February is Black History Month and Low Vision Awareness Month
“Through knowing and understanding our history, we can work to dispel myths and stereotypes associated with race and disability.” -Freddie Peaco
This month we celebrate the contributions and achievements of Black Americans. I want to highlight one extraordinary person, Freddie Lilly Peaco. Freddie was born in North Carolina in 1940. When she was about 6 years old, doctors discovered a visual impairment that ultimately left her blind. She attended Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh, NC. In 1961, she continued her education in Washington DC, earning her bachelor’s degree from Howard University and her master’s degree from American University.
Freddie Peaco
Freddie not only attained great academic achievements, she gave voice to the needs of people living with vision loss and other disabilities. She had a long and productive career working at the Library of Congress, National Library Service of the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), where she advocated for the production of accessible versions of documents, coordinated production of publications, and represented the NLS at workshops and national conferences. She also was active with the American Council of the Blind in Washington DC.
Freddie retired from the NLS in 2009 after 49 years of service. She passed away at the age of 83 in 2023. Her husband, James, passed away in 2016. She is survived by her son and four grandchildren.
February also is Low Vision Awareness Month. The National Eye Institute predicts that by 2050 the number of people living with vision impairment or blindness will double. Statistics show that more than half of Americans don’t seek eye care, citing lack of awareness and cost of services as the main reasons for not seeking help.
What is low vision? Low vision is when – even with regular glasses, contact lenses, medicine or surgery – a person has difficulty seeing and they find it difficult to carry out everyday activities like reading price labels when shopping, recognizing people’s faces, and seeing television or computer screens clearly. While there is no cure for low vision, there are many assistive devices that can allow a person to carry out activities of daily living safely. These include magnifying glasses, specialized computer software, hand-held video magnifiers and label readers.
People experience low vision differently. The National Institutes of Health has identified four types of low vision resulting from various eye diseases or conditions.
- Peripheral vision loss: When you cannot see out of the corners of your eyes.
- Central vision loss: When you cannot see from the center of your eye, and objects and people’s faces seem like blurry blobs in the middle with clearer details on the outside.
- Night blindness: When you cannot see well in twilight or low-light conditions, and driving a car at night is difficult or impossible because you cannot see lane markings.
- Blurry or hazy vision: When you cannot distinguish details of objects or read print because words appear blurry or hazy and you cannot make out letters.
People of any age can be diagnosed with low vision because it can arise from various conditions and injuries. Low vision may result from eye or brain injury during an accident, but it is more common in adults, especially adults over the age of 75.
The main causes of low vision are age-related conditions such as:
- Diabetes-related retinopathy
- Macular degeneration
- Cataracts
- Acute and chronic glaucoma
The Low Vision Clinic at Society for the Blind specializes in serving patients with low vision. Each year more than 400 patients come to our clinic to receive a low vision evaluation by one of our eye doctors who can recommend assistive devices and other resources to help them navigate life with vision loss. Many patients also see one of our occupational therapists who provide training on how to use their remaining vision effectively and teach patients how to use assistive devices to read, cook and engage in other activities.
An annual dilated eye examination is the best way to diagnose conditions early and address changes in vision. Vision loss does not have to mean the end of working, traveling or engaging in activities you love. At Society for the Blind, we provide professional guidance and instruction to ensure that people living with vision loss or blindness can discover, develop and achieve their full potential.