In the early 2000’s, Vera’s sight was severely impacted by a detached retina in her right eye. And a short time later, her left eye was diagnosed with Glaucoma. Today she has a prosthetic right eye and her left eye has 20/2500 vision. Needless to say, Vera could have easily fallen into depression and stopped living her full life. But that’s not how she viewed the world!
Vera was referred to ABVI by her retinal doctor at a later stage of treatment. It was time she lost maximizing her “functional vision” with our help. However, Vera’s made-up for lost time in a big way.
If there is any tool or technology available to help Vera enhance her restricted vision, and to live her engaged and active life to its fullest, she has it! ABVI provided a CCTV for enlarging her printed, reading materials. This helps her pay bills (family and work) and helps with the work schedule for her husband’s trucking business.
Vera loves to sew. This past Christmas she made stuffed Teddy Bear for her granddaughter in Georgia, and pajamas for each of her grandchildren. Her current project is sewing backpacks for their upcoming school year. A Video Camera is focused on her sewing machine and projects the image to a large video monitor.
Vera loves to cook. She learned the value of bright lighting for sight contrast. Her kitchen is a vibrant yellow. Her stovetop has the controls marked with bright colors and the cooking surface is black, with bright red heating elements accentuated for her low vision. Vera uses a Ruby Reader, furnished by ABVI, for enlarging her recipes. And she has a boldly-lined pad of paper for writing her grocery list. Her working areas, around the house, have bright lighting that maximizes contrast.
As Vera says, “I try to do everything I used to do before my loss of sight”. Her family even told her, “You’re not going to stop doing the things you’ve always done”.
“Without ABVI’s help, I would be staying at home in my own little world. They taught me what I COULD do, and my family got behind me for support”.
It’s normal for individuals with vision loss to experience self-pity and anger. Often depression can set in as well. Vera said “at first my family felt my pain, but didn’t know what to do”. When ABVI began helping Vera, new ideas, tools and perspectives were provided.
She also joined one of our Support Groups, befriending others with their own sight challenges. They work together, with ABVI’s professional leadership, and share ideas, resources and ongoing emotional support that’s vital to staying strong, independent and emotionally balanced.
Vera is quick to add, “My life didn’t change. I just keep on doing what I want”.