Scotland’s sight loss veterans face a new battle after research revealed one in two people would not reach out in support of someone for fear of breaking Covid social distancing rules.
The shock finding emerged as one of the country’s oldest charities revealed a new name and vision to help those struggling with sight loss.
Royal Blind, founded in 1793, is to become Sight Scotland and its sister charity Scottish War Blinded has been renamed Sight Scotland Veterans as part of a drive to support growing numbers of people, including some of the 10,000-plus people living with sight loss in Angus and Dundee.
Research carried out by the charities has shown almost half the people living in the north east of Scotland would not feel confident about helping someone with visual impairment cope with social distancing.
Sight Scotland Veterans already has two outreach workers based locally for Dundee and Angus, delivering lifeline support for ex-servicemen including Dundee 96-year-old Marshall Rogers.
The World War Two Royal Signals veteran said: “Sight Scotland Veterans has been helpful in many ways – it’s a tremendous organisation.
“Without their support I would have found things verging on the impossible.
“The latest piece is a video magnifier. With this magnifier I was able to see the most beautiful photograph of my great-grandchildren. The support has helped me to maintain independence at home.
“Even through lockdown with visits not allowed, my outreach worker was still regularly on the phone to me,” added Marshall, who has glaucoma and macular degeneration.
“The lockdown would have been a lot more difficult had I not been supported by the charity.”
The charities’ biggest survey of visually impaired people found a majority felt their sight loss had made lockdown a more difficult experience.5
Chief executive Mark O’Donnell said: “For over two hundred years our charities have worked to support people with visual impairment of every age.
“The number of people who are blind or partially sighted in Scotland is set to increase by 30,000 in the next decade.
“In NHS Tayside last year alone there were nearly 3,000 cataract operations and we need to ensure people with sight loss conditions receive support and treatment quickly.”
