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Causes: Eye Diseases, Blindness & Vision Impairments, Health
Mission: Reduce or eliminate daily living problems imposed by blindness or severe visual impairment
Target demographics: those who are blind or visually impaired adjust to their vision loss and manage selected daily living activities independently by the provision of the direct services of therapeutic casework, vision rehabilitation therapy, orientation and mobility instruction, low vision training, and support services.
Direct beneficiaries per year: over 1,500 individuals
Geographic areas served: Charlotte, North Carolina and surrounding counties
Programs:
- Case Management: Services are offered on an individualized basis to each client. This service is ongoing and provided to meet the changing needs in a clients life as he or she adjusts to vision loss.
-Counseling: Services are offered by client request for either individual or family sessions from their case manager. These services are especially helpful when a client is experiencing difficulty with the emotional adjustment to their vision loss.
-Low Vision: Our services are personalized and comprehensive, allowing patients to receive low vision clinical exams including counseling on specific eye conditions, detailed explanations of eye reports and updating eye glass prescriptions to better fit low vision needs. Our services are offered by our two in-house optometrists.
-Orientation and Mobility: Orientation and Mobility specialists assist clients in learning how to move safely and independently throughout the community in a one-on-one basis. Training consists of sidewalk travel, street crossings and utilizing public transportation as well as white cane instruction.
-Rehabilitation: These services aim to enable those with blindness and visual impairment adjust to their vision loss and manage daily living activities independently. Our Assistive Technology department consults clients on choosing the best technology to fit their personal needs. Programs that are currently taught include JAWS (screen reader), Dolphin Guide (simplifies computer use for the visually impaired) and iOS (Apple operating system for iPhone and iPad).
-Transportation: In addition to public transportation, MAB provides transportation services for medical appointments, business and shopping trips. Transportation is provided 7 days/week with limited availability on the weekends in Mecklenburg, Union, and Cabarrus counties.