Our work.
About Wales Council of the Blind
"I have found all my contacts with WCB over the years to be so useful and professional." - Rehabilitation Officer for VI.
Wales Council of the Blind is the umbrella agency representing vision impairment within Wales. We work to campaign, lobby and support the improvement of services for people with sight loss. WCB provides a platform vision impaired people to raise their concerns and wishes.
WCB's Articles of Association sets out a way of letting their members contribute to setting priorities and work streams. An important part of the new structure is the creation of Regional Steering Groups to inform WCB's work. The four new Regional Steering Groups will be established across Wales, covering North, West, South East and South Central.
Each group intends to offer a platform for local clubs, charities, statutory services and people with sight loss to get together and contribute to directing the work and resources of WCB. It's likely that priorities may vary from region to region, and we want that to be reflected in the work of WCB.
WCB's Board of Trustees will include four representatives - one nominated from each of the four regional steering groups - to bring the views of the regions to the table.
What does Wales Council of the Blind do?
- We work to assist the Welsh Government by participating in and facilitating consultation
- keep in touch with what is happening in every area in Wales and in the U.K.
- We highlight examples of good practice and distribute this to the eyecare sector through our SYLW newsletter, e-bulletins, quarterly 'Round-Up' Magazine, and our professional networks
- bring people together to exchange information and ideas
- identify gaps in provision
- encourage the development of new services where necessary
- support and assist other agencies to provide a good service
- represent v.i. within Wales and at an all-Wales level
- represent v.i. in Wales at a U.K. level
Latest WCB news.
Perspectif Social: New project to tackle loneliness
Perspectif Social is a new project to tackle loneliness in people with vision impairment.
Loneliness is associated with depression, sleep disturbance, and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. It is identified as a global public health problem. Living with a vision impairment increases a person’s risk of loneliness and isolation. However, increased social interaction through signposting such as social prescribing is helpful in alleviating loneliness and isolation.
Wales Council of the Blind (WCB) is working with Rebecca John, National Wales General Ophthalmic Services (WGOS) Clinical Lead, in a Vision Foundation-funded project to develop a toolset for Low Vision practitioners for signposting patients to support using our Perspectif Information Portal. We shall be seeking members of a review panel for the project and also service users to interview.
If you would like to know more, contact WCB on 02920 473 954 or email owen@wcb-ccd.org.uk .
Researching Unpaid Carers.
WCB is initiating research into the experiences of unpaid carers for people with vision impairments and of the people they support.
The purposes of the study are to discover what support is needed by unpaid carers supporting people with vision impairments and whether it is different from that of carers supporting people with other disabilities and conditions. We want also to find out how a carer aids the independence and wellbeing of the person they are supporting.
The researcher is Dr. Vanessa Webb, formerly Director of Wales Council of the Blind (WCB), who is now based in Swansea University. The research is supported by WCB and the Wales Rehabilitation Officers Forum is advising on the research design. When it is completed, it will inform a workshop about carers supporting people with vision impairments organised by WCB. It will also be the subject of reports to practitioners and policy makers.
We are looking for volunteers to agree to be interviewed. We would like to talk with both the v.i. person and the person who supports them. You might be partners, siblings or parent and adult son or daughter. Ideally we would like to interview people aged over 25 and under 75 who have used Wales-based services. The interviews will probably take about 45 minutes each. The interviews can be on-line, by phone or the researcher would come to your home area.
If we are lucky, there will be 20 pairs of volunteers coming forward whose experiences we can study and report back on. All identities and the contents of interviews will be confidential and will be anonymous in any report or presentation.
If you would like to know more about this and may be interested in taking part, you can contact WCB on 029 2047 3954 and they will send you an information sheet with further details.