American Foundation for the Blind
2 Penn Plaza, Suite 1102
New York, NY 10121
800-232-5463 (800-AFB-LINE)
212-502-7600
888-545-8331 (Fax)
E-mail: afbinfo@afb.net

AFB Center on Vision Loss
11030 Ables Lane
Dallas, TX 75229
214-352-7222
E-mail: dallas@afb.net

AFB TECH
949 3rd Avenue, Suite 200
Huntington, WV 25701
304-523-8651
E-mail: AFBTECH@afb.net

Find Technology Information

AFB TECH publishes AccessWorld®: Technology and People Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired, AFB's acclaimed online technology magazine. AccessWorld® provides objective information, informed commentary, and cutting-edge news and trends about information technology and visual impairment. Find more information in the Technology section of the AFB web site.

Find Information for Older Adults

The AFB Center on Vision Loss publishes Senior Site®, an online resource center that connects seniors, family members, and caregivers to local services and showcases a wide range of assistive living products available to people with vision loss.

Find Services and Support Groups

The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) provides a "Where Can I Find…" database of services in the United States and Canada. The database includes extensive resources, including computer training, rehabilitation services, volunteer services, employment and job training, support groups, and many other helpful areas.

In addition, the American Foundation for the Blind

• Provides services to, and acts as an information clearinghouse for, people who are blind or visually impaired and their families, professionals, organizations, schools, and corporations
• Stimulates research and mounts program initiatives to improve services to blind or visually impaired people
• Publishes a wide variety of professional, reference, and consumer books and videos in the AFB Bookstore

38 Washington Avenue
Huntington, WV 25701
304-522-6991
www.cabellwayne.org
E-mail contacts: www.cabellwayne.org/contact_cwab.htm

Programs and services include:

• Vision Rehabilitation Therapy
• Support Groups
• Transportation
• Recreation
• In-Home Services
• Orientation and Mobility
• Adaptive Technology
• Computer Instruction
• Scholarship Program
• Eyeglass Program
• Volunteering
• Family and Children's Recreation Programs

Cabell-Wayne Association of the Blind also publishes the online Guide Page Magazine. The web site contains issues from the past ten years, in PDF, audio, and text versions.

A New Program:

Help is available for residents of Putnam and Lincoln Counties who don't have insurance coverage for vision care. "Reaching Out to Our Neighbors" is a new resource for obtaining an eye exam, eyeglasses, and low vision aids (such as magnifiers, large-print items, "talking" devices) for people with low vision.

For more information, call the Cabell-Wayne Association of the Blind and ask for extension 13 or the outreach project. The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation has made this project possible.

Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults
National Office Headquarters:
141 Middle Neck Road
Sands Point, NY 11050-1218
Switchboard hours: 8 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.
516-944-8900 (Voice)
516-944-8908 (VP)
516-944-8637 (TTY)
516-944-7302 (Fax)
E-mail: hkncinfo@hknc.org

Regional Representative contact information: www.hknc.org/FieldServicesREGREPADD.htm

The Center provides services to youth and adults who are deaf-blind according to the definition of deaf-blindness in the Helen Keller Act. The national center in New York and regional offices that serve each state provide advocacy, support groups, information, and services to people who have both a vision and a hearing loss.

The mission of the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults (HKNC) is to enable each person who is deaf-blind to live and work in his or her community of choice. Authorized by an Act of Congress in 1967, the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults is a national rehabilitation program serving youth and adults who are deaf-blind.

5210 MacCorkle Avenue SW
South Charleston, WV 25309-1010
304-768-8876
www.icbminc.org

International Christian Braille Mission, Inc. (ICBM) produces and distributes New Testament Christian literature in formats readable by blind and visually impaired individuals. ICBM currently distributes material for evangelism and edification in approximately 20 countries worldwide, including England, Malawi, Thailand, India, Australia, Bangladesh, Cuba, and the United States.

750 Main Street
Wheeling, WV 26003
304-232-4810
www.seeinghandassociation.com

The Seeing Hand Association, Inc. began services in 1936 and was incorporated in 1946 in Wheeling, WV. It serves citizens in Ohio and West Virginia.

The Seeing Hand offers a number of specialized services for blind and visually impaired individuals, including community education, advocacy, adaptive technology skills training, orientation and mobility training, job development, and a low vision clinic.

These services assist in meeting the identified needs of the individual while maintaining our core values of accountability, honesty, integrity, trust, teamwork, independence, personal and professional growth, dignity and self-esteem.

www.va.gov 
Contact the VA

The mission of the Veterans' Healthcare System (VHA) is to serve the needs of America's veterans by providing primary care, specialized care, and related medical and social support services. Approximately a quarter of the nation's population -- approximately 70 million people -- are potentially eligible for VA benefits and services because they are veterans, family members or survivors of veterans.

Facilities Locator Home Page: 
Use this search feature to locate VA facility-related information quickly and accurately.

Fact Sheets about VA Services:
Use this search feature to locate VA News Releases and Fact Sheets on topics that include health care and benefits.

Services for Blind and Visually Impaired Veterans:
The mission of the VA Blind Rehabilitation Service is to coordinate a healthcare service delivery system that provides a continuum of care for blinded veterans extending from their home environment to the local VA facility and to the appropriate rehabilitation setting.

Visual Impairment Service Team (VIST):
The Visual Impairment Service Team (VIST) Coordinator serves as the initial contact person for getting help with vision loss. VIST Coordinators are located at local VA Medical Centers across the country. They work to ensure that veterans with visual impairments receive appropriate benefits and services.

The VIST Coordinator is a case manager who has major responsibility for the coordination of all services for legally blind veterans and their families. Duties include providing and/or arranging for the provision of appropriate treatment plans and programs in order to enhance a blinded veteran's functioning level.

Other duties include identifying new cases of blindness, providing professional counseling, resolving problems, arranging annual healthcare reviews, and conducting education programs relating to blindness.

Services for blind and visually impaired veterans include:

• Orientation and Mobility
• Independent Living Skills
• Manual Skills
• Visual Skills and Low Vision Services
• Computer Access Training
• Physical Conditioning
• Recreation
• Adjustment to Blindness
• Family Program

P.O. Box 50890, State Capitol
Charleston, WV 25305-0890
800-642-8207 (Toll free)
304-766-4600
304-766-4690 (Fax)
www.wvdrs.org

Services for People Who are Blind and Visually Impaired
800-642-8207 (Toll free)
Office contacts: Contact Information

Programs and services include:

• Field Services: Individuals who want to work in an integrated job setting will meet with a rehabilitation counselor who has been specifically trained to provide services to meet their needs.
• Life Skills: The Life Skills Unit for the Blind provides individualized training in a variety of pre-vocational and vocational areas. Training includes orientation and mobility, adaptive communication, domestic arts, adaptive activities of daily living, computer training with access technology, and braille.
• Independent Living Services for Older Individuals: VISIONS (Visually Impaired Seniors In-home, Outreach, and Networking Services) provides comprehensive in-home independent living services to individuals age 55 and older who have significant vision loss.

Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center
Department of Ophthalmology
P.O. Box 9100
Morgantown, WV 26506-9100
304-598-6925
304-598-4820 (Appointments)
304-598-6928 (Fax)
www.hsc.wvu.edu/som/eye

Offers a full range of eye care services, including comprehensive eye exams, low vision services for adaptive devices, laser vision correction, and subspecialty medical and surgical treatment.

The Children’s Vision Rehabilitation Project provides comprehensive vision rehabilitation services to blind and visually impaired school-aged children throughout the state of West Virginia, regardless of ability to pay. The goal of the project is to provide children with tools to become independent and employable by optimizing visual function both at home and school.