PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WMBB) — The goal of the Alabama-based nonprofit ‘Sight for America’ is to provide clarity to the visually impaired.
“We proactively seek out children who have low vision or blindness, and we provide them with high-tech assistive technology in their homes,” ‘Sight for America’s’ Chief Program Officer Jennifer Williams said.
Eight Bay and Walton County residents are the latest beneficiaries, of the non-profit’s work. Each received a new piece of state-of-the-art technology.
“So what we do is we come down and we deliver these devices,” Williams said. “We train mom and dad and anybody else that would like to come. The teacher for the visually impaired is often here.”
Six-year-old Tyler Smith was one of Bay County’s recipients.
“He’s very smart but his grades don’t reflect it because he can’t see the paper during class,” Tyler’s mother Brittni Smith said.
Now in kindergarten at Tyndall Elementary, Brittni said the limitations caused by Tyler’s sight have become more apparent the older he got.
“When he writes,” Brittni said. “He picks a paper and he starts his name here. And then all of a sudden, like the Y is down here because he just completely lost his place and he can’t focus it back. So it would allow him the independence of not needing somebody to constantly move his hand where it’s supposed to go while he’s writing “
Brittni said by getting the gift of sight, Tyler is also getting the gift of freedom.
“It’ll help him with the independence, will help his grades,” Brittni said. “It’ll help him be able to feel more confident in his schoolwork and more. It’s all about independence. I want him to have the average life of a six-year-old, even though he’s not the average kid.”
Technology like the Electronic Video Magnifier is not covered by insurance. But ‘Sight for America’s’ work is absolutely free to these families.
