2. Collaboration
Goal:
To provide services in partnership with those who use them and, where appropriate, to collaborate with other organisations in promoting the well-being, social and cultural inclusion, and the economic independence, of people who are blind or vision impaired.
VISPA
NCBI continued to build its alliance with other sight loss organisations through VISPA, which was formed in 2008 and is made up of NCBI, Irish Guide Dogs, Fighting Blindness and St. Joseph’s Centre for the Visually Impaired.
VISPA submitted a call for the development of a Vision Strategy to the Department of Health and Children on World Sight Day, 8th October 2009. We were supported by the Irish College of Ophthalmologists and the Association of Optometrists, who joined VISPA in saying that Ireland can no longer afford to wait for an imminent vision health crisis before embracing the need to plan for curative and rehabilitation services around eye health and sight loss. Work on the development of a national Vision Strategy will continue into 2010.
Try-it (www.try-it.ie) is a collaborative venture between NCBI, the National Rehabilitation Hospital and Enable Ireland. Through this collaboration a library of useful aids and appliances has been created (including assistive technology), which can be borrowed by people with disabilities. The purpose of the library is to permit people to try out items before the commitment to purchase is made or an application for funding is made to the HSE. This venture will continue into 2010 with the support of the HSE.