Since 1921, the American Foundation for the Blind has been committed to assisting blind and visually impaired individuals face and conquer the most critical issues concerning their existence as functioning, productive citizens: independent living, literacy, employment, and technology. This organization serves as an information and referral stop for blind and visually impaired people, agencies that may serve them, or the general public (“American Foundation for the Blind ”).

Today, technology is increasingly more visual, thus making it nearly impossible for blind or visually impaired people to use them. The American Foundation for the Blind works with manufacturers and technology developers to make these new products more accessible to blind people. The Foundation also works with government agencies to enforce regulations that mandate the new products be accessible to disabled individuals, as well. The Foundation helps to create new legislation that guarantees access to technology-based services. Most importantly, the American Foundation for the Blind educates blind and visually impaired people about the available mainstream and aiding technology (“American Foundation for the Blind ”).

About five million Americans eligible for Social Security are blind or visually impaired. This number is expected to double as the Baby Boom population quickly approaches retirement age. This increasing population of visually impaired elderly will strain the already inadequately funded federal rehabilitation programs. The American Foundation for the Blind lobbies before federal and state legislatures for increased funding for rehabilitation services so that older visually impaired Americans can still lead active, productive lifestyles. The Foundation also trains various health care facility workers in skills that can be taught to older, visually impaired people so that these people can maintain their independence (“American Foundation for the Blind ”).

After World War I, Congress passed legislation calling for the rehabilitation of disabled persons, most of whom were veterans. However, blind persons were not included in this category because they were generally considered beyond rehabilitation. By 1940, the year the National Federation of the Blind was established, the unemployment rate of blind people was nearly one hundred percent. By 1958, the employment rate of blind individuals had risen to three percent; this rate increased to thirty percent by the mid-1970s (Maurer 2).

The National Federation of the Blind, on the other hand, is the nation’s largest and most influential consumer and advocacy organization. “With fifty thousand members, the NFB has affiliates in all fifty states plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, and over seven hundred local chapters” (“About the NFB”). The National Federation of the Blind acts as a medium through which collective self-expression of blind individuals can be realized, as well as an aid through which blind persons can achieve self-confidence and self-respect. A common saying from members of the NFB is this: “The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight, but the misunderstanding and lack of information which exist” (“About the NFB”).

In a society oriented to the sighted, it is a daily challenge for the visually impaired to function independently. However, amenities such as signs with Braille and raised print and technology such as the VisAble Video Telescope, which allows legally blind patrons to view objects that are far away (Matus), help ease the plight of the blind. Such medical, social and technological advances would not have been possible without the insight and motivation of service organizations and individuals such as Melvin Jones, Dr. Jacobus tenBroek and Robert Barrett. These groups and innovators believed that, with the right resources, blind and visually impaired people could function as w

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