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Welcome to the NFB of North Carolina

The National Federation of the Blind of North Carolina is the leading advocate of the blind and visually impaired within North Carolina and is an affiliate of the National Federation of the Blind based in Baltimore, Maryland.
The NFB of North Carolina complies with the programs outlined by the National office and is dedicated to supporting the efforts of the NFB in all endeavors and is proud to adopt and work to achieve the goals outlined by the National Federation of the Blind.

Our History

It is estimated that about 1.1 million people in the U.S. are blind. Each year 50,000 more will become blind. Studies show that only AIDS and cancer are feared more than blindness. However, blindness need not be the tragedy which it is generally thought to be. In the NFB we say, “The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight, but the misunderstanding and lack of information which exist.”
​Founded in 1940, the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) is the nation's largest and most influential membership organization of Blind persons. With more than fifty thousand members, the NFB has affiliates in all fifty states plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico, and over seven hundred local chapters. As a consumer and advocacy organization, the NFB is considered the leading force in the blindness field today.

Our Objectives

The purpose of the National Federation of the Blind is two-fold—to help blind persons achieve self-confidence and self-respect and to act as a vehicle for collective self-expression by the blind. By providing public education about:

Blindness

Scholarship

• information and referral services
• literature and publications about blindness
• ​aids and appliances and other adaptive equipment for the blind
  

• ​advocacy services and protection of civil rights
• development and evaluation of technology
• support for blind persons and their families

Special Services of the National Federation of the Blind

independence Market
containing over eleven hundred pieces of literature about blindness and four hundred different aids and appliances used by the blind and the International Braille and Technology Center for the Blind is the world's largest and most complete evaluation and demonstration center for all speech and Braille technology used by the blind from around the world.

​NFB-NEWSLINE®
For the Blind, the world's first free talking newspaper service, offers the blind the complete text of leading national and local newspapers with the use of only a touch-tone telephone.
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Publications of the NFB include:

• Braille Monitor, which provides a positive philosophy about blindness and discusses events and activities of the Federation and in the blindness field and
• Future Reflections. A publication of the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children. A Division of the NFB. 
• Voice of the Diabetic focuses on special interests and needs of diabetics and is a publication of the Diabetes Action Network, also a Division of the National Federation of the Blind.

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Special Announcements 

The Wilson Special Collections Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill invites members of the 
National Federation of the Blind of North Carolina to the opening of the new tactile exhibit, North Carolina on 
the Move.  The exhibit is based on William Dewey Cooke's New Map of North Carolina, published in 1857.  Cooke
was the founder of what is now known as the Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh.  Other tactile
items will be displayed.  The event and a small reception will be held in the North Carolina Collection Gallery on
March 21, 2023, from 5:00 to 6:30

"Build a future for the blind"