walking . is . overrated

As user ’sophieg’ pointed out over at the forums, it is the annual Blind Week appeal coming up towards the end of the month - October 23 - 29, to be exact! Not knowing much about what the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind do, a quick squizz around their official site reveals a huge list of awesome stuff the Foundation does on a day-to-day basis to assist blind, deafblind, and vision-impaired people. Their services include things such as:

• Staff members teach those with vision impairments how to access and use everyday facilities like ATMs, EFTPOS machines, garden tools, how to peel vegetables (safely!), and heaps more
• Provision of sight guides, who assist those with a vision impairment by guiding them through environments safely
• Guide dog work, including the provision, matching, and training of guide dogs to assist those with a vision impairment in their day-to-day life
• Tonnes of work involving converting typed/written text to braille, so that those with a vision impairment can access things like tertiary education with as few barriers as possible

It costs over $22,500 to breed, raise, train and match a guide dog, and there are currently over 260 guide dogs helping people right throughout the country. So dig deep come October 23 guys, and let’s help the Blind Foundation cross that magical $1 million mark!

p.s. - Wanna help out during appeal week? Sign up to become a volunteer!