A PARTIALLY sighted lunch club co-ordinator has praised the charity which has supported him in the wake of a favourable ‘attitudes to blindness’ survey.

68-year-old Roger Williams, of Barry, welcomed new research from Blind Veterans UK, the charity for blind and vision impaired ex-service men and women, after a YouGov survey marking the charity’s centenary year, found 65 per cent of the general public recognise that going blind does not mean “a person’s life is as good as over”.

Blind Veterans UK’s Attitudes to Blindness survey also found 60 per cent of the general public do not see blindness as a barrier to being able to lead a happy and active life and 81 per cent thought sight loss would not be an obstacle for blind or vision impaired people to start a new job or career.

Roger spent ten years in the Royal Artillery and has 10 per cent sight in his left eye and is completely blind in his other.

He lost his sight after he went into a coma with a brain tumour.

Blind Veterans UK for has supported Roger for 22 years and he has returned its support by running a lunch club in Barry for people who are also supported by Blind Veterans UK.

Roger said: “I am fully behind the research findings. I feel my experience illustrates that being blind doesn’t mean your life has to stop. The minute I started receiving support from the charity, a whole new world opened up to me. I set myself a task every day. Now I do all my own cooking, cleaning and washing. If you put your mind to it, there really is not much a blind person can’t do that a sighted person can.”

His welfare officer helped him track people down in the area who might like to get involved with the group and the six-year-old lunch club now has 20 members who meet once a month.

Roger said: “What gave me the inspiration to set up a local club in Barry was going to one of the main reunions that the charity organises for the veterans they support. I didn’t know anyone and thought, there must be people in the area who are in the same position as me.

“The club has gone from strength to strength. Everyone gets along really well. We’ve been to the rehabilitation centre in Llandudno twice now. I have had endless support from Blind Veterans UK. They have been brilliant. I really cannot fault the charity in any shape or form.”

Blind Veterans UK provides vital free training, rehabilitation, equipment and emotional support to vision impaired veterans to help them go on to lead full, independent lives and in many cases, excel in areas such as work, education and sport.

Blind Veterans UK’s chief executive, Major General (Rtd) Nick Caplin said: “These results show a major positive shift in the public’s perception of blindness over the last 100 years - thanks in part to the life-changing work of organisations and sight loss charities like Blind Veterans UK.

“When Blind Veterans UK was established in 1915, our founder Sir Arthur Pearson saw blinded soldiers returning from the battlefields of World War I to a public that held a widespread negative view that blindness meant a person’s life was as good as over. These findings are extremely encouraging, showing that since then, perceptions have improved significantly.

“We’re extremely pleased that the public’s perception of blindness has improved, but we also know that that there is still more to be done.”