“Seniors in Charge” Provides Essential Training to
Seniors with Vision Loss
By Stacey Johnson
A trip to the grocery store? An outing to the 16th Street Mall? An email communication? Not a big deal, right? Not the case for seniors with vision loss. Keeping up with changes in technology is challenging enough for those who weren’t born post 1990! Add blindness, vision loss, and a variety of other sight related diseases such as macular degeneration and Retinitis Pigmentosa, or R.P., to the equation, and the outcome is typically frustration and discouragement.
Not so for the seniors who recently participated in Seniors In Charge, a three day program offered by the Colorado Center for the Blind at no cost. Seniors with varying degrees of vision loss took part in mobility, home management, and technology training. “The goal of the program is to keep visually impaired seniors living independently for as long as possible. If blindness is the only factor impacting the senior, there is no reason he or she can’t live independently,” says Duncan Larsen, Senior Services Coordinator for the Center. Participants received an introduction to braille, adaptive technologies such as electronic readers, Newsline, screen readers, and traveled with the assistance of a white cane, a tool frequently used by blind persons to safely navigate their surroundings independently.
Often seniors feel disconnected to friends and family. With technology taking over routine, daily communications (what once was a phone call is now an email or text), seniors often feel left out. Colorado Center for the Blind steps in and provides basic training on these skills. “I didn’t think I could even use a computer before today, and now I can use one without a screen,” said one enthusiastic program participant.
“This is often the case with our participants. They come the first day with all sorts of misconceptions of what they can and can’t do as blind individuals. They leave the Center at the end of the Program with a new understanding of what possibilities exist,” explains Larsen.
In addition to technology class, several outings were planned throughout the three day session for the group. A trip to the grocery store provided a non-traditional training opportunity. Participants learned that eyesight is not the only sense that is useful when navigating a grocery store. “If you are looking for the coffee aisle, your sense of smell is just as useful” explained Anahit LaBarre, Senior Coordinator, who taught the group to follow the aroma of hazelnut to find the coffee aisle! In addition, the seniors used smell and touch to discern the quality and freshness of their selections before adding the items to their grocery carts.
Seniors also enjoyed a trip on the Light Rail from the Littleton station to Downtown Denver. For some, the trip was filled with firsts−first time on the Light Rail, first time on the 16th Street Mall Shuttle, first time on an escalator without vision, and the first time in a crowded buffet line navigating a tray of food, a cane−all without sight.
Inclusion of family members is a key component of the program. On the last day of class, the participants prepared a meal for their family and friends. Seeing what their loved ones accomplished in such a short time at the Center provided a sense of hope and a glimpse at what can be achieved with practice, the proper tools, and additional training.
The program’s success was summarized best at a recent student meeting. “Our seniors in this week’s program have raised the bar for all of us here at the Center,” proclaimed Brent Batron, Youth Services Coordinator, to a group of younger students in the Independence Training Program. Telling a group of mostly twenty and thirty-somethings they had been outdone by a group of individuals old enough to be their parents or grandparents provided ample motivation to work even harder during their time at the Center.
More Seniors in Charge training sessions are planned for the future. For more information on Seniors In Charge, or Colorado Center for the Blind, please call Julie Deden, Executive Director at 303.7781130 or visit www.cocenter.org.
