RNIB ditches white stick logo because 'we're not just for the blind'
The Royal National Institute for the Blind is dropping its distinctive logo because it says it suggests the charity is only for blind people.
At the same time, its familiar slogan - 'helping you live with sight loss' - will switch to 'supporting blind and partially sighted people'.
The 139-year-old organisation is also changing its name to the Royal National Institute of Blind People.
The decision to abandon its traditional aims in favour of political campaigning and lobbying to improve public awareness has prompted criticism.
The Tory MP for Monmouth, David Davies, said:
"The RNIB is going the same way as several other charities by seeking to turn itself into an offshoot of the lobbying industry.
"Instead of having lunch with MPs and organising conferences, it should be performing the extremely important task of looking after blind people and opening educational and training centres for them."
Senior RNIB staff say the changes are aimed at distancing the organisation from the era of Victorian philanthropy in which it was founded.
Chief executive Lesley-Anne Alexander defended the move, saying: "The badge we always use - the logo with the man with the white cane - very much identifies the RNIB as an organisation just for blind people.
"Actually, our royal charter is very clear - we are here to prevent avoidable sight loss and to improve the UK for blind and partially sighted people.
"Yet we have a logo that very much identifies us at a glance as an organisation that is for blind people who use a white cane. The man with the white cane is going."
The charity, which has an annual budget of £92million, is also launching a series of politically sensitive campaigns for better job opportunities for the visually impaired and for a rise in the blind person's mobility allowance from £16.50 to £43 a week.
"There is a political dimension to whatever the RNIB does, but there is a service dimension as well," Miss Alexander said.
The new logo, which is still at the design stage, will keep the letters RNIB but will be restyled to give it more 'movement and lift'.
The RNIB was founded in 1868 by Thomas Rhodes Armitage, a doctor forced by failing eyesight to retire in his mid-30s.
Originally called the British and Foreign Society for Improving Embossed Literature for the Blind, it researched all forms of touch-sensitive writing before deciding to promote Braille.
The charity's current overhaul follows a decision to bar students with other disabilities from one of its further education colleges, leaving 38 without a place and making more than 100 specialist staff redundant.
