Low Vision Resource Group meets Oct. 19
The Low Vision Resource Group will meet on Monday, Oct. 19 from 1:30 to 3 p.m. in Oak Ridge Senior Center 1405 Oak Ridge Turnpike.
The group is open to anyone in the area interested in learning about resources for low vision. The meeting will feature guest speaker Jason Esterhuizen with Tennessee Library for Accessible Books and Media.
Sharon Jordan, a co-leader of the Low Vision Resource Group, described it as primarily for people with low vision but also including the friends or family who help them. Most attendees, she said, were legally blind or had recently gotten a diagnosis that they might become legally blind. A small number, she said, were fully blind.
“We’re learning to maneuver life with this vision impairment,” she said. She added that it’s easier to learn by joining a group of people with information to share and a desire to help each other.
She said doctors frequently don’t know about all of what’s available.
“They’re concerned about treatment but they don’t know about all of the resources either,” she said.
“Most of us that are having visual impairment we’re still wanting to fully function every day,” she said. “We don’t have the luxury of stopping doing things but we may not be able to drive anymore.” So, she said, the people in the group need to learn ways to accomplish life’s tasks in a different way.