[Nfbv-announce] Article regarding our new chapter in Warrenton, VA

[LPovinelli at aol.com]

Sight Impaired Get New Organization 
By _Alice  Felts_ (http://www.fauquier.com/columnists/alice-felts/) 
Source: Fauquier Times-Democrat
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22 2009  
Amy Harwood's  life is slowly changing, and she is helping others facing 
similar  challenges. 
Now legally  blind, Harwood has struggled to find resources and local 
support for the  visually impaired.  
While  attending a meeting of the Fairfax chapter of the National 
Federation of the  Blind (NFB), she and chapter president John Bailey joined forces 
to establish an  NFB chapter in Fauquier County.  
Its first  meeting will be Wednesday, April 29 at 11 a.m. in The Oaks 
Apartments Committee  Room, 305 Oak Springs Drive, Warrenton. 
"I don't want  anyone else to go through the problems I encountered in 
finding services," said  the 39-year-old mother of two daughters.  
Harwood  remembers having poor vision in one eye during high school, but it 
wasn’t until  the summer of 2007 that her eyesight began declining rapidly. 
As her sight  diminished, Harwood, had trouble chopping onions without 
cutting herself. She  couldn't read her children's homework assignments. It was 
obvious something was  going wrong. 
After seeing  several physicians, Harwood was recently referred to the 
National Eye Institute  at the National Institute for Health (NIH) for testing. 
Doctors confirmed she  had Stargardt Macular Dystrophy, a genetic disorder 
resulting in the loss of  central vision and sensitivity to light.  
There is no  treatment for the progressive disorder. 
"It is very  scary for someone to say, 'You will lose your vision.' It felt 
like a death  sentence," said Harwood when she was given both the diagnosis 
and the prognosis.  
"I am missing  pieces of my vision, and it is progressing for the last 
year. If I look at a  face, I can see [only] the hair and neck." 
She had to  quit her job in banking, driving, and even decorating her home. 
“I can't pick  out what I need on the grocery shelf,” she said. 
There are  some things she has learned to do, however. She now chops onions 
on a brightly  colored cutting board, able to see the contrasting colors. 
She pours black  coffee into a white coffee cup. 
Although  Harwood says she "can now do almost anything modified," she seems 
to recognize  some changes in her attitude. 
"You don't  realize until you can't do things," she said. "It is the death 
of who you are.  You have to figure out how to reinvent yourself." 
And that is  what she is doing, in hopes that she can help others do the 
same.  
Her new  mentor, Bailey, agrees. “You have to keep reaching out," he said. 
"It’s  devastating having to do things differently, and it’s a painful  
experience.” 
At next  week's first meeting of the Fauquier NFB, Bailey will assist 
Harwood in its  organization. In addition to providing resources, he said the 
meeting will also  be a “social meeting, building friendships and networks.” 
“It doesn’t  take a lot of people to start a new chapter. You need a 
belief in what you are  doing, and Amy has that,” he said. 
Also at the  meeting, long-time advocate Larry Povinelli will demonstrate 
NEWSLINE, a free  subscription service for the print-impaired. 
Eligible  subscribers can access 260 newspapers by telephone or on the 
Internet to get  daily news, updated hourly by an Associated Press feed.  
By  mid-summer, users will be able to use various technologies to access 
audio files  on the Internet and receive news delivery to e-mail accounts. 
The  subscription, service, and phone calls are free. In Virginia, the 
federally  funded program receives additional financial support from the General 
 Assembly. 
Povinelli  stressed the service is for the "print-impaired." It is not only 
for those with  vision loss, but also for those with such challenges as 
dyslexia or a physical  inability to hold a newspaper. 
For more  information about the Warrenton NFB chapter, contact Amy Harwood, 
(703)  317-7386.
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