A project “Expanding the Center VIP Activities” begins on May 2018 at NRCB. The project is funded by the “Equal chances” procedure under the “Human resources development” Operational Programme of the EU.

The project is aimed at satisfying the needs of the visually impaired people of social contacts and rehabilitation; motivation for better employability; support access to employment; empathy of society for their problems; synergy between institutions; offering innovative and quality services, training and counseling; actions to improve prevention and access to healthcare.

The aim of the project is to create prerequisites for active social inclusion of people with visual impairments.

Activities include two information campaigns, "Happy Eyes", for screening children’s vision in kindergartens and "Living with Diabetes" - aimed at visually impaired diabetic patients.

Persons with visual impairments included in the project will have access to health, social, legal and psychological counseling as well as various rehabilitation services.

Consultations on vocational guidance and the labor market will be offered to integrated students, their families and resource teachers.

Local initiatives are planned to organize the free time of visually impaired people - creating a discussion club and organizing meetings and events.

The expected result is the prerequisites for active inclusion of visually impaired people, equal opportunities for participation in social processes and the potential for better employability.

Basic computer skills training course was held from April 2018 at NRCB. The duration of the course was 4 weeks.

In it, the students were introduced to the basics of computer literacy, acquired initial skills and knowledge of Windows and some basic programs. In their work, they used a speaking software and keyboard combination shortcuts.

They learned to work with files and folders, organize and manage, copy, move, and delete them. Subsequently, they also became acquainted with programs for playing music and movies, checking e-mails, creating and sending messages, Skype and Balabolka.

Lessons increased the activity of the  learners, many questions were asked, spontaneously a file containing the key combinations and other useful data was created.

On June 12, 2018, the NRCB Plovdiv took part in a discussion, part of the Workshop "Accessible Museum", organized by the Regional Archaeological Museum. The theme of the seminar was the museum as a social and educational space for visitors with disabilities and additional needs - social, psychological and physical prerequisites for interaction in the museum environment.

It was attended by representatives of organizations for and for people with disabilities, lecturers at Plovdiv University, representatives of museums and other cultural institutions.

The discussion was devoted to seeking ways to improve communication and to find practical solutions together with representatives of specialized resource centers and schools for people with special needs.

On our part, we discussed the specific needs of visually impaired people in museums and galleries, the approaches to presenting the exhibits in a way accessible to them, as well as strategies to provoke their interest in visits to museums.

workshop1„The Union of the Blind Bulgaria and the National Rehabilitation Center for the Blind Plovdiv organized a workshop about daily living skills for VIP. It was held from 5 to 8.06.2018 at "Pop Hariton" Holiday House, Dryanovo.

In the training CSRI for people with visual impairments in Sofia, Pernik, Shumen, Gabrovo, Varna, Burgas, Rousse took part. Each center had in its group a visually impaired person - a consumer. workshop2The main topics of the seminar were updating of the programs of useful skills and orientation and mobility, presentation of opportunities for enrichment of the useful skills program through implementation of platforms developed on European projects, discussion of methods and strategies in daily, social and general knowledge skills, as well as the use of special technical equipment and cooking. Prof. Vladimir Radulov presented a lecture on the novelties in the teaching of social skills of visually impaired people. CSRI users participated in a competition for cooking skills where they showed their creativity and dexterity and exchanged interesting recipes, traditional for each region.

The large-scale action of the National Rehabilitation Center for the Blind continues with the Lions clubs Evridika, Plovdiv and Plovdiv - Philippopolis It is dedicated to prevention eye examinations in the Plovdiv kindergartens. More than 400 children at the age of 6 are to be covered in all 8 kindergartens in the territory of Trakia region.