The Scottish National Institution For The War Blinded

• An entirely voluntary organisation
  
• Founded in 1915 to provide care and welfare to Scottish ex-servicemen and women blinded or visually impaired in the World Wars or subsequent conflicts
  
• Constitution changed in 1988 to enable assistance to be given to any person who has served in the armed forces and who now suffers a visual impairment
  
• Sheltered workshops and housing at Linburn.

The Objects of the Institution

The Scottish National Institution for the War Blinded is an entirely voluntary organisation which was founded in Edinburgh in 1915 with the object of caring for Scotland’s sailors, soldiers and airmen and women who were blinded in the service of their country as a result of the First World War. A training centre was opened subsequently and a similar establishment was set up in Glasgow in 1928.

In 1944, further arrangements were required for those Scots blinded in the Second World War, and Linburn, situated outside Edinburgh, was purchased as an expanded Training Centre where seven workshops were established to teach the men and women various craft skills working with wire, metal, wood, lampshade materials, plastics, cane and leather. Some were trained as physiotherapists and telephonists. Houses were built for the married men in the spacious grounds and a hostel, which incorporated a seven-bedded ward for those requiring medical attention, was established. ( The hostel facility no longer operates)

The Institution also caters for those blinded in subsequent conflicts, and in 1988 the Constitution was altered to enable assistance to be given to any person who has been a member of the Armed Forces and has suffered a visual impairment.

An After Care Department attends to the welfare and pension needs of our Scottish war blinded ex-servicemen and their widows and dependants.

The Institution has been able to carry out this work because of the extremely generous support over the years from the general public here and abroad