The associations of disabled veterans established in the aftermath of the Great War signify a significant step into the direction of disabled people’s self-advocacy in general. In Italy it was the war blind Nicolodi who set up several initiatives in favour of blind persons. He, among other things, for example created the Italian Union of Blind People in 1920 that brought different local groups and committees together. He, moreover, reorganized the Institute for blind children in Florence. According to Nicolodi, redemption for blind people would only be achievable through their cultural self-promotion. In the 1920s and 1930s he consequently organised various vocational classes within the Institute for the blind in Florence. By means of an analysis of the periodical Corriere dei ciechi (1919 and later) and other primary sources produced by Italian organisations of blind veterans and related institutions, I will try to open up the discourse to the wider concepts of education and emancipation, social role and individual awareness as disabled men. Specifically, I will try to devote attention to the ways the lost sight shaped the identity of WWI veterans involved in activities aimed at their re-entry into civilian life as able-bodied breadwinners.