Rehabilitation Services

If you are looking for rehabilitation services, the best place to locate your nearest rehabilitation center is the AFB website: http://www.afb.org/services.asp. If you would like to learn more about what a rehabilitation center does, then read on.

A rehabilitation center is a place where a blind or visually impaired adult can go to learn the skills they need in order to live independently. Other services are also usually offered, such as counseling or vocational training.

The most important skills needed to live independently are Orientation and Mobility skills. These are the skills that let you know where you are and allow you to navigate effectively from one place to another.

Other services that a rehab center provides are:

• Communication skills: alternate communication options such as braille, digital or tape recorder use, handwriting guides.
• Manual skills: develop tactual perception and hand-to-foot coordination.
• Day-to-day activities: personal management, home management, meal preparation, cleaning techniques.
• Computer training: how to operate a computer and specialized software such as screen readers.
• Visual skills: training to maximize the use of any remaining vision.

Each person comes to the Center with a different set of needs and proficiencies. Tests are given to assess these things. Once an individual's skills and requirements have been determined, a unique curriculum is devised to teach that person the skills that they need.

National Rehabilitation Information Center

Welcome to the NARIC Web site, a gateway to an abundance of disability- and rehabilitation-oriented information organized in a variety of formats designed to make it easy for users to find and use. For the past 25 years NARIC staff members have been dedicated to providing direct, personal, and high-quality information services to anyone throughout the country. As a leader in providing interactive information to the disability and rehabilitation community, NARIC's Web site continues this tradition by putting the information into the hands of the users through online publications, searchable databases, and timely reference and referral data.

NARIC began as a small collection of research reports housed in a one-room office at Catholic University. The core mission of the Center is to collect and disseminate the results of research funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR). Over a quarter of a century, that mission has expanded to providing information services and document delivery to the disability and rehabilitation communities across the United States.

There are more than 75,000 resources collected on this site, including organizations, agencies, Internet resources, reports, and research projects. Use the list to find resources targeted to your information needs.

Click this link to visit the National Rehabilitation Information Center: http://www.naric.com.