Wales Council of the Blind

Glossary Browser

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Befriending Service adult social care

A scheme whereby an individual is given support in the form of friendship, sometimes helping with shopping or simply being someone to talk to and to ensure the individual is happy and safe.

Behcet's Syndrome eye condition

A chronic condition caused by disturbances in the body's immune system and around 70% of patients will experience inflamation of the eye.

Best's disease eye condition

Best's disease, also known as Best's vitelliform macular dystrophy, is a hereditary form of progressive macular dystrophy first identified in 1905.

Birdshot uveitis eye condition

A form of uveitis where oval spots can be seen on the retina.

Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) adult social care

Terminology used in social care and other fields to refer to people from a Black and Minority Ethnic background.

Blepharitis (eyelid problems) eye condition

An inflamation of the eyelids which can make the eyes feel irritated or itchy, but rarely causes serious eye damage.

Blind Person's Tax Allowance benefits/concessions

If you're registered blind with the local council you can claim Blind Person's Allowance, which means you can get an extra amount of income tax-free each year. For the tax year 2012 to 2013, the allowance is £2,100. You can transfer your Blind Person's Allowance to your spouse or civil partner if you don't pay tax or use all of the allowance.

Blue Badge transport

A scheme allowing disabled people and their drivers to park close to where they need to go.

Blue Badge scheme benefits/concessions

The Blue Badge (Disabled Parking) Scheme operates throughout the UK. It is designed to help blind or disabled people to travel independently as either a driver or a passenger to allow them to park close to where they need to go.

Boccia health

Boccia is a precision ball sport, similar to bocce, and related to bowls and petanque. The name 'boccia' is derived from the Latin word for 'boss' - bottia. The sport is contested at local, national and international levels, by athletes with severe physical disabilities.

braille accessible media

A tactile writing system used by visually impaired people.

Braille display technology

A braille display is a line of cells, each with six or eight pins that move up and down to represent dots of a braille cell. The display is used to represent a line of text on the computer screen. It is also called an electronic, soft or refreshable braille display.

Braille embosser/printer technology

Braille embossers/printers produce braille output from a computer by punching dots onto paper. They connect to the computer in the same way as text printers but need special braille translation software, and can also be connected to notetakers and other devices.

Braille translation software technology

Used in conjunction with the braille embosser, braille translation software translates printed text into braille.

BT Basic telephone service benefits/concessions

BT Basic is a simple, low-cost telephone service that's easy to understand and helps you keep in touch, even if money is a bit tight. If you're on a low income, BT Basic lets you make and receive calls - and helps you manage how much you spend. You can usually get BT Basic if you're claiming one of these benefits: Income Support; Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance; Employment Support Allowance (Income related) or Pensions Credit (Guaranteed Credit). Note that there are restrictions on the calls you can make using this service.

Budget - Indicative adult social care

An Indicative Budget gives a rough idea of how much a Personal Budget will be.

Budget - Individual adult social care

An Individual Budget is money given to people for them to buy in the services or equipment they need to meet their assessed care needs. Individual budgets differ fromp ersonal budgets in that they pool funding resources from a variety of places, making the system easier to navigate. An Individual Budget can include a Personal Budget from a local authority as well as money from other sources, such as the Independent Living Fund (ILF) or Supporting People funding.

Budget - Managed adult social care

When a local authority looks after a person's Personal Budget, it is called a Managed Budget. The person still knows how much it amounts to and what it is being spent on, but they don't receive any actual monies.

Budgets - Personal adult social care

A Personal Budget is money which is allocated to someone by a local authority to pay for their assessed support or care needs. Personal Budgets are similar to Individual Budgets, but they are made up solely of local authority social care funding. Personal Budgets do not draw in any payments from other organisations outside of the local authority, so people would have to contact these organisations separately to receive additional support (for example, personal budgets do not include Supporting People Funding, which would need to be applied for separately). People can take their Personal Budget as a direct payment (choosing themselves how their care needs are met and by whom), leave councils with the responsibility to commission the services, or elect to have some combination of the two.

bus transport

Public transport via scheduled services on the road.