As vision worsens, the person gradually realizes what the disability is all about!

George Cavanagh, a self-proclaimed “old farm boy” from Massachusetts, often can be spotted around town from Weirsdale to Wildwood, enjoying boot-tappin’ country-western music with his wife, Cynthia. He has even begun taking guitar lessons.“I get around very well. I do an awful lot of stuff,” said the Village of Woodbury resident. “I haven’t let the fact that I’m blind totally stop me.”

Cavanagh lost his sight in 2000 through the doubly devastating impact of diabetes and glaucoma.On a Thursday morning, he is the only completely blind person attending a Lighthouse Central Florida Independent Living Skills class at Saddlebrook Recreation Center. Lighthouse, a nonprofit organization that develops and provides state-of-the-art vision rehabilitation services free of charge, holds rotating classes in The Villages every six weeks.

The organization’s services are in constant demand, considering that every seven minutes the world goes dark for one American.At least 10 million people nationwide are blind or visually impaired — 5.5 million of those are seniors, reports the American Foundation for the Blind, a national nonprofit group.“The class has been fun,” said Cavanagh, who is vice president of The Villages Visually Impaired Persons support group. “I didn’t think I’d enjoy it because I’ve been blind now for six years — you know what they say about old dogs and new tricks.”

However, the small but sweet successes of cooking grilled cheese sandwiches, toasting bagels and cutting up apples, celery, grapes and walnuts for a Waldorf salad; and learning to write inside the lines of a legal pad, sign personal checks and fill out birthday cards to loved ones, has made the six-week endeavor worthwhile for Cavanagh.

“It’s a hands-on class where you actually — instead of just sitting and being lectured — get up and do,” he said in a thick Boston accent. “Every day is a learning day.”Cavanagh and his classmates, Ronnie Chiles, Beverly Arber and Bobbi Hill, wrapped up their final class together last week and brushed up on the integral skills they digested in such a short period of time.Arber was amazed she hadn’t realized the two outside knobs on the stove are for the front burners.

It would be a simple fact she would put to good use with the new double-sided spatulas geared toward the visually impaired that the class purchased.“You take a lot for granted when you can see,” she said.Instructor Jeanne Roop explained there are countless techniques the visually impaired can learn to help keep their independence, and prevent anger and resentment.“We’re not just drilling skills here,” said Roop, whose father suffered from macular degeneration for a decade. “We’re really teaching concepts.

”Looking aheadTo better support organizations like Lighthouse, state Sen. Carey Baker, R-Eustis, and state Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, introduced legislation in the Senate and House that would create a specialty license plate called “A State of Vision.”The colorful tag features a lighthouse and a shining beacon, and if signed into law, would be authorized by the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Proceeds from a $25 annual fee for the plate would benefit the Florida Association of Agencies Serving the Blind Inc., which consists of 15 statewide agencies including Lighthouse Central Florida.“

These agencies that serve directly to blind people are usually struggling to survive,” said Baxley, who is behind the legislation.Baxley was inspired by his adopted son, Jeffrey, who at the age of 8 months lost his vision because of shaken baby syndrome. Today, Jeffrey, a 19-year-old senior at The Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine, is doing well, his father reports.

“He came to our home and opened a whole new world of understanding,” Baxley said.The legislation has “broad support” in the House, which recently formed a vision caucus, and a required market survey indicated the plates would be “sought after” in Florida, according to Baxley.Baker, whose district includes a portion of The Villages, said many residents have taken advantage of the services of Florida’s agencies for the blind.“Many of them have progressive eye disease, so that means if they’re not blind now they probably will be,” Baker said, “so these services have really prepared them for their upcoming blindness.”

The legislation has made it “very rapidly” through the necessary committees and is ready for a vote on the Senate floor when the session begins in March, Baker added.The plates could hit the streets within one year.The state first produced specialty plates in 1986, with a tag commemorating NASA’s Challenger tragedy.

Through environmental, university and team plates affixed to automobile bumpers, Florida specialty plates generated $29 million last year alone.Lee Nashei, executive director of Lighthouse Central Florida and president of the Florida Association of Agencies Serving the Blind, is hoping to raise the reasonable sum of $1 million, split 15 ways.“In a few years’ time maybe we could reach the million-dollar mark, but that’s going to take a lot of work,” Nashei said.

“The challenge for us in this field is that the prevalence of severe vision loss is increasing dramatically and we don’t have nearly the resources we need to address this growing public health issue appropriately. I hope the license plate will create a new source of revenue for us.”Lighthouse’s programs include lifestyle lessons on meal planning, grocery shopping, pre-Braille, public transportation, computer skills and more.“We teach people how to do things differently so they can still have independent, productive lives,” Nashei said.

Because Lighthouse’s budget largely comes from fundraising and donations, public visibility is key. Nashei said Lighthouse plans to embark on a “fairly elaborate marketing” campaign to promote the State of Vision license plate.An increasing problemThere are at least 50,000 people who suffer from vision loss in Lake, Sumter, Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties, Nashei said. But a recent Duke University study appears to indicate that figure could be staggeringly higher.

The study of people aged 65 years and older found nearly half of them developed one of three major eye diseases leading to blindness within a nine-year time span. According to those numbers, Nashei estimates 130,000 people could be experiencing vision loss in the five counties.“That’s really scary, and it’s significant,” she said.Cataracts are the top cause of blindness worldwide, affecting more than 20 million Americans and climbing, according to a 2003 Review of Optometry study.

Macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy rank closely behind.However, Villager Donald Faehn, president of the Visually Impaired Persons group, lost his vision six years ago to optic neuropathy caused by a rare side effect of prescription heart medication.Faehn, who describes himself as “way past legally blind,” said he would cherish the opportunity to support statewide organizations for the blind on the back of his vehicle.

“I’m already inclined to get that license plate for sure,” he said. “I’m sure we’d have quite a few members in the VIP support group who would be interested in purchasing the plate.”Faehn said as The Villages’ population grows — and grows older — his group, which has 60 members, continues to expand.Faehn also sits on the board of directors for a newly created nonprofit, New Vision for Independence, which already has been chartered, he said.

The organization, which will teach independent living skills to the blind and vision impaired, now awaits the IRS stamp of approval for tax-exempt status. He expects classes to begin in April in The Villages.“Many of the instructors have a lot of experience in training people with limited vision — many of the instructors themselves are either partially to totally blind,” Faehn said.

Residents interested in the VIP support group may contact Faehn at 259-3430, and those wishing to attend Lighthouse Central Florida’s Independent Living Skills classes may call 365-1544.Elisha Pappacoda is a reporter with the Daily Sun. She can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9268, or at elisha.pappacoda@thevillagesmedia.com.