Industrial Workshop for the Blind

Workshop participants are passionate about working with their hands, making high-quality products, and contributing to society.

The Industrial Workshop for the Blind provides jobs and a sense of community to blind and visually impaired adults in Antigua and Barbuda. It is also renowned island wide for manufacturing what have been called the strongest household mops on the market today, and it has a government contract to provide mops to all the schools and ministry buildings on the island.

Originating in the 1950s as the School for the Blind and still run by the Antigua & Barbuda Society of and for the Blind, the workshop participants also specialize in making bar stools and chairs, palm brooms and baskets, and repairing cane furniture such as dining chairs and love seats. The skilled and talented workers can make all the products by touch, without needing sight.

The Mill Reef Fund has supported the workshop since the 1950s, helping to fund operational expenses, computers for the visually impaired, and transportation for participants to and from the facility.

“The blind and visually impaired participants at the workshop have created a niche service industry for products that are truly needed on the island. The Mill Reef Fund’s ongoing funding helps ensure that we can keep our workshop open, producing marketable products and providing an invaluable boost of self-esteem for participants.”

– Jacqueline Tweed-Harris, Office Coordinator