The Iris Network will be the new name for a fine old organization that is helping Maine’s 10,000 to 12,000 legally blind people live and work in a society that relies heavily on eyesight.

When the Maine Institution for the Blind was founded in 1905, it mainly provided custodial care in Portland and set blind people to work at simple jobs like making brooms. Now, through training and counseling and special equipment, blind people are doing all sorts of work. There are blind lawyers and blind ministers. The voice on the phone when you call the bank to check on your account or when you place a mail order may be that of a blind person.

“With the right training and modification of equipment, the blind can do all kind of things,” says Steven Obremski, the president and chief operating officer, who is blind himself.

Mr. Obremski was glad to answer questions about the Iris Network – but not on Saturday, when he would be out sailing in Casco Bay … Sailing? Sure. One blind person would steer the 19-foot sloop and another would handle the lines that controlled the sails. A “sighted” person would tell them what to do but would never touch the tiller or the lines.

Mr. Obremski also skis – with a sighted companion who stays at one side and a few feet behind, to tell him which way to turn on a cross-country track. During the week, he runs the organization, which has a staff of 54, some blind and some sighted, and nine outreach offices including locations in Bangor and Ellsworth. It provides computer training, on computers with special software that converts what’s on the screen into speech.

At a new Bangor studio, 55 volunteers read from Maine’s daily and weekly newspapers for the secondary audio program on Maine Public Television. The blind can tune in by pressing a button on some sets or by buying or borrowing a special gadget. Advertisements are as popular as the news, and the biggest draw of all is the obituaries.

Why change the name to Iris Network? First, says Mr. Obremski, it is no longer a center, but truly a statewide network. Second, the old name sometimes made the organization sound like a state agency. The Iris Network is independent, although it does get two-thirds of its budget, which is $2.5 million this year, by providing contract services for the Maine Division for the Blind and Visually Impaired, part of the Maine Department of Labor.

It gets the rest from foundation grants and around $500,000 in private contributions. It could use more volunteer readers and more contributions.