Eye / Sight advocates ???

    Can anyone give me a contact for an organization that is trying to get some goverment support for sight impaired people. I understand  organizations for the blind exist and after going through what I have I have the greatest admiration for those who must endure blindness .
      There is one fact that is  obvious,  that there are people stuck in between normal vision and blindness that are in need of support also.

       I had an excellant career that I loved , and had to walk away from due to poor vision / Dry eye / light sensativity  because I could no longer  read normal print or see well enough to drive. ( I actually worked a year under these conditions and didn't stop until my staff noticed my inability to function and nearly ran over two city workers I never recognized-- I even continued to drive after pulling in front of a  tractor trailer that I never recognized )   I applied for disability but they do not recognize sight issues unless they are 20-120 and 20-200 or worse--my sight has never been that bad and admit that that would be terrible .  Since , I have ran into  others in a similar situation and  feel they have nowhere to go.
       Physically disabled people get consideration ( which  they should ) and now businesses and  towns must address
       Sight impaired suffer
Not being able to read prices, sizes  and " fine print" when shopping for  essentials-  can't stores be required to print  info to a min font size??
Cannot enjoy entertainment-- Theater - sports events -- ect.   if you can aquire seats close enough to see ( some cases not  available )  price is extremely high.

I  have endured this battle with a new Doc and input from this site- however I feel there is a need for a support system that brings issues to light and addresses them on a broader level dedicted to sight impaired. This site is excellant and has helped me and I am sure many others thank God for that- but more is needed.
Any ideas?

[Michael J Kutryb, MD]

Just for starters there is research to prevent blindness (rpbusa.org) and Lighthous International (lighthouse.org).  My favorite group has been lighthous international (www.lighthouse.org) and you can hit the link for accessible techology and find a low vision specialist near you.

You must persevere and try to use all the technology available to you.  Look at the people who run marathons with artificial limbs or climb mount everest when legally blind, or scientists like Stephen Hawking.  As a personal note, my father who passed away was visually impaired just like, you starting in his 60's.  It brought him down quite a bit, too.  I  vowed if anything like that ever happened to me, that I would push onward stronger than ever.  Maybe easier said than done, perhaps.

MJK MD