See as we see

We are one of Scotland’s oldest charities and have been dedicated to meeting the challenges of visual impairment for over two centuries. We’re a diverse charity with an expanding range of services. All that we do is delivered by experienced and knowledgeable experts.

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We transform outcomes for people with sight loss 

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We connect with partners and communities to support more people

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We care about those we work with and want them to flourish

What do we do?

We exist to level the playing field, because we believe that everyone with sight loss deserves the opportunity to lead a great life.

Our services range from providing specialist education to blind pupils, to residential care and document transcription to enable visually impaired people to access vital documents such as bank statements.

We know that there are significantly more people in Scotland who could benefit from our life-changing help and we are determined to develop new services to be able to reach them. We have set ourselves an ambitious long term goal: to expand our reach across Scotland to support and empower even more people affected by sight loss.

It’s a bold ambition and we can’t achieve it alone. We know that we can’t increase our impact without your support, so whether you can donate, spare some time to volunteer, or refer someone to us, we hope you’ll join us on our journey.

Scottish Braille Press staff member reads a braille document

Our history

From our beginnings, as the world’s first national organisation supporting blind people of all ages, we have been at the forefront of developments in addressing the impact of sight loss.

In 1793, three reverends encountered the struggles of blind children and adults in Edinburgh. Upon the realisation that blind people were struggling to find employment, they established an organisation to address this issue by providing education to bring people into the workforce. Today, we are continuing their work; reaching out and utilising our expertise to break down the barriers that can deny people with sight loss their right to fulfilment. 

When our charity started, children with visual impairment were provided with education to help bring them into the workforce

A new chapter

In 2020 we launched our new name and brand: Sight Scotland.

One opportunity for a few has grown into a national charity with a bold new ambition. We're meeting challenges head on as we strive to make connections and reach even more people.

With your support, we’re ready for the road ahead.

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