The National Association for the Blind, India (NAB) established in Mumbai on 19th January 1952, with its 22 State branches, 65 Districts branches & 11 Institutions for Blind Welfare, is the largest voluntary organization for the welfare of blind in India. NAB is espousing the cause of creating awareness in society about preventing and curing blindness. The association is rendering valuable service to the society by developing educational, vocational and employment services for the incurable blind children and adults through its vast network in the country. The activities of NAB include Movement for Prevention and Cure of Blindness, Education/Vocational Training, Employment/Rehabilitation, Care of multiple-handicapped Blind, Visually impaired Children and aged, Cyber Cafes for Blind, Braille and Talking centers. Requirements of both urban and rural blind have also been taken up by NAB, keeping in mind, the infrastructure and financial constraints.

NAB, Chandigarh was registered on 4th Feb., 1990 under Societies Registration Act of 1860. The sole object of chandigarh branch is to serve the neglected segments of blind welfare in Chandigarh i.e. for elderly, aging & newly blind men & women for whom no service is existed so far. It is dedicated to the upliftment of the quality of life of the visually challenged and integrating them with mainstream society.

The Word "Blind" includes people having complete loss of sight and very low vision. Legal Blindness is defined as visual acuity of not greater than 20/200 in the better eye with best correction or a visual field of less than 20 degrees. Legal Blindness can mean tunnel vision, no central vision, cloudy or extremely blurred vision, seeing just shadows, or no vision at all. As per the census 2001 results given by the Directorate of Census there are 15,538 disabled persons consisting of 9538 males and 6000 females in Chandigarh. While the city has 13,882 disabled persons, its villages have 1656 disabled persons. The data also reveals that 1.7% of the total population in Chandigarh is disabled as compare to 2.1% at all India level. Out of the total disabled population visually impaired are 8422 persons i.e. 54.2%. These are the official figures in 2001, the actual numbers may be much higher.