Creating Connections

The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is helping people with sight loss connect with other people in the communities, thanks to funding raised by players.

RNIB recognises everyone's unique experience of sight loss and offers help and support for blind and partially sighted people. This can be anything from practical and emotional support, campaigning for change, reading services to products in their online shop.

RNIB is a catalyst for change - inspiring people with sight loss to transform their own personal experience, their community and ultimately, society as a whole. Its focus is on giving them the help, support and tools they need to realise their aspirations.

Everyday, 250 people begin to lose their sight. RNIB has a crucial role to play in creating a world where there are no barriers to people with sight loss.

RNIB Connect is a growing community that enables people with sight loss to meet others with similar experiences and share information, advice and guidance, both face-to-face and online. It brings together blind and partially sighted people, their families, friends and carers, to meet and connect with others who are affected by sight loss and share similar experiences.

Players of People's Postcode Lottery have raised more than £1.6 million for RNIB. This funding is being used to help grow their Connect community and is making a real and genuine difference to their lives.

So far, over 65,000 people with sight loss have been connected with one another. Our players have helped RNIB bring together a group of blind and partially sighted women from Norwich, who were given a beauty masterclass by professional MAC Cosmetics artists who trained them how to apply make-up with confidence. A basic everyday task for most women but for those who are blind or partially sighted, being given the confidence to apply and wear makeup, even though their ability to see how it is applied and what it looks like, can make a small but very real difference to their lives.

Through RNIB Connect community-led initiatives such as this, not only are our players helping blind and partially sighted people to thrive, together, it is addressing the negative attitudes and misconceptions faced by people with sight loss. It is breaking down barriers to ensure that blind and partially sighted people can participate, just as their fully-sighted peers can do.