Workshop offers chance to tell low vision story

Rita Paskowitz

Stories connect people to each other, foster understanding and build community — these are the goals of a new program for low vision clients at UNMC’s Weigel Williamson Center for Visual Rehabilitation.

“The Way I See It: Sharing Your Story of Coping with Low Vision,” is a four-week workshop that began last Monday.

Evy Katz, low vision occupational therapist, enrolled Omaha storyteller Rita Paskowitz to create and lead the workshop. The Lions Clubs of Nebraska and Iowa, Lions Clubs International and the Lions Foundation fund the program.

“The workshop will empower people who have low vision to tell their own stories — allowing them to be seen as human beings rather than just as their diagnosis,” Paskowitz said. “They will offer the rest of us an insider’s view of what it is really like to lose one’s sight.

“We hold a lot inside, and what we keep inside makes good stories.”

People grieving over their vision loss often feel isolated, afraid and depressed, Katz said.

“They’ve suffered a loss of functional independence and it’s hard to get beyond the grieving,” she said. “Rita’s workshop will be a great way to reframe their life-changing loss into a positive outcome and experience personal growth.

“People don’t often know how to help family members understand what they are going through. Sharing personal stories is the best way to develop that understanding,” Katz said.

“We hold a lot inside, and what we keep inside makes good stories.” Rita Paskowitz

Both women have personal experience with a family member who has low vision.

“My father had macular degeneration,” Paskowitz said. “As a family, we never dealt with it — treating it as just another one of my dad’s problems. I’m hoping to make up for my shortsightedness now by helping others understand this disease.”

Katz’s sister has low vision problems and her mother-in-law has macular degeneration. Since the Weigel Williamson Center opened a year ago, Katz has formed support groups for low vision clients.

The workshop already is full with 12 participants who range in age from their mid-20s to mid-80s. The youngest is a guitar player and songwriter whose music will be part of the final program.

Throughout the four weeks, Paskowitz will teach about storytelling and help participants find their own story. The workshop will end with a storytelling concert for invited guests.

Katz hopes to video the workshops and final presentation so participants can share with others. A bigger goal is to present the program at a national low vision meeting.

“This program gives people a chance to be a part of something bigger than themselves,” Paskowitz said, “and to realize that their world is not so small after all.”