“Let’s see if we can find out what magnification you do need. Here, I’ve got a big old bin full of magnifiers, and we’ll grab some reading material.” Ann Spurlock has come to the Bluegrass Council of the Blind for help. She says the pace of her macular degeneration is quickening, and the injections that once helped now don’t. Charlotte Hunt, her friend of nearly 50 years, and in recent years, her driver, is with her in the office of Sam Seavey. Sam runs the council’s assistive technology program. He has macular degeneration, too, but his was caused by Stargardt disease, diagnosed before he was a teenager. Some peripheral vision is about all he has left. He started volunteering here eight years ago. “It’s very much like doing an apprenticeship, you learn from someone else that’s already figured it out. And so that’s where we come into play. We tell them that you’re going to be able to do all the things that you want to do, you’re just going to have to do them in a slightly different way than you were doing them before.” While Sam and Ann test her limits and explore her abilities, executive director Theresa Thomas is in her office, at her computer. Council IT training manager Richard Sizemore is helping her with a program called Zoom Text Fusion that magnifies what’s on the monitor and reads it aloud at a pace she chooses. “Let’s press H for heading.” “H for — So I just, I’m in the website, and I just do ‘h’”? “Um hum.” Like Sam, Theresa has Stargardt’s disease, diagnosed at about the same age as his. Richard is also visually challenged, though he says despite scarring of his optic nerves and a condition that causes eye-twitching, his vision is improving. Theresa can’t say the same. Hers is all but gone, but her sense of humor is very much present. “When I look directly at you, I see your shoulders and your chest and the table.” “What I hear you saying is, ‘I didn’t have to shave today.’” “You did not. Did you shave?” Laughs. Theresa is the mother of three now-adult children, but for eight years when they were growing up, she was a single mom. She credits her faith for much of what she did – and still does. “Okay, so that has helped you, obviously, but haven’t you sometimes said, ‘God, fix this,’ or ‘God, why me?’” “Oh, absolutely. Don’t we all, no matter what we’re facing, don’t we all at sometimes wonder, ‘Why me?’ or ‘Why has it gotten to this point?’ But the Bible tells us, in this world, we will have trouble, but take heart.” In another office is peer support program manager Susan Ament. She was born with cataracts, and can’t drive, but compared to Theresa and Sam, she sees pretty well. She runs the council’s regular in-person “Lunch and Learn” gatherings and virtual meetings – as well as their community outings. “We have gone to coffee shops. We have gone to Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour. We have an audio- described dance performance coming up in February that we’re planning on, and I’m excited about that. We’re going on a nature walk next month.” Client and board member Kimberly May, diagnosed with glaucoma and hearing loss as a toddler, is a regular at these gatherings. “I have the chance to be around other people who have blindness or visual impairments, and we can talk about the challenges we face, and our achievements.” Kimberly has been a pre-school and kindergarten substitute para-educator for 21 years. Sam and Ann’s session goes long – as his often do – and before she and Charlotte leave, she’s asked a question using a four-letter word, beginning with the letter H, often employed by the men and women of the Bluegrass Council of the Blind: “Do you have more hope?” “Yes, yes, I do, and I feel better about things that he explained to me. … I’m going away much better than I was when I came in.” Earlier, Theresa suggested something not dissimilar; that with her disability came stronger abilities. “It’s very humbling. I think it’s made me more compassionate. It’s definitely teaching me patience. I haven’t learned that one fully yet, but I’m working on it. I’m getting there.” ** WEKU is working hard to be a leading source for public service, and fact-based journalism. Monthly supporters are the top funding source for this growing nonprofit news organization. Please join others in your community who support WEKU by making your donation. The post At Bluegrass Council of the Blind, the visually impaired offer tools, hope to the visually impaired appeared first on The Lexington Times.