About Blesma – The Limbless Veterans Charity
Blesma has been invited to DSET as part of our wider commitment to providing value and continued support to the military and veteran community. The charity does important work with veterans. Here is more about what they do.
Blesma, the Limbless Veterans aims to ensure that all serving or ex-service men and women who have lost sight, limbs or the use of limbs can lead independent and fulfilling lives. The early formations of Blesma began in 1918 and Blesma became a national charity in 1932.
Following World War I, 40,000 British Service men came back from the Western Front having suffered life-changing injuries. In a time in which employers would often discriminate against the disabled, and when there was no support from the state, limbless veterans came together as local groups to share knowledge, support each other, and lobby the Government for better opportunities for the war injured.
Medical practices and opportunities for those who are disabled have come a long way since the early days. However, there is still a great need to support those who experience daily, the physical and mental impact of life-changing injury.
Just as we are still caring for our surviving World War II veterans, Blesma has adapted to the times, including looking after, and looking out for, a new generation of amputees from the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, who will need our specialised support as they face the long journey ahead.
“Blesma was there for me right from the start, a Member came to see me in hospital and said: ‘Don’t worry – I’m one of you!’ and lifted his trousers to show me his two missing legs. The great thing with Blesma is that they know exactly what to do. Early in my recovery, they took me skiing and rafting in Colorado, which opened my eyes to a whole new world.” – Lionel
“[After my injury] I was soon contacted by Blesma, who asked if they could do anything for me. From then on I felt a real feeling of reassurance, it was not only the reassurance that someone would be there to aid with benefits and welfare etc., but also a real sense of Camaraderie because all of us were in the situation. ” – Roy Haywood
Blesma on joining the DSET 2022 community
Attending DSET is a great opportunity for us to be in the same arena as businesses who have a strong link to the Armed Forces and may not know about Blesma. Being at the conference gives us the chance to raise our profile with the businesses who are attending the conference, we are always looking at increasing our profile to businesses and attending DSET gives us this opportunity.
Find our more about Blesma’s work here https://blesma.org/
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