About Us

Tranforming Lives of the Visually Impaired through Innovative Assistive technology Solutions

Young,Black,Visually,Impaired,Man,Sitting,On,Bench,In,City

Cheerful,Blind,Man,Holding,Book,And,Stroking,Assistance,Dog,,Enjoying

Blind,Business,Man,As,A,Speaker,Or,Life,Coach,At

Our Story

LBLF’s story begins with the realization that there was a huge problem in getting affordable innovative assistive technology (AT) solutions into the hands of the Visually Impaired and getting companies to innovate for this community.

LBLF’s SOLUTION:

(1) Providing individual grants to the Visually Impaired, making innovative AT solutions affordable.

(2) Providing targeted grants to companies or organizations involved in innovative AT for the Visually Impaired.

(3) Providing grants and collaborative engagement with organizations focused on training the Visually Impaired to become employable.

In a capitalist (for profit) economy, innovation rarely occurs unless there is an anticipated positive Return on Investment (ROI). The only alternative is Government or non-profit intervention. (Anonymous)

DID YOU KNOW:

Less than 8% of the U.S. population is Visually Impaired (about 20 million people).

Less than 7.8% of the world’s population (about 49.1 million people) are living with some form of Visual Impairment.

Only 44% of the U.S. blind or visually impaired population are employed, compared with 79% of those without disabilities.

About 89% of the world’s Visually Impaired live in low to middle income countries.

BOTTOM LINE:

Many Visually Impaired cannot financially afford to individually purchase any technology, leaving them to only accept whatever the Government or non-profit organizations provide.

Secondly, there is little to no incentive for a company to innovate for the Visually Impaired as they are a finite customer base, and ROI is a high-risk proposition.

Lastly, a large percentage of the Visually Impaired community is unemployed.