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History of Miami Lighthouse
Highlights of Current Miami Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Programs
Founded in 1931 as the Florida Association of Workers for the Blind, Miami
Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired has changed more than just
its name during its 85-year history as Florida’s premier rehabilitation
organization of serving the blind. Miami Lighthouse now serves nearly
15,000 people each year and reaches and additional 3,300 through community
education and outreach programs. With the merger of the Miami Dade
Optometric Physicians Association’s Dr. Bruce Heiken Memorial Fund in
2007, the mission was expanded to include comprehensive eye exams and
prescription glasses for underserved schoolchildren throughout Florida
using our fleet of mobile eye care units and network of optometrists.
Innovative new programs for all ages have empowered a wider range of
people ranging from mothers’ play days with their blind toddlers to adult
education/GED and ESOL classes for adults offered in collaboration with
Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Health monitoring, arts and recreation
are offered daily to visually impaired seniors as part of a Miami-Dade
County and Florida Division of Blind Services elder care program. As the
recipient of one of the highly coveted Florida Blue Foundation Sapphire
Awards for innovation in health care, Miami Lighthouse was invited to
apply for and was subsequently awarded their “Advance Innovation and
Promote Solutions in the Health Care System” grant which provides low
vision assessments at senior centers throughout Miami-Dade and Monroe
Counties, continuing education for health care professionals working with
seniors affected by age-related eye disease and an expanded internship
program with Florida International University building upon other academic
collaborations throughout the United States. Its nationally recognized
music inclusion program with its state-of-the-art sound studio prepares
students for higher education and employment in the mainstream music
industry. Changing focus from its original sheltered workshop model, the
Miami Lighthouse for the Blind has built a strong job readiness training
program to prepare its clients for competitive, integrated employment.
With a priority for early learning, this fall Miami Lighthouse launched
its pre-kindergarten pilot program for visually impaired children and
their sighted peers, and construction has begun on our new Lighthouse
Learning Center for Children™. To view building progress, please visit the
“Learning Center Contraction” tab. Adjacent to our main building and
slated to open fall semester 2017, this new facility will have five
classrooms for blind and visually impaired children from birth to age
five. Our goal is to level the academic playing when these visually
impaired children enter the school system with their sighted peers.
In the 1950s, Miami Lighthouse donated nearly a half million dollars as
seed money for Bascom Palmer Eye Institute and signed over land to the
University of Miami School of Medicine. The collaboration with the Bascom
Palmer Eye Institute continues today. Recently, Bascom Palmer and Second
Sight in collaboration with Miami Lighthouse’s Certified Low Vision
Rehabilitation Therapist and a Certified Orientation and Mobility
Specialist designed and implemented the rehabilitation protocol for
Florida’s first Argus II artificial retinal implant recipient, which will
be replicated with subsequent patients.
To explore the current vision rehabilitation programs offered by Miami
Lighthouse, please go to the “Services
and Programs” tab.
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