MAB Community Services began in 1970, when three elderly women were denied services by existing blindness agencies because they were not legally blind. They began meeting, to share coping mechanisms and personal support, and soon learned that their unmet needs were shared by many who were falling through the cracks of the health-care delivery system--roughly three times as many people suffer from serious sight loss as are legally blind. To address this demand MAB Community Services incorporated in 1976.

In 1996, with 10 full-time and 3 part-time staff, and 50 peer volunteers, they served over 5,000 visually impaired people, including: 600 in 33 support groups across Massachusetts; 1251 who received and were taught how to use specialized telephone equipment under a contract with NYNEX; 21 people with AIDS needing in-home services, and over 1,000 who received information on AIDS-related sight loss; and over 100 elderly in a Buddy Telephone Network; they answered 16,750 requests for services and information, and initiated 9,831 support calls in an outreach effort. And counting....

The challenge is obviously large and growing. There are over 30,000 visually impaired people in Greater Boston; 78%--a ratio that is increasing--of new registrants with the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind are over 65 years of age; 4 out of the 5 main causes of blindness--cataracts, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and macular degeneration--are directly related to the aging process.