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The Royal London Society for the Blind (RLSB) exists to provide the highest quality education, training, support and employment services for blind and partially sighted people in order to promote their inclusion in society.
The RLSB provides specialist Nursery, School and College facilities at the Society’s headquarters near Sevenoaks, Kent whilst our engineering factory and Employment Services are based in London.
Dorton House School (DHS): Pupils at DHS follow the full National Curriculum as well as specialist subjects such as Braille, Technology and Mobility. Children benefit from specialist teaching and resources and individually tailored education plans, ensuring that each one reaches his or her potential.
Within the school we also provide a Nursery for infants who are blind or partially sighted and may have additional disabilities.
Dorton College of Further Education: Blind or partially sighted students are able to choose from an extended range of courses thanks to our links with 3 mainstream colleges.
Workbridge: Our employment scheme was set up to decrease the high level of employment amongst blind and partially sighted people. Practical support with job-seeking, specialist IT equipment loan to employers and sustained awareness programmes are combined to get more blind or partially sighted people into today’s workplace.
Industrial Services: The RLSB runs an engineering factory in North London where blind or partially sighted people produce high quality goods for a number of corporate customers.
Visit: www.rlsb.org.uk
or call (01732) 592500
CASE STUDY
Living independently and learning everyday life skills are essential aspects of the Adult Learning Programme at Dorton College of Further Education (DCFE). Partially sighted adult student John Bull discusses his experience of Life Skills Training and his time in the Adult Residential Unit:
“Living independently and taking part in the Life Skills Training that is on offer at DCFE has helped me to broaden my horizons and gain a number of skills that are useful in my day-to-day life.
At the beginning of my programme I arranged a weekly session with my Life Skills Tutor and started by doing some training in household tasks including cleaning, hoovering and ironing. I was able to learn new skills that were particularly relevant to people with sight problems: for the first time I could use an iron correctly and safely without ruining my shirts!
Having got to grips with some household tasks I was ready to move on to some cooking, starting with basic meals like beans on toast and poached egg. It is amazing how far I have come in a short space of time: I am now preparing three course meals for the rest of the adult students - my vegetable casserole and apple crumble are particular favorites!”
Whilst the Life Skills element in John’s programme has clearly been beneficial to him, he recognizes that simply living independently has given him a different perspective on a number of everyday tasks, such as shopping: “I never realized how many items needed to be bought on a weekly basis, particularly when you are shopping for a group of people. Now that I have been here a while I complete the weekly shopping list myself: I make sure that we have enough bread and milk in the Adult Unit and that the freezer is well stocked!”
