RJ, it is not unusual for a local club to help a new ham, regardless of
whether they are blind or sighted, with setting up their station,
recommending equipment, antennas, etc. They will often help with putting up
antennas, and might even assist in building an antenna, but I am not aware
of any clubs, and I have known several over the years, that purchased
equipment for anyone or just gave them equipment. I have known fellow hams
to loan another ham a piece of equipment for a while until they could get
something up and operational of their own. 

RJ, I strongly suggest that you not approach your local ham club asking them
to give you equipment. It projects an image of a poor blind guy begging for
stuff, and the image you project reflects upon all of us as well.
Unfortunately, people tend to generalize, putting all of us in the same box,
and we have worked very hard to get away from the "poor blind guy begging"
image. 

Instead, be proud of yourself. Project confidence, and use some tact. You
will be amazed at how approaching the club members more like:

"Guys, as you know, I'm new to ham radio, and frankly, I'm struggling a bit
to get everything figured out. If any of you have any suggestions for
inexpensive gear that I can get started with, I'd sure appreciate it."

Most of us here didn't start out with Cadillac level gear. In fact, most of
us started out with the cheapest rigs we could find. A really good piece of
HF gear that would suit your needs to start with, and is pretty reasonable
on the used gear market, might be something like a TS-440 with the speech
board in it. For VHF and UHF, if you are quite close to the repeaters, you
might get away with a Baofeng UV-5R. I recently purchased one for $46.30. It
puts out only 5 watts, which isn't very much power, especially if you stay
with the little rubber ducky antenna that comes with it. However, with very
little effort, you can put up an outside antenna that will substantially
increase your range. While the local club won't buy the equipment for you,
by using a little tact, like I recommended in this post, the local hams will
gladly help you put a station together, include put up an antenna for you.
You should always at least offer to pay for any materials used, like wire,
coax, telescoping masks, etc.

Good luck!

Ron, K8HSY