Bermuda’s blind and the partially sighted have been given a financial boost with one of the lsland’s leading insurance/reinsurance companies donating thousands of dollars.

On behalf of Axis Specialty Ltd, Alice Cedenio presented a cheque to the Bermuda Society for the Blind for $7,500 which will help the organisation to continue providing programmes and services.

Ms Cedenio of the Axis Charity Committee, said: “We are delighted to help in this way. The society is the only organisation of its type in Bermuda and, as such, has a vital role to play in the community.

“We hope that this donation goes some way to helping them to continue the excellent work they do. AXIS is interested in helping the community in various ways so after reviewing their proposal we thought it would be a perfect fit.”

Axis has already helped island charities including Meals on Wheels, the 2016 Agricultural Show, and Open Airways, according to a company spokesman.

Amanda Marshall, the Society’s Board president, said about 2,500 Bermudians had vision problems, according to the 2010 Census, and of those more than 900 say loss of sight interferes with their ability to complete everyday tasks.

She added that the top five conditions that cause blindness and low vision in Bermuda, according to a 2009 National Survey, were diabetic retinopathy/hypertensive retinopathy, glaucoma, macular degeneration, cataracts and eye trauma due to accidents or violence.

“With an ageing population we expect the number of people who are affected by some degree of vision loss to increase so we are indebted to companies like Axis for their very generous support,” added Dr Marshall.

The Bermuda Society for the Blind began offering vision rehabilitation therapy programmes when Jane Charlton, a dual certified Vision Rehabilitation Therapist (CVRT) and Orientation and Mobility Specialist joined the team at the society.

The programmes assist persons with vision impairments achieve and retain their independence.