Chairperson's Introduction
Welcome to NCBI’s annual report for 2010. Throughout the following pages you will learn about the broad range of activities undertaken by the organisation during the year and about how we met the diverse needs of those who required our services during the year.
What does the term “sight loss” mean to you? Normally people think of total blindness but in fact sight loss is a spectrum, from mild vision impairment (from the time a person fails an eye test for their driving licence) to no vision or blindness. At NCBI we use the term “vision impaired” to accommodate the different levels of vision that those who use our services experience. In fact, the majority of those who use our services have some level of usable vision.
NCBI supports people who are coming to terms with sight loss at varying levels and at different stages in the life cycle. They find themselves in a new reality – a reality of loss of independence to some degree, a loss of functional ability to carry out routine tasks, and that abiding fear of sight loss worsening and shutting them off from a lifestyle which was heavily dependent on seeing. It is at this point that NCBI steps in to offer practical and emotional support.
The challenge facing this organisation is to meet the diverse needs of all those living with sight loss. We are now working with more people who lose their sight as they get older and this is a trend that is set to continue. In fact, not only is the number of people over the age of 65 set to increase in Ireland, but the number of people aged 80 years and over is due to rise even more dramatically. It is vital that we, as the national organisation working for people with sight loss, continue to modify and adjust our service deliveries so that they reflect a person’s need to be given the supports, the techniques and the coping skills to continue to live a full life even with severely diminished vision.
It is because of these challenges that NCBI has commissioned a study into the cost of sight loss in Ireland, which will be published in mid-2011. This report will look at the numbers of people living with sight loss in 2010 and the projected numbers for 2015 and 2020 and the results will enable NCBI and the Irish Government to plan sight loss services into the future.
I hope you will see, in our 2010 annual report, the progression of changes begun in 2007 to prepare the organisation for the reality of working with increased numbers of people with low vision. We now do this with the same number of staff and shrinking income – a major challenge which we continue to face up to with confidence and courage.
I wish to conclude by thanking the Board of NCBI, our staff, fundraisers and volunteers for your support, hard work and dedication in 2010. I have great pride and admiration for the very many people who supported the organisation in many ways in yet another year of endeavour on behalf of people with sight loss in Ireland.
Margaret McDowell
Chairperson