This week is Blind Week. The Royal New Zealand Foundation for the Blind is an organisation which helps people who have poor vision. Every week, on average, 3 people contact the RNZFB for help because they are losing their eye-sight.
The RNZFB helps people in a number of ways. They translate books into Braille so people can read by feeling the letters with their fingers. Or they help with talking books or text-to-speech computer programs.
They help blind people to become independent. Daily tasks such as dressing, eating, shopping, cooking, walking and catching a bus are difficult for blind people.
The Foundation also has people who train puppies to become guide dogs. It takes a lot of training over two years to teach a dog to be the eyes of someone who is blind.
This week, you may see people collecting money for the RNZFB in the streets. If you live in Auckland, you may also see runners in the marathon on Sunday who are raising money for the RNZFB. Some of these runners work for the Foundation and some are teachers who have taught blind students. One is a blind man who is going to walk the half-marathon (21km) with a volunteer as a guide. You can sponsor these people if you click here or go to the RNZFB website.
Vocabulary
- royal – a member of the royal family is the patron
- foundation – an organisation which has money to start it and keep it going, usually a charity
- vision – eye sight
- text-to-speech – a computer reads the words of the text aloud