The Vision of Children Foundation's mission is to cure hereditary childhood blindness and vision disorders, and to improve the quality of life of visually impaired individuals and their families.Millions of children are born with uncorrectable vision disorders that have a devastating impact on their quality of life. They have inherited rare genetic defects from their mothers or fathers. The hereditary conditions will continue to be passed on for generations unless cures are discovered. These children face each day with a lack of treatment and lack of hope because researchers focused on rare genetic vision disorders are few and far between.Since 1991, the San Diego, CA, based 501(c)(3) has funded scientists around the world, focusing on several approaches to healing the vision pathways, including induced adult stem cells, genetic reprogramming, and a medication trial with humans. Knowledge about genetic eye diseases has increased dramatically, and treatments and cures are within reach. But more funding is needed for research to give children the gift of sight. Studies that focus on understanding the cause and structure of genetically caused eye diseases will lead to better understanding, treatments and cures for many eye disorders.Other goals of the Foundation are to support family members and children with hereditary blindness and fostering communication between researchers all over the world. We have a family network that helps patients and families, provides support and visual aids, and can help find doctors all over the world. We also feature inspiring young people who have overcome their vision challenges and being told that they can't do what others can do. These inspiring Vision Heroes are persevering and achieving their dreams.