American foundation for the blind - Essay Example

American Foundation for the Blind The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) emerged in 1921 founded by a philanthropist M.C. Migel who was interested in helping veterans blinded during the World War I. The major concern for AFB was to ensure that those individuals who are visually impaired were not barred from accessing valuable information, educational services, and technological services among others (“American Foundation for the Blind”, 2013). AFB emerged to enable blind people to live independent and productive lives just like other community members.

In 1924, Helen Keller helped in raising the organization’s profile and changed how people perceived the blind and facilitated the expansion of AFB with many achievements like standardizing the English braille code. The mission statement of the American Foundation for the Blind is “to remove barriers, create solutions, and expand possibilities so people with vision loss can achieve their full potential” (“American Foundation for the Blind”, n.p, 2013). This clearly states the main aim of AFB.

Migel formulated the mission of AFB and he wished to create a forum for blindness professionals, research and respect the blind. There are many people in the society who are affected by vision loss and AFB makes their lives easy by providing necessary services required. The American foundation for the blind offer variety of services some of which include continuing education credit via Academy for Certification of Vision Rehabilitation and Education Professionals (ACVREP), provides eLearning services for professional development.

AFB as well advocates for the right of the blind to ensure that they equally participate in societal activities. The current happenings of the organization include, AFB offering eleven scholarships for higher education for blind students, nomination for 2014 Migel medals, and AFB eLearning center offers new Webnar on using the iPad in the classroom among others (“American Foundation for the Blind”, 2013). Works Cited“American Foundation for the Blind”. (2013). Expanding Possibilities for People with Vision Loss. Web. 11 September, 2013.