A short history of KAB

On 22nd June 1920, the Kent County Association for the Blind was created to support servicemen whose sight had been damaged during the First World War. Ninety years on our services are used by over 15,500 people in Kent, Medway, Bromley and Bexley.

During the Great War many servicemen are blinded by bomb blasts and the effects of mustard gas. Returning to Britain these men cannot work and many of them must resort to begging simply to feed and clothe themselves.

British soldiers blinded by mustard gas

Kent County Council's response to the Act is to hold a meeting at the Council Chamber in Maidstone on June 22 1920. The meeting, chaired by the Mayor of Maidstone, agrees to bring together the various voluntary groups that have evolved to provide some support for sight impaired people in the county to create the Kent County Association for the Blind.

• The population of Kent in June 1921 was 1.1m
• Today it is 2.1m - an increase of 90%
• The number of people on KCAB's register in 1921 was 0.08% of the total population of Kent
• Today it is 0.7% - an increase of 775%

During the 1920s and 30s, Kent County Association for the Blind is highly active and shows great initiative in developing what later becomes in 1935 the Home Teacher Service - the forerunner of today's Rehabilitation service.

KAB club outing; c.1937

The service aims to help people to develop skills for work (predominantly crafts skills), and to teach tactile communication such as the use of Braille or Moon for reading and writing, as well as basic independent mobility skills. By 1946 there would be 13 Home Teachers.

"It is the duty of the Home Teachers to assist newly blinded people to preserve or regain their self-respect, and by no means to suggest to them that henceforth they are merely objects of charity, only to be pitied." Annual Report, 1946

World War 2 from KAB's Annual Reports

An early KAB project for children A bombed street in Maidstone.

"The eleven Home Teachers have carried on successfully the work of visiting and teaching the blind in most difficult circumstances, first during the winter of severe cold and later, especially in the coastal zone, through constant air raids and bombardments." 1940

"The war has brought its tragedies to many blind people uprooted from their homes, evacuated to strange places, and some [...] have
lost their all. Such cases are receiving daily care and attention of the Association." 1941

"Like most people in the County we were lulled into a sense of security which was sharply disturbed by the arrival of the Flying Bombs [...] It is feared that as the result of eye injuries caused by broken glass, there may be many unfortunate victims of this latest dastardly act of the enemy who will lose their sight." 1944

"The Kent County Association for the Blind presents its 25th Annual Report with profound thankfulness that it has survived the ravages of war. A few of our blind friends were injured and more were bombed out of their homes, but not a single one was killed as a result of enemy action, which is all the more remarkable since a large number in the more vulnerable areas of the County refused to take advantage of the arrangements for their evacuation." 1945

1945: With the conclusion of the Second World War it is agreed that Home Teachers shall be directly funded by local authorities, although they continue to work under the authority of KCAB. In some areas of the country this move towards funding by local authorities leads to a standardisation of services with Home Teaching being undertaken by Health Visitors. The result is that the service becomes generic and less able to respond to the specialised needs of people with sight impairments. Kent however is fortunate in that there will be no dilution of its service.

"Crafts taught by the Home Teaching Service include basketry, seagrass stools, rugs, wax flower making, raffia work and knitting." Annual Report 1946

1946: The Ogden Home for Blind People in Ramsgate is officially opened by Sir Edward Hardy, then KCAB President. Residential homes, viewed as a progressive initiative, are considered an ideal environment for older people with sight impairments.

"We wanted [the Home] to represent a step forward from the type of Home which could really only be regarded as little more than a superior institution. We wanted a Home that would really be a Home for the residents, where there would be few restrictions and a great deal of privacy, and this we believed is what Kent people wanted [...] Well it is here! And there are already 35 persons in possession." Annual Report 1947

1959 Merrell Holiday Hotel in Cliftonville opens. The cost of establishing the home was £13,500, £8,044 of which was provided by donations. The Home is established to provide holidays for people with sight impairments. Number of Registrations: 3,258.

"I would like to thank you on behalf of my parents for the wonderful holiday they have had at your Margate Holiday Home. My parents are still speaking [...] of the care, love, and thought, concerning these blind people, good food and plenty, cleanliness of the Home and every consideration given to these old people." Annual Report 1960

In 1994 the Conservative Government's new ‘Care in the Community' policy and the subsequent move away from the concept of residential care will result in the closure of the Ogden and the Merrell Holiday Homes with resources being directed towards the development of a comprehensive region-wide rehabilitation service.

1965 Bexley and Bromley become London boroughs and KCAB changes its name to Kent Association for the Blind. Number of Registrations: 3,662.

"Certain consternation was expressed by blind people living [in Bexley and Bromley] that they would be abandoned by the Association. I am happy to report that the change was achieved without disruption of services." Annual Report 1966

The Home Teaching Service now comprises elements of social care, Braille and the Moon alphabet (another embossed print common at the time) mobility training and crafts. Home Teachers, who have to be qualified to gain a permanent post, are responsible for all registrations. They also take responsibility for setting-up clubs when a need for one is identified.

During the 1960s, it was not uncommon for a team of two Home Teachers to be responsible for as many as 600 service users, working across an area from Tenterden to Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge.

1975 Kent Talking Newspapers is launched to provide a service "... for those who by choice or otherwise (principally age and other infirmities) cannot share the fellowship of KAB Club activities" (KAB Annual Report). It starts in Maidstone and is followed in the same year by editions in Gravesend, the Medway towns and Folkestone. Production is time-consuming with cassette copies being created using a Telex Copier. 800 people receive cassettes each week.

By 2010 all 14 editions of the service will have been digitalised with MP3, CD and USB formats replacing cassettes. Compared with cassettes, these formats are easier to duplicate, can hold much more information and are cheaper to send out to our 2,000 weekly listeners. Number of Registrations: 4,162.

Read about Kent Talking News today.

Development of Rehab services in the 1980s: The mid 1980s heralds the start of a period of significant growth in service development. KAB works with local authorities to identify and meet significant gaps in services.

"It requires no words of mine to indicate the economic pattern which has been affecting many of us, blind and sighted alike, bringing massive unemployment in its wake; and yet, through all these trying times, KAB has prospered, paying its way, providing for future needs and never for one moment being obliged to cut-back a penny from its services." Chairman's Report 1982

1987: Development of services for people with learning disabilities. In 1987 a specialist is appointed in conjunction with Maidstone Health Authority to work with sight-impaired people who also have learning disabilities. It has been demonstrated through research published by KAB that a third of people who have a learning disability are likely to have significant sight loss.

By 2010, all KAB's Rehab teams will have a specialist Learning Disability Worker.

Find out more about sight impairments and people who have learning disabilities

1999: KAB's Guide Communicator Service is launched following a two-year research project that identified over 900 people with dual sensory impairment in the region. The service provides trained one-to-one enablers who support deafblind people to achieve their highest level of independence, helping to reduce isolation and risk.

Starting with a team of six Guide Communicators and eight service users, demand has been so great that in the last ten years 350 people have used the service. Today, there are 37 Guide Communicators providing 360 hours of support each week to 120 people.

Get in touch with KAB's Guide Communicator service.

10th anniversary of the Guide Communicator service; 2009

2001 The Information/Assistive Technology Service is established to meet the growing demand for specialist training in new types of magnification and speech software that are becoming available.

The AT training room at the Maidstone Sight Centre; 2010

By 2008, the service has been integrated into Rehab teams so that specialist IT/AT workers are able to pay home visits and use the same methods for assessment and support that have proved so successful for Rehab workers.

Today, the service is funded entirely by voluntary income and it has been extended to provide tuition and guidance in any kind of technology that has been created for people with sight impairments.

KAB's service provision expands with the creation in 2007 of the Bromley Sight Centre. The specialist Sight Centre at 72 College Road, Maidstone, was opened in 1993 by The Duke of Kent. The Tunbridge Wells Rehabilitation and Resource centre opened in 1994 followed by the Canterbury Sight Centre in 1997.

The establishment of the Bromley Sight Centre means KAB now provides a full registration and rehabilitation service for the entire region.

Make a donation to support KAB's services throughout the region