive range of reading services. They include RNIB Bookshare – a free library of over one million items, which supports students and others in education with a vast collection of accessible textbooks and materials – and Talking Books, which features more than 40,000 fiction and non-fiction audio books.

RNIB shop

The RNIB shop sells products designed to help make everyday life more accessible for people with sight loss, including canes and other mobility items, Braille readers, gadgets and smart technology.

Business services

RNIB works with businesses and organisations to help them meet the needs of blind and partially sighted employees and customers. Its services focus on embedding inclusive design and accessibility and include website and communications accessibility audits, user testing and staff training.

Campaigning

RNIB campaigns to change behaviours and perceptions around sight loss. It has been involved with several large-scale campaigns including calls for action to create a safer and more inclusive public transport system. In 2023, the charity played a key role in the campaign to scrap plans to close ticket offices in train stations.

In 2022, the charity launched its largest-ever advertising campaign, See the person, not the sight loss, to raise awareness of sight loss and the support that people who have visual impairments might need.

Along with other leading health charities, RNIB lobbied throughout 2023 for better disability support across the National Health Service (NHS).

Fundraising

RNIB organises fundraising events in the UK and overseas, as well as providing other ways to support – including raffles, recycling schemes, gifts in wills, online fundraising and corporate partnerships.

Sooty collection boxes

Since the 1950s, the children's fictional puppet character Sooty is an exclusive feature on the charity's collection boxes.

Radio

The RNIB runs RNIB Connect Radio, Europe's first radio service for blind people.

Controversy

Between 2015 and 2018 RNIB had some very serious failures in one of its schools and in its general governance and management. These became clear through an OFSTED report and a report by the Charity Commission for England and Wales, the latter of which revealed “comprehensive failures in governance that placed the safety of young people in its care at risk and allowed harm or distress to be suffered by some”.

The Charity Commission concluded that “there were systemic shortcomings at RNIB between 2015 and 2018, exacerbated by the 2017 charity reorganisation, in respect of:

• RNIB’s capability to manage complex and specialist care needs at the RNIB Pears’ Centre for Specialist Learning, a school and children’s home for young people who are blind or partially sighted and who also have multiple disabilities or complex needs. The school, which was run by RNIB, was based just outside Coventry;
• the safeguarding governance and management of RNIB’s regulated activity estate of specialist care and educational centres;
• RNIB’s broader corporate governance, which did not adequately address the complexity, scale, nature and associated risks of the charity’s activities and disparate group structure”.

Matt Stringer, chief executive of the RNIB, said that “It is important to acknowledge that things did go very, very badly wrong at the RNIB, we accept all the Commission’s findings in full.” The failings identified in the report, he said, “represent the low point in our 152-year history” and added that “We fully accept the Charity Commission’s recommendations. It is clear that we seriously let down the children and their families, staff, volunteers, supporters, and blind and partially sighted people who make up the RNIB community. We are sorry to every one of them.”

A recovery Action Plan was required and, as of 25 June 2020, the Charity Commission report said: “RNIB has made good progress in completing the Action Plan agreed with the Commission and it is part way through the transfer of care homes, schools and college to new specialist providers.”

In the light of further progress, on 27 June 2022 the Charity Commission withdrew their adverse decision.

See also

• RNIB Connect Radio
• Royal London Society for Blind People
• Royal National College for the Blind

Sources

• Bruce, Ian (2023). Vision Changing Charity: RNIB in Socio-Political Context 1970-2010. Cambridge: Lutterworth Press. ISBN 9780718896409.
• RNIB Annual Report 2022/23 (PDF). RNIB. 10 October 2023. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
• Rose, June (1970). Changing Focus: the development of blind welfare in Britain. London: Hutchinson. ISBN 009100490X.
• Thomas, Mary G (1957). The Royal National Institute for the Blind, 1868-1956. Brighton Herald, Ltd.

External links

• Official website
• RNIB Connect Radio – the radio station of RNIB
• RNIB Sightline Directory of services and organisations that help blind and partially sighted people in the UK