CONCORD, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – It might be hard for a lot of people to picture what life must be like through the lens of someone who’s vision-impaired.
Thirteen-year-old Thierry Agnant of Salisbury has myopia.
“If I looked like all the way over there, and a paper was all the way over there, I couldn’t see it,” he said.
Low vision doesn’t keep him down.
Agnant has Broadway dreams.
“Gary, Indiana let me say it once again,” he sang,
Before he belted out a number from The Music Man, Christina Haddox of the nonprofit Sight Savers America showed Thierry how to use equipment that will give him more independence.
“Today we are here to train individuals receiving high-tech, low-vision devices,” says Haddox, a Low Vision Program case specialist.
“Do you like it that size, or do you want to make it a little bigger?” she said, showing Agnant his new handheld video magnifier that will allow him to things so many of us for granted.
He can use the VM to magnify any text that he needs to see better.
“So I can like read books, write my name and see like small font,” the boy told Queen City News.
“Now whenever I have a script, I can read it better,” says the budding performer.
Earlier this week in Concord, Sight Savers America gave game-changing equipment at no cost to 14 local children and adults. The recipients were identified and referred to group by the Metrolina Association for the Blind, Invision Services Inc. and teachers of the visually impaired.
“[Haddox] can go out to a restaurant and see the menu, things of that nature,” Haddox said.
“And like if you’re looking at instructions on like food, if you want to cook it, and it’s like too small, you can blow up the font,” Agnant explained.
John Gray of Charlotte has glaucoma.
He took home a desktop video magnifier, which he says is a godsend.
“It’s definitely going to help me because I love to read the Bible. And I’ve read the bible from Genesis to Revelation before my sight went bad,” said Gray.
The desktop version has a camera and monitor to enhance contrast and magnify objects up to 118 times.
“This technology is definitely life changing,” says Dr. Dawn DeCarlo, the Sight Savers America CEO.
Often, the technology costs thousands and is not covered by health insurance.
“It’s a self-pay expense and for seniors living on a fixed income especially this can be an impossibility for them. So, we give them a possibility of independence,” she said.
Mr. Gray can now see family photos better than ever.
“Oh yeah that’s the baby, haha,” he says, seeing a magnified image of his great-grandson.
After his Agnant’s training session, young Thierry went out on a high note.
“Gary, Indiana that’s the town that new me when,” he sang, concluding his song from The Music Man.
“He was very sweet, and I look forward to seeing him on Broadway,” said Haddox.
Sight Savers America has provided more than four thousand high-tech vision aids across the country. Funding for the local equipment came from The Cannon Foundation, The Mariam and Robert Hayes Charitable Trust and Vispero.
