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Hernando Today

Walking To Help The Blind

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By TONY HOLT

Hernando Today

Published: October 12, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - Sylvia Stinson-Perez wasted little time when she moved here from Miami last summer.

The executive director of the local Lighthouse International office wanted her organization to be known around town.

Stinson-Perez, who is vision impaired, and her 17 staffers organized a public walk Saturday at Nature Coast Technical High School.

She wanted the event to take place in time for White Cane Awareness Day, which will take place Wednesday.
Vision rehab professionals created the cane to help impaired people find entrances, avoid bumps and curbs and assist them up staircases.
Lighthouse International a nonprofit group that aims to "provide vision rehabilitation for people who are blind and vision impaired and help them lead independent lives," said Stinson-Perez.

The group teaches patients everything from how to use a cane to carrying out basic house chores.

"It's different learning how to cook as a blind person," she said. "You're boiling water and you can't see the bubbles. You have to be able to hear them."

Stinson-Perez has retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a genetic eye condition that gradually affects a person's night and central vision during the course of several years and decades.

Currently, she has 20/400 vision. In other words, if a person with 20/20 vision can stand 400 feet from a sign and read it, she could not stand more than 20 feet away to see it.

During Saturday's walk, the public was asked to sample some of the "simulators" spread across the table near the entrance.

They would try on glasses that were altered to resemble what it is like to live with glaucoma, RP or any other type of sight impairment.

"We had a lot of people come and try the simulators and that was (good)," said Stinson-Perez. "They got a better understanding of what it's like."

Only about 10 percent of people who are deemed "legally blind" have 100 percent blindness, she said. Most people retain some of their sight for most or all of their lives, but are still impaired to the point where assistance is needed.

The local Lighthouse office is located near the high school off California Street in Brooksville.

Stinson-Perez hopes for more volunteers, particularly drivers, and more funding.

Among the Lighthouse employees who arrived at the walk Saturday was Andrea Wallace, who is an orientation and mobility instructor.

Her career path was about to take her to New Zealand until she met Stinson-Perez, who convinced her to continue her community work in Florida.

It's a great job," said Wallace, who also works in Pasco and Pinellas counties. "It's wonderful. I fell in love with the job and the clients here."

Those who would like to learn more about volunteering with Lighthouse or who would like to make a donation, call 352-754-1132.

Reporter Tony Holt can be reached at 352-544-5283 or wholt@hernandotoday.com.

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