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Low Vision Club Goals & History
Help. Hope. Independence.Support and Assistance When Vision Fails
“Our mission is to foster hope, offer help, and promote independence
for people with vision loss.”
GOALS OF THE SAN ANTONIO LOW VISION CLUB
The San Antonio Low Vision Club is a program of the Low Vision Resource Center, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization assisting visually impaired people with education, mobility assistance, support groups, and socialization. The Low Vision Club promotes independence for people with limited or no vision. In addition to providing members with access to valuable information, the club provides the visually impaired an opportunity to talk with others who share their challenges.
The club's monthly meetings include presentations designed to keep members informed about the latest medical research into eye diseases and how local resources can assist them. They also offer a professionally-led forum for discussing members' problems and concerns. Several times a year, the club organizes social gatherings for its members. It also produces a quarterly newsletter in print and cassette form and has published a directory of local resources for the visually impaired.
HISTORY OF THE LOW VISION CLUB
The San Antonio Low Vision Club was established in 1997, five years after founder Bonnie Truax was diagnosed with macular degeneration.
"The medical community could do nothing to cure me, and I didn't know where to turn to for practical assistance," Bonnie said. "Most of the information I obtained was full of medical terminology and jargon, and was not very helpful to the average person."
Bonnie began by contacting vision resources throughout the United States, and compiling information about low vision support groups. Then she turned to the local community for help, and made a major breakthrough when Bob Hobson of the University of Texas Health Science Center Ophthalmology Department offered to assist her.
Together with the help of others from local low vision resource organizations, they formed the club. In 1999, the San Antonio Low Vision Club was certified a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. The club continues to grow with more than 1000 members.
Read more about our founder, Bonnie Truax.
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