Lighthouse for the Blind lights the way at Marco’s DAR meeting

Chris Curle/Special To The Eagle

Lighthouse President David Weigel said that that many phones have audio capability enabling a blind person to use voice commands.

Chris Curle/Special To The Eagle

Sandra Martin pets her guide dog Anna, saying, "She's allowed to go anywhere with me, because she is my eyes. She gives me a sense of freedom."

Close your eyes and try to perform some simple daily tasks such as shaking hands with someone, drop a coin and pick it up, make a call on your cell phone or take a five dollar bill from your purse or wallet.

That will give you a brief, superficial idea of some of the challenges blind or sight impaired people face daily.

Dealing with blindness was the subject of the April meeting of the Marco Island Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) at Hideaway Beach. Four founders of the Lighthouse of Collier informed, even entertained the group with demonstrations and skits about what it’s like to be blind and how best to interact with people whose vision is impaired.

Kathleen Peck, who has lost most of her vision, said the Lighthouse of Collier was established as a nonprofit organization in May of last year and relies on donations. Their goal is to help people without sight to live life as close to being sighted as possible. The president of Lighthouse of Collier is David Wiegel, who was the Collier County Attorney before his eyesight deteriorated completely two years ago.

“We’re talking about coping skills” he explained. “It reminds me of the old TV show ‘The Golden Girls.’ Sophia, the mother, would say ‘picture this’ and then she’d tell a little story. That’s what we do; we ‘picture this.’ We use our minds to cope and get along.

“We interact with people on the sidewalk, in banks, in stores, restaurants, we have a lot of business to do. Our lives didn’t end when we lost our sight. So my job is to help people empathize and come to realize the view of blind people.”

Sandra Martin, blind for 27 years, explained how to behave around her guide dog, Anna.

“When she has the harness on, ignore here, she’s working.

“If I were walking on the sidewalk and someone tried to pet her or call her by name, it might distract her and that could cause me big problems. Everyone likes to pet the dog, but that really interferes with her doing her job, which is to focus on me and help me.”

Lighthouse Treasurer, Bill Mercer, played the part of a waiter serving Sandra and Kathleen in a restaurant skit about some of the problems blind people have eating out.

“Restaurants often don’t train their staff to serve sight impaired people. It’s not required to have a braille menu but if, say, Sandra were dining alone, it is required that someone from the restaurant read the menu to her.

“And you don’t have to raise your voice to speak to a blind person or to ask her companion, ’What does she want to eat?’ ” David Weigel added with a laugh that some restaurants have menus with larger print for the sight impaired.

“But that doesn’t mean the portions are larger.”

Sandra concluded by inviting people to find out more about the Lighthouse of Collier; “I welcome opportunities to tell organizations and businesses how they can help to enable a visually impaired person to function in the world with dignity and confidence.”

To contact Sandra Martin, call (239) 430-3934; cell is (239) 265-5355, email outreachvip@gmail.com.

Visit the website lighthouseofcollier.org or the office at 457 Bayfront Place in Naples.

The Marco Island Chapter of the DAR works to preserve the spirit of the men and women who achieved American Independence. Potential members and visitors from other chapters are welcome. For more information, please call Kay Zeigler at (239) 642-0711.