Mags Gargan
Mags Gargan talks to the CEO of a charity supporting the visually impaired
“It is hugely brave to walk out the front door with very little sight and take on the world with effectively just a cane,” says Chris White, CEO of the National Council for the Blind (NCBI), of the charity’s service users.
Supporting, training and building up the confidence of people with various levels of sight loss, so that they can live a full and independent life, is the main focus of the work of NCBI. “We are not in any way curing or claiming to cure people with sight loss, but we are supporting them to live as independently as possible with the sight loss condition they have. So that could be with counselling, with training, with mobility support, with a whole range of things,” Chris says.
“We do traditional things like getting the right light bulbs in their houses so they are properly lit, so they can make most use of the light which is available to them and for their eyesight. Training them how to use public transport and use of long and short canes, and confidence building about moving around, which is the biggest challenge I think.”
Everyday Tasks
The majority of people NCBI work with have some remaining vision. The aim is to help them use that vision to read, use technology, get around independently or to manage with the everyday tasks we all take for granted, like cooking and shopping.
“The biggest game changer is the huge advances in technology which have enabled people with sight loss to not hide away but come out and engage in work and society, and be much more active participants,” Chris says.
Thanks to embedded software in computers and smart phones, such as ZoomText which increases screen size and Siri which reads out text messages and emails, people with sight loss are able to use technology with proficiency.
“We have 10 IT trainers based all around the country who support and train people and make them aware of what is available, because this is not an extra or more expensive, it is actually embedded in the technology,” Chris says.
“What that means is that from a work or education perspective anybody with sight loss using a screen or computer is just as able as a sighted person to engage with technology and use the advantages of the internet and the digital society we live in now.”
Chris is originally from London, but with parents from Dublin and childhood summers spent here, he considers himself ‘London Irish’. “I did a masters in Queens, Belfast in Irish politics and I have been living in Ireland full time since 1999,” he explains.
Chrishas a strong background in the not-for-profit and charitable sector, with previous roles as CEO of the Sue Ryder Foundation and as Head of Development at the Irish Council for Social Housing.
He says he joined NCBI because he is “always looking to make the biggest impact with the biggest organisation”. “NCBI is a charity with a huge reach and impact across the country. It is well respected and it has the potential to do so much more.”
There are 52,000 people with impaired vision in Ireland. NCBI works with about 10,000 people a year, 2,000 of whom are children in education. Founded in 1931, the charity has been around for a long time and would be familiar to most people, especially through their 91 charity shops nationwide, and yet their work goes almost unnoticed.
Chris, who has been CEO of the NCBI group since 2014, admits that the charity has let its profile in the public eye wane, but with reduced Government funding, increased competition between charities for donations and bad publicity for the whole sector in recent years, it is time to stand up and be heard.
“We are one of those background charities,” Chris says. “We are around for a long time and we have a huge impact and reach so many people, and we are keen to remind people what a great job we do and we can’t do it without their support.”
NCBI has 260 paid staff and 900 volunteers in the whole organisation. It costs about €10.5million a year to run and gets €6.6 million from the State, so 38% of its funding is self-generated.
“We are trying to be quite innovative,” Chris says. “NCBI is 86 years old so we’ve been around a long time and enjoyed huge support from all parts of Ireland, geographically and demographically, but fundraising is becoming increasing competitive, because the State has reduced its funding to all charities.
“We rely heavily on our chain of charity shops which are in almost every county. This year they will generate the guts of €6m, of which the profit is about €1.5m after rents, salaries, rates and so on. The rest of the funds is generated through events.
Signature event
“Our signature event was launched last year, which is ‘Dine in the Dark’ where we encouraged about 100 restaurants to have an event where all the diners eat blindfolded and experience what it is to have sight loss and do something as simple as eat.”
Chris says that while many people don’t trust charities since the scandals in recent years, NCBI have “an unblemished governance”. “We have a great board that rotates on a regular basis. We are signed up to and exceed all of the codes of practise. We are very committed and can stand over the strength of our governance. The thing is charities share the same brand and we have seen a 40% fall in donations as a consequence of what has happened in the CRC, Console and Rehab. All of which had nothing to do with us.
“You can see the results of our work every day in every community. People who are service users of NCBI are hugely passionate about us and they really value the service that we provide,” he says.
For more information see www.ncbi.ie