American Foundation For The Blind - History

History

AFB, with the support and leadership of M.C. Migel, a philanthropist who was moved to help the large number of veterans blinded in World War I, was formed in 1921 to provide a national clearing house for information about vision loss and a forum for discussion for the dispersed, yet burgeoning, community of blindness service professionals. Made official at the convention of the American Association of Workers for the Blind in Vinton, Iowa, AFB’s founding was also intended to generate new directions for research and represent the needs of people with vision loss in America’s corridors of power.

AFB’s early accomplishments include taking the lead to standardize the English braille code and establishing the first professional publications program for teachers and administrators of programs for people with vision loss. In 1926, AFB’s Directory of Services for Blind and Visually Impaired Persons — marketed as the most convenient, comprehensive, and reliable source of information on vision loss available — first appeared. The fact that the contents of this publication, now in its 27th edition in print and online, have exponentially increased since its inception, shows how far services for people with vision loss have come. Today, AFB continues to conduct trailblazing research and to provide comprehensive information on all aspects of vision loss to the general public. AFB Press is the largest publisher of scholarly works and research for vision loss service professionals.

From its outset, AFB also demonstrated a commitment to enhancing access to information for people with vision loss. In 1933, AFB engineers developed the first long-playing record and player, and set up studios for the recording of talking books. AFB played a major role in persuading the federal government to include talking books in the National Library System for blind people operated by the Library of Congress. Today, through Talking Book Productions, AFB remains the largest American producer of talking books, with state-of-the-art, fully digital recording studios in New York City. AFB has made significant forays into the commercial recording arena as well.

AFB's advocacy efforts have led to the passage of significant legislation for people with vision loss. AFB was instrumental in creating and passing the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and more recently worked on the renewal of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to ensure that it contained provisions to meet the specific needs of children with vision loss.

For many years, AFB designed, manufactured and sold products that were made specifically for people with vision loss, such as braille writers, magnifiers and audio blood pressure monitors. Currently, however, AFB devotes its energies to working with technology manufacturers at the design stage to develop products that can be used by everyone — sighted or visually impaired. Especially since the advent of digital technology, AFB believes that working to establish universal design practices among technology producers is the most promising and cost effective option for making all products accessible in the long term.