Organisations
Institutions that grew alongside him.
Three were founded within Roberts's lifetime; one began within a year of his death. Each is listed under its current official name.
1838
Royal Society for Blind Children
London Society for Teaching the Blind to Read
Thomas Lucas’s society for literacy and education. Its history also records the former name Royal Blind Society — so a reference to “the Blind Society” must be pinned down before it is named or linked.
1868
RNIB
British and Foreign Society for Improving the Embossed Literature of the Blind
Founded by Thomas Rhodes Armitage on 16 October 1868 to widen access to reading. Its archive holds artefacts and documents of blind and partially sighted life in the UK.
1915
Blind Veterans UK
Blinded Soldiers and Sailors Care Committee · St Dunstan’s
Founded by Sir Arthur Pearson the year after Roberts’s death, in answer to wartime sight loss. Rehabilitation, practical support, community and peer connection.
1931
Guide Dogs
Guide Dogs for the Blind Association (1934)
The first four British partnerships qualified in October 1931. One mobility choice alongside the long cane, sighted guiding, mobility training and accessible design.
The wider landscape includes NHS low-vision services and eye hospitals, local sight-loss charities, professional bodies, talking-book services, mobility training, employment and education support, sport, the arts and disability rights groups. Availability differs by nation and region; a full directory will be dated and routinely reviewed.