Raising Awareness & Advocacy

Our agency members are continually sought out by Florida legislators, like you, for input on issues affecting Floridians living with visual impairments. We are in daily contact with consumers —parents and family, individuals, and organizations such as the National Federation of the Blind, Blinded Veterans, and the American Council of the Blind— and together we determine lobbying and advocacy priorities that support their success in school, becoming competitive employees (and taxpayers), and living independently in old age.

Contact us to learn more about how you can partner with Florida to deliver a better quality of life for blind people, and a stronger economy for Florida.

Our partnership with policymakers passionate about advocacy on blindness helped pass laws such as the Blind Babies Bill of 1999 and Children’s Program funding in 2015, which provides 2 million dollars a year in additional services to children who are blind or visually impaired.

Our initiatives include:

1. Focusing on funding and policies as recommended by our member agencies and legislative partners.
2. Identifying other legislation affecting visually impaired Floridians and how our members can work to oppose or support it as needed.
3. Providing oversight of Executive Branch agencies involved in the prevention of vision loss or provision of services to visually impaired Floridians.

Eye care professionals can entrust their patients affected by vision loss to our nationally recognized model of comprehensive and professional vision rehabilitation services. Services are provided by certified vision rehabilitation professionals united with a purpose: to help your patients receive the comprehensive care they need. From fall prevention skills to effective use of remaining vision and proper medication administration— our instructors guide your patients to help them move beyond their vision loss issues.

Referral of patients with low vision for vision rehabilitation is the standard of care promoted by the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Please watch the video, at right, or learn more at www.aao.org/low-vision-and-vision-rehab.

Refer your patients with vision loss to our certified team of low vision therapists, vision rehabilitation therapists, and orientation and mobility specialists. It’s fast, easy and HIPAA compliant with www.VisionRefer.org.

• One-time registration of your practice.
• Secure submittal of patient’s name, date of birth, phone number and home address—plus optional notes.
• Your referral will automatically be routed to the vision rehabilitation agency serving that patient’s community for next business day contact of your patient and your office for an eye medical report, as well as scheduling of services.