Dollond & Aitchison kick starts fundraising week for SeeAbility

Dollond & Aitchison will be holding a fundraising week in its branches between Monday 21 April and Saturday 26 April. This is part of its continuing pledge to raise £100,000 to support SeeAbility's eye 2 eye Campaign, which aims to improve eyecare and vision for people with learning difficulties.

To support SeeAbility, D&A The Opticians will be inviting customers into its Birmingham branches for a free glasses MOT. Customers will be able to have their glasses professionally cleaned and adjusted to ensure that they get the most benefit from wearing them.

There are an estimated 10,000 people with a learning disability living in Birmingham and around 4,000 will have a significant but undetected visual impairment which could put them at risk of going blind.  Many could lose their sight because they don't have regular and appropriate sight tests often leading to greater isolation.  SeeAbility's eye 2 eye Campaign helps people with a learning disability access specially-adapted eye tests and has vastly improved the quality of life for hundreds of people in Birmingham - many of whom were able to have their vision corrected with glasses after years of being unable to see properly.

John Garner, aged 32 from Small Heath in Birmingham has a mild to moderate learning disability and wanted to be able to travel independently on public transport, but was unable to due to visual impairment. His local eye 2 eye Community Development Officer helped John get  the appropriate eye test at D&A and having his sight impairment corrected with glasses has given him the independence he wanted.

SeeAbility enables people like John to realise opportunities, make choices, and increase their independence. Their work in Birmingham and other areas is made possible with the funds raised by D&A and their customers.

D&A's Chief Executive Andy Ferguson, comments: "D&A cares passionately about eye health and puts a lot of effort into fundraising activities. We are committed to providing an excellent service to all our customers and helping people like John enjoy life to the full. By raising awareness of such a worthy cause, we hope that our customers will visit our branches in Birmingham and help us to reach our fundraising target for SeeAbility."

Fundraising and Marketing Director at SeeAbility, Jayne McGann, comments: "Having the support of D&A is a real boost for us. It is imperative that people can access basic services such as eye health care as well as community inclusion. Support from D&A is making a big difference to the people we work with in Birmingham."