A Rich History
“From the Royal WA Institute for the Blind to Senses Foundation”
Senses Foundation is an organisation which has its origins over 100 years ago as the Royal WA Institute for the Blind, starting in 1895. As that organisation it provided schooling, employment and accommodation to people who were blind. Many people will be aware of the building on Guildford Road Maylands which provided housing for the children who attended the Blind School also on that site. People will also be aware of the Heritage Building and the warehouses on Whatley Crescent in Maylands which were the cane and brush-ware factories.
Over the years, due to people involved with the Royal WA Institute for the Blind and many others, things have changed overwhelmingly for people who are blind. Children who are blind attend mainstream school. This means that there is no need for either a blind school or accommodation for the children who attend such a school.
Now people who are blind work in open employment in fact it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of disability. People who are blind are doctors and lawyers and teachers and physiotherapists and everything in between. Therefore there is no longer a need for all people who are blind to be employed on one site making cane baskets and brushes. People who are blind live in the community alongside all of us and there is no longer a need for specialized accommodation to be located on one site.
So clearly the Royal WA Institute for the Blind needed to change.
At the same time as these changes were occurring, pre term babies were surviving as a result of advances in medical technology. Many of these children had disabilities of both vision and hearing. These children were living into adult hood and old age.
People who were blind but who also had other disabilities, necessitating support for their schooling, employment and accommodation, were being encouraged to live in the community and access community based organisations rather than being in Government run institutions.
So whilst our original client base was dwindling – for very good and positive reasons, two new groups of people were coming forward in need of services and support. These were people who were blind and had additional disabilities which stopped them moving unsupported into the community. Or they were blind and deaf – meaning that they were very disabled in their ability to communicate and participate in the community. A support group was formed which became the WA Deafblind Association.
It was the amalgamation of the WA Deafblind Association and the Royal WA Institute for the Blind that created Senses Foundation in 2001.
