Services for the island’s visually impaired population have come a long way since the founding of an organisation benefiting the blind, according to one man there since the beginning.

In 1954, the Beacon Club was founded by three blind community members; Lance Hayward, Jean Howes and Abuwi Rasool. It would pave the way for the Bermuda Society for the Blind three years later in January of 1957, founded by Russell Bell, Russell Eve, and Lady Gladys Hall.

“There was nothing here for the blind,” Mr Rasool said of the days before its creation.

Mr Rasool — the lone surviving founder of the club — was in attendance as the society celebrated its 60th anniversary earlier this week.

“They were the forerunners of the Bermuda Society for the Blind,” Dr Amanda Marshall, president of the board of directors, said of the three.

“It was specifically, in those days, a social club and a sheltered workshop,” Ms Marshall, who joined the organisation ten years ago, said.

Stools, trays, baskets and mops were produced by members for sale. At its height, 35 to 45 attendees worked in the shop, she said.

“In the workshop days, we made baskets for all the hotels in Bermuda,” Mr Rasool said.

“He was like the expert who taught others, and then they all sort of learnt from him in a way,” Ms Marshall said of Mr Rasool.

Albert Thompson began working with the organisation in 1977 as a volunteer, before becoming a board member in 1991.

“It was mainly a workshop for the blind,” he echoed of the society.

“It was a means for them to make a few dollars.”

He said the arrival of Ms Marshall and other board members had shifted the focus of the organisation in recent years.

“We started the strategic planning process to transition from being a sheltered workshop to being a centre for vision rehabilitation services,” Ms Marshall said.

Community outreach, social activities, and retail services are now also offered. Future generations were also a key consideration. “We were aware of younger people who were vision impaired, and a growing population of vision impaired,” she said.

Based on the 2010 census, approximately 2,400 people in Bermuda are believed to be affected by some form of vision impairment, Ms Marshall said.

“Of those, about 940 say that their vision loss affects their activities of daily living,” she said.

Like the change in the focus of the society itself, public perception on vision impairment has also greatly changed since the organisation’s beginnings.

“Most people who were blind were really kept at home and looked after,” Ms Marshall said.

“There wasn’t really a lot of room for people who were blind to be in the community working.”

Today, the organisation is currently in the middle of a fundraising campaign to renovate the Beacon House building.

When the work is completed, the organisation will be able to provide vision rehabilitation therapy services to people in their homes as well as out of Beacon House.

“The advantage to the centre-based model is that you can have group programmes, where people can come together,” she said.

“You have both the empowerment of meeting other people who are blind and low vision, as well as the training.”

The organisation is also interested in an initiative to allow blind people to vote independently, and in vision loss prevention.

“The number one cause of vision loss in Bermuda is cataracts,” she said.

“So wear sunglasses.”