Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind

OUR VISION

New Zealand is a country where the rights and responsibilities of blind citizens are equal to the rights and responsibilities of sighted citizens.

OUR MISSION

• To remove the barriers that blind and sight impaired people face
• To promote the participation of blind and sight impaired people in all aspects of life.
• To help ensure the incidence of preventable blindness is minimised.

The Foundation provides services which aim to ensure that blind or visually impaired people have access to the training, equipment and support they need in order to create the lives they choose. Children are supported from birth through individual development programmes. They learn skills like getting about safely with the use of a cane and gain literacy skills by learning Braille. The family also receives the support of a Counsellor or Child and Family Social worker as they need it.

OUR SERVICES

Staff offer specialised services throughout the country.

These services include:

Communications
Communications instructors provide training in Braille, keyboard skills and the use of adaptive technologies such as closed circuit television, computers, speech synthesis and text scanning.

Orientation and Mobility
Instructors train people to get around safely using a cane, with a guide dog, sighted guide or electronic aid. Opportunities are available for O&M instructors - you can find out more by following this link.

Techniques of Daily Living
Instructors teach people how to live independently using special techniques for every day activities like food preparation, house cleaning and telling the time.

Counselling, Child and Family Social Work
Professional counsellors work with members and their families as they adjust to the challenges that come from vision loss.

Community Living Service
Community Living Service arranges for people with multiple disabilities to have access to appropriate services.

Maori and Pacific Island Adaptive Living Services

Te Kupenga Hou, Maori and Pacific Services
Te Kupenga Hou means The New Net and comes from the proverb "when the old net is cast aside the new net goes fishing". Te Kupenga Hou is a new net bringing new beginnings for blind and sight impaired Maori and Pacific Island people.

Guide Dog Services
A guide dog enables a blind or severely vision impaired person to act with greater speed and confidence, and gives them increased safety in traffic, the ability to avoid obstacles and locate destinations. They also gain greater independence because they do not have to rely on others.

Adaptive Support Services

• Library Services
• Transcription Services
• Equipment Services.

Other services include:

• Education Services
• Revenue Generation
• Member Services.

CONTACT DETAILS

Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind
National Office
Awhina House
4 Maunsell Road
Private Bag 99941
Newmarket
Auckland

Freephone 0800 24 33 33 
email general@rnzfb.org.nz
website www.rnzfb.org.nz

This information has been supplied and approved by the Royal New Zealand Foundation of the Blind and is copyright protected. The content and design of this page must not be reproduced electronically or in print without the written permission of UBM Medica (NZ) Ltd.