Achievements

1952:
Established the first Community Mobility Program to teach travel skills to blind people in their homes.
1954:
Established the first Residential Rehabilitation Program in the United States for newly blinded civilians.
1961:
Little Brown, Inc., publishes Blindness, What it is, What it Does and How to Live with it, by Thomas J. Carroll.
1965:
Established St. Raphael’s Geriatric Center, the first residential center to deal with the problems of aging and blindness.
1976:
Established the Low Vision Clinic to assist individuals who are not totally blind to utilize remaining eyesight.
1978:
Established the Outdoor Enrichment Program (OEP) to teach adaptive techniques for participating in outdoor sports and recreation.
1983:
Established Project Cable, the first of three adaptive computer training programs for blind persons in the U.S.
1985:
Established the Youth-in-Transition Program for blind teenagers to learn independent living skills beyond home and school environments.
1987:
Established the International Exchange Program to provide advanced training for teachers and administrators serving the blind throughout the world.
1988:
Established the Vision Use in Employment Program to help employees suffering vision loss to retain their jobs.
1991:
Established Job Training Program, including Medical Transcription, Customer Service and Telemarketing modules.
1992:
The Carroll Center’s SailBlind team represented the United States against seven nations in the first World Blind Sailing Championship in Auckland, New Zealand.
1993:
Educational Services added to Carroll Center services, providing educational support to blind children in their schools.
1994:
Established Employment services, including job placement.
1995:
Established the Rosemary Sen Technical Enterprise Fund, whose mission is to provide technology to blind people in the form of “smart devices” for travel.
1996:
The Carroll Center was presented with the management of the Vision Resource Library, producing Braille and large print text book for visually impaired/blind children in K-12 (in Massachusetts).
1997:
The Vision Rehabilitation Services of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, in cooperation with the Carroll Center, established a satellite office on the Carroll Center premises.
1998:
Re-designed the Work Evaluation Program. Established a rehabilitation engineering service for adaptive hardware, software for school, work and home.
1999:
Developed internships as part of the Job Market Preparation Program for rehabilitation clients to get work experience.
2001:
The Carroll Center launches it’s first Distance Learning classes at our new Satellite Training Centers at Holyoke Community College and Worcester Senior Net.
2002:
The Carroll Center begins the first worldwide effort to provide accessible technology training to all blind persons with the opening of new Technology Center