LOWELL ASSOCIATION FOR THE BLIND
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Mission Statement
Provide services to the blind and visually impaired
About This Cause
Lowell Association for the Blind (LAB) is the only nonprofit, community-based organization dedicated to working with the blind and visually impaired north of Boston. Established in 1923, the Association has been serving the Greater Merrimack Valley community for 90 years. LAB is supported by grants and contributions from the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, the Talking Information Center, memorial donations, grants from foundations, and program funding. An office in downtown Lowell provides 3,000 square feet of handicapped-accessible space for meetings, adaptive-equipment training, Braille lessons, and a radio recording studio. LAB services people with a range of eye conditions and vision impairments. Legally blind is defined as vision of 20/200 or worse in the better eye with correction, as well as those who have a visual field of less than 20 degrees. For perspective, the average person has vision of 20/20 and a visual field of 180 degrees. Visual impairment or low vision describes persons who have serious difficulty seeing even when wearing corrective aids. Today, there are roughly 50 million blind people and 300 million visually impaired persons in the world. As of 2010, in the United States, there were 1,288,275 blind persons and approximately 21,000,000 visually impaired persons. According to 2011 statistics in Massachusetts, there were 28,621 legally blind registered residents, 2,367 live in the Merrimack Valley. The Massachusetts Commission for the Blind (MCB) maintains a register of blind residents in Massachusetts. The top three diagnoses in Massachusetts were macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma. Recently MCB projected a 28.49% growth in blind individuals over the age of 65 by the year 2020. In 2000 there were 936,309 blind individuals in the United States. In 2010, the number rose to 1,288,275, an increase of 37.59%. Programs and Services The Youth Program, for blind and visually impaired children ages 5 to 13, provides social, educational, and recreational activities on weekends, such as trips to the zoo, movies, beach, and holiday events. The program is funded through the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind. The Senior Youth Program, for blind and visually impaired youth ages 14 to 21, meets for social, recreational, and educational activities such as trips to museums, Lowell Spinners baseball games, amusement parks, audio-described movies, audio-described live theater, and holiday events. The Visually Impaired Partners Program (VIP) is a site-based mentoring program matching blind/visually impaired youth with blind/visually impaired adults. Senior Teen Employment Program (STEP). A program for 14-21 year old blind/visually impaired to help explore career and job opportunities. The Adult Program meet Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Lowell Association for the Blind for a variety of activities such as crafts, field trips, guest speakers, community information and resources, cooking demonstrations and demonstrations of adaptive equipment. The Radio Reading Service is a service of the Talking Information Center, a special informational radio station located at the Lowell Association for the Blind. Local volunteers at the station read daily newspapers, including the Lowell Sun, Lawrence Eagle Tribune, Nashua Telegraph, Dracut Dispatch, Chelmsford Independent, Westford Eagle, Tewksbury Advocate, and the Northwest Weekly section of the Boston Globe. Kids in Direct Service (KIDS) Volunteer Program – youth ages 12-16 read age appropriate periodicals for blind/visually impaired youth on the Talking Information Center Radio Reading Service. Low-Vision and Adaptive Equipment- A variety of low-vision and adaptive equipment is available for use at the LAB office. Clients may use the color and black-and-white CCTVs (closed-circuit televisions), computer equipment, and software such as JAWS (screen reader), ZoomText, Duxbury, and a Braille Embosser. Assistance and catalogs are available for ordering other specialized equipment such as magnifiers, talking watches, talking calculators, and the like. Braille and Adaptive Equipment Training - One-on-one training in Braille and in the use of adaptive equipment, computers, the Internet, and a variety of software programs is available on site. Information and Referral Services- Information and referral are available for other services for the blind and visually impaired.