Film event to share hope for residents with vision loss

WASILLA — The documentary “Going Blind, Coming Out of the Dark About Vision Loss,” will show at 7 p.m., March 28, at the Curtis D. Menard Memorial Sports Center. A local reaction panel will speak following the screening.

The documentary screening is organized by the Alaska Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, which hopes the film will help spread the word that people can continue to do what matters to them even when they lose much or all of their eyesight.

“Too many people think their lives are over when the eye doctor says their vision loss can’t be corrected, and that just does not have to be so,” said Karla Jutzi, executive director at the center, the state’s only vision rehabilitation agency. “We want people to know that vision loss doesn’t have to stop them from having a great life and a good job.”

The Alaska Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired served 43 Mat-Su residents last year with low vision clinics in Wasilla and home visits, thanks to a grant from the Mat-Su Health Foundation. According to the recent most recent U.S. Census, 700 Mat-Su seniors and 1,100 residents of working age have vision loss that interferes with their daily lives or employment. Alaska’s aging population and health risks like chronic diabetes mean that the number of Valley residents living with conditions such as macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy will rise.

“Unfortunately, sometimes people skip visits to the eye doctor that can prevent blindness, and if they lose eyesight, they often don’t know about vision rehabilitation or low vision therapies that can give them their lives back,” she said.

“Going Blind” is produced by and tells the story of Peabody-award winning producer and director Joseph Lovett as his eyesight deteriorates due to glaucoma. Along the way he meets a variety of people who are making meaningful lives for themselves while living with vision loss.

For more information about the Alaska Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, call Ellen Gantly at 745-2647.

For more information about the documentary “Going Blind, Coming Out of the Dark About Vision Loss,” visit goingblindmovie.com.