Group Helps People with Vision Impairment

COBB COUNTY, Ga. - According to a national health survey more than 25 million American adults have trouble seeing even with the use of glasses or contacts. Many of them struggle with their limited vision. But help is available.

It's called Vision Rehabilitation Services . The Cobb County based non-profit sends teachers into people's home and works to improve the clients' quality of life and use of their limited vision.

Linda Newman makes a pot of coffee, something many of us take for granted.

But the east Cobb woman had to basically relearn her life after a degenerative disease attacked her eyesight.

"My vision has gotten worse over the years," said Linda Newman

Newman decided to seek help after nearly burning down her family home while cooking Christmas diner.

That brought her to the people at Vision Rehabilitation Services .

"Our goal is to establish a normal life style for the vision impaired and blind," said Sharon Croyle, VRS Executive Director.

VRS is a non-profit serving 500 people with visual impairments located in 31 northwest Georgia counties.

The first step is a low vision test, which can be done either at the Cobb County office or out in the community.

"They go through some specialized evaluation with our charts," said Nancy Parkin-Bashizi.

A teacher like Nancy Parkin-Bashizi will then spend up to a year working with the client to get the most out of impaired person's new vision. This might mean using a magnifier to relearn how to read, and making changes to the house like large button phones and big print address books.

"You do have to change the way you do things, but it's not the end of your life. You can pretty much do anything you want to do," said Parkin-Bashizi.

"They even give out card to family members so they can see how their loved ones view the world," said Newman.

In addition to bump dots on her appliance, Newman has some high tech devices to improve her quality of life. She uses a closed circuit TV magnifier to read. She has a special computer program that reads e-mails to her and enlarges the screen.

"If I didn't have that, there's no way I could use a computer," said Newman.

And she has a pen that helps her identify objects. All of this has allowed Newman to continue her SAT prep business and lead a normal life.

"We can do everything we want, just in a different way," said Newman

VRS clients pay on a sliding scale. Like all other non-profits, money is tight. In a couple weeks VRS is holding its main fund raiser -- The Spooktacular Chase, a 5 and 1k road race starting at Smyrna's Cobb Park. For more information on the event, visit http://www.spooktacularchase.com/