Hillingdon

Hillingdon Support Services Coordinator: Tina Hind can be contacted via our Head Office on 020 8423 5141.

The Hillingdon Association for the Blind (part of the MAB) is a registered charity working locally to provide support to blind, partially sighted and deafblind people throughout the Borough of Hillingdon. Our staff and trained volunteers work together to provide a range of high quality services, information, advice and training, all aimed at assisting the visually impaired to lead independent lives.

The Hillingdon Association for the Blind Wins the GlaxoSmithKline Health Awards 2005/6

We were proud to be awarded the GlaxoSmithKline Health Award for our Home Visiting Service in Hillingdon. We have several elderly clients who live alone and feel isolated, often this can lead to loneliness and mental health problems. Through our volunteer and staff home visitors we provide a vital link to the outside world. An example of where our services have made a significant difference to the quality of life are for visually impaired 87 year old Florence Avril. Florence has no family or friends and lives alone, but for the past year she has been regularly visited by our support worker Karen Jones who takes her out to places of interest that she has always wanted to visit.

Alan Hills, Chairman of the Hillingdon Association for the Blind, accepts the award and a cheque for £5,000, from the CEO of GlaxoSmithKline

(L-R) Dave Pearce, Alan Hills,Florence Avril and Karen Jones

The Association offers the following services in Hillingdon

• Home Visiting Service
• Computer Training     Braille Training     Visual Awareness Training
• Resource Centres The Association has three resource centres equipped with daily living aids for people with a visual impairment. Currently, your nearest resource centre is the facility located in Hounslow.
• MidSight Hospital Information points The Hillingdon Association for the Blind works in partnership with the Eye Clinics at Hillingdon and Mount Vernon Hospitals to provide invaluable information and support to patients at the point of diagnosis of their eye condition.

Volunteering

Volunteers are always needed to help visually impaired people in Hillingdon. At the moment we have 40 people on our waiting list, hoping to get some help from a volunteer in the community. So if you can spare one or two hours a week/fortnight to help a person with a visual impairment, then please visit our Volunteering section.

Support Us The Hillingdon Association for the Blind is a registered charity and all of our activities are dependent upon contributions and donations.

Hillingdon News!

IT Training at Uxbridge Library. We now have our computer at Uxbridge Library and will soon be able to offer IT training from this location.

Uxbridge Library location map

Hillingdon Talking Newspaper

The Hillingdon Talking Newspaper provides a weekly audio version of the local Gazette together with articles from Hillingdon Borough Council's magazine 'The Hillingdon People'. The talking newspaper is produced in a studio based at the Civic Centre in Uxbridge and distributes tapes free of charge to the blind and visually impaired living in the borough. If you would like to receive a copy please contact Andrew Cox on our Head Office number 020 8423 5141. Volunteers are always needed so if you can spare a few hours each month to help with the production of the Talking Newspaper please let Andrew Cox know. No particular skills are required and training will be given.

Useful local Contacts:

• Disabilities Team (01895) 277903 email:-dutyintake@hillingdon.gov.uk
• DASH - Disablement Association Hillingdon 020 8848 8319
  email:- info@dash.org.uk / website: DASH
• Hillingdon Talking Newspapers, Tel: 020 8423 5141

Hillingdon Association for the Blind is part of Middlesex Association for the Blind (MAB), registered charity No. 207007.

With support from

MAB Home Page