National Rehabilitation Center for the Blind

The institution provides basic rehabilitation and vocational training of visually impaired people from the whole country. The team of NRCB consists of highly qualified trainers, specialist teachers and psychologists. All teachers have passed different stages of special training in Bulgaria, England, the Netherlands, Sweden, Russia and the USA. The team permanently adds to its experience by means of personnel exchange with related organizations from Germany, Italy, Finland, France, Poland and other EU countries.

The activities on the basic rehabilitation are directed at rehabilitating the person’s social functions with the purpose of optimum accomplishing a self-dependent life.

In 2006 the NRCB got a license for providing vocational training of visually impaired people in 10 professions – text processing, office secretary, programming, social activities, hand-made knitting, cosmetics, upholstery, floriculture, planting, tuning. NRCB has got also a license for an ECDL training and test center.

The institution works actively with parents and relatives of visually impaired people; it is a base for holding current practice and pregraduating practice of the students from the “Social pedagogic” and “Special pedagogic” specialties of the Plovdiv and Sofia universities. Instructors in basic rehabilitation are prepared at the NRCB for the needs of the Municipalities of Bulgaria, the UBB and non- governmental organizations from the country. The NRCB is a consultant of the local authorities when opening day-time rehabilitation centers for visually impaired people.