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Sight Impaired Get New Organization
Amy Harwood's life is slowly changing, and she is helping others facing similar challenges.
Now legally blind, Harwood has struggled to find resources and local support for the visually impaired.
While attending a meeting of the Fairfax chapter of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), she and chapter president John Bailey joined forces to establish an NFB chapter in Fauquier County.
Its first meeting will be Wednesday, April 29 at 11 a.m. in The Oaks Apartments Committee Room, 305 Oak Springs Drive, Warrenton.
"I don't want anyone else to go through the problems I encountered in finding services," said the 39-year-old mother of two daughters.
Harwood remembers having poor vision in one eye during high school, but it wasn’t until the summer of 2007 that her eyesight began declining rapidly.
As her sight diminished, Harwood, had trouble chopping onions without cutting herself. She couldn't read her children's homework assignments. It was obvious something was going wrong.
After seeing several physicians, Harwood was recently referred to the National Eye Institute at the National Institute for Health (NIH) for testing. Doctors confirmed she had Stargardt Macular Dystrophy, a genetic disorder resulting in the loss of central vision and sensitivity to light.
There is no treatment for the progressive disorder.
"It is very scary for someone to say, 'You will lose your vision.' It felt like a death sentence," said Harwood when she was given both the diagnosis and the prognosis.
"I am missing pieces of my vision, and it is progressing for the last year. If I look at a face, I can see [only] the hair and neck."
She had to quit her job in banking, driving, and even decorating her home. “I can't pick out what I need on the grocery shelf,” she said.
There are some things she has learned to do, however. She now chops onions on a brightly colored cutting board, able to see the contrasting colors. She pours black coffee into a white coffee cup.
Although Harwood says she "can now do almost anything modified," she seems to recognize some changes in her attitude.
"You don't realize until you can't do things," she said. "It is the death of who you are. You have to figure out how to reinvent yourself."
And that is what she is doing, in hopes that she can help others do the same.
Her new mentor, Bailey, agrees. “You have to keep reaching out," he said. "It’s devastating having to do things differently, and it’s a painful experience.”
At next week's first meeting of the Fauquier NFB, Bailey will assist Harwood in its organization. In addition to providing resources, he said the meeting will also be a “social meeting, building friendships and networks.”
“It doesn’t take a lot of people to start a new chapter. You need a belief in what you are doing, and Amy has that,” he said.
Also at the meeting, long-time advocate Larry Povinelli will demonstrate NEWSLINE, a free subscription service for the print-impaired.
Eligible subscribers can access 260 newspapers by telephone or on the Internet to get daily news, updated hourly by an Associated Press feed.
By mid-summer, users will be able to use various technologies to access audio files on the Internet and receive news delivery to e-mail accounts.
The subscription, service, and phone calls are free. In Virginia, the federally funded program receives additional financial support from the General Assembly.
Povinelli stressed the service is for the "print-impaired." It is not only for those with vision loss, but also for those with such challenges as dyslexia or a physical inability to hold a newspaper.
For more information about the Warrenton NFB chapter, contact Amy Harwood, (703) 317-7386.
E-mail the reporter: afelts@timespapers.com.
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