Vivienne continued: “We welcome the investment in 250 neighbourhood health centres but so far eye care is not being mentioned as part of these plans, despite the potential to provide more eye care closer to home.”

“If this continues, thousands of people will be stuck waiting months for vital support such as using a white cane and skills for living independently. We know that without this, people can become isolated at home and lose confidence – having their lives put on pause. We can’t let this continue."

"Already local councils don’t get the resources and guidance needed to provide essential vision rehabilitation services to people coming to terms with sight loss."

Vivienne Francis, RNIB’s Chief Strategy and Public Affairs Officer, said: “We’re glad the Government listened and is rethinking the core plank of its disability benefit reforms, but we’re hugely concerned about the deafening silence around adult social care services in today’s budget."

RNIB is clear that now is the time to press play. Too many people are waiting too long for support, having their lives put on pause.

Sign our petition to call for action: rnib.in/OOSpetBS

This included sharing stories of blind and partially sighted people who have drawn upon vital vision rehabilitation services – the social care service which equips people with sight loss with the skills needed to adjust to sight loss.

If you have sight loss and want to request health information in your required accessible format, we have a guide to help you: rnib.in/AHCIguide

A vital recommendation is that information during a crisis must be made available in accessible formats.

But RNIB knows that a lack of accessible health and care information remains a serious ongoing problem for many blind and partially sighted people.

The report reveals a stark lack of planning for the needs of vulnerable groups.

It notes the disproportionate deaths experienced by disabled people, and that for months too little data existed to build understanding of this.

Read our full response rnib.in/C19InqNews

Our In My Way report, published in September, shows that only 9 per cent of people with sight loss across the UK feel very confident in navigating their local area. Find out more: rnib.in/travel-reports 4/4

Blind and partially sighted people should be able to walk down their local High Street safely and independently. That's why RNIB is supporting the community's call for urgent action to improve accessibility. 3/4

Uxbridge Road is a nightmare to navigate for blind and partially sighted people. To walk down the street, pedestrians contend with a sea of trip hazards and obstacles, including advertising boards, street clutter and illegally parked cars. 2/4

“Never again must decisions affecting all aspects of people’s daily lives be made without involving blind and partially sighted and disabled people from the very start.” 

covid19.public-inquiry.uk/documents/mo...

We urge the UK government and devolved administrations to improve their understanding of the effects of sight loss and account for this in policy making and future pandemic and disaster planning.

“One year into the pandemic we are told the UK Government’s Disability Unit remained concerned about a lack of disability data even to understand the impact on different groups.

We strongly welcome the recognition that all laws and guidance must be in accessible formats.

“Once the pandemic took root, blind and partially sighted people were affected not only by the virus itself but by the measures introduced to respond to the pandemic, yet it took months for the need for accessible communications (braille, large print, audio etc) to be understood.

“Prior to the pandemic, Baroness Hallett notes that planning ought to have taken place, as to how disabled people would be protected from both Covid-19 and the impact of restrictions such as a lockdown.