Abuse of Visually Impaired People on The Rise

The number of visually impaired adults being abused in Newcastle has risen “dramatically”, according to a charity.

Newcastle Society for Blind People said its number of suspected cases of abuse had almost trebled in two years.

The charity said that it was having to refer at least one person a week, mostly on suspicion of psychological or financial abuse.

Newcastle City Council said the increase could be partly due to increased staff training to spot it.

Lilian Avison, from Newcastle, had £10,000 stolen from her by a bank cashier.

She said: “Bank statements stopped coming for my savings account and when I inquired I found out I did get a statement, and there was £10,000 taken from my account.

Newcastle Society for Blind People helps victims of abuse

“The person at the bank had taken it and had forged my signature.

“The person was dismissed straight away and my money was recovered.

“They knew my situation though and that I was visually impaired and every time I went into the bank they’d say, ‘come over here Lilian, I’ll deal with it’.”

In 2007, the charity referred 23 cases of suspected abuse to adult services, but in 2008 that number had reached 64.

‘Mind-boggling’

The charity has predicted that there will be another increase for 2009, based on its figures for the year so far.

Heather Niven, head of Newcastle Society for Blind People, said: “It’s mind-boggling that this abuse is taking place, it’s hard to accept this is happening.

“It’s not just a problem in Newcastle, it happens all over the country, but we’re the only local society that’s been asked to take part in national research by Comic Relief to plan national strategies for dealing with the problem.”

Margaret Lester, safeguarding adults co-ordinator for Newcastle City Council, said: “We expected an increase in referrals, which is partly due to better awareness of our citizens that abuse is wrong and that there is help to ensure that this stops.

“The increase is also due to increased training offered to all staff across the city in all services.”

According to the RNIB, there are 6,900 people registered as partially sighted or blind living in the Newcastle, Gateshead, North of Tyne, South of Tyne and Sunderland areas.