Visually Impaired Seniors Celebrate New Center

NEW YORK—The New Year heralded a new vision for blind or visually impaired senior citizens. The Department for the Aging and VISIONS is the nation’s first Innovative Senior Center. 

VISIONS is the first of eight community-based service providers to open an innovation center funded by the Bloomberg administration as part of the Age-friendly NYC program—a citywide effort of $3.5 million and 59 initiatives. 

Braving the cold to attend, members of Congress, City Hall officials, and 150 blind or visually impaired seniors packed the house to celebrate the Jan. 3 opening. 

The center will provide cutting-edge programs and improve existing services from VISIONS, a nonprofit organization that provides rehabilitation and training for blind citizens. The cornerstone of the center will be the provision of five free meals a week, aiding 250 blind seniors from the arduous job of preparing a daily meal. 

“It’ll help me and everyone here, because everyone can’t cook!” said Viola Borden, an 80-year-old visually impaired senior.

Other services such as adaptive computer technology, health literature in Braille, wellness programs, and even yoga classes are designed to help seniors live more independent lives.

“They get a chance to do things they wouldn’t otherwise …and it just means an open-minded willingness to try new things, new ways of doing things.” Joyce Carrico said, president of the Tennant’s Association and visually impaired senior. “We may do it different, but we’re going to do it better!” 

Although the meals and educational opportunities make the center unique, it’s the friendship and community that the seniors value most.

“It gets to the point where you need other people, and this has afforded me that opportunity. To be with people like myself, to come out of my shell and be alive again. That’s really important.” Deborah Cruz said, a blind 60-year-old.

VISIONS executive director/CEO and pioneer of the center Nancy D. Miller, became involved with VISIONS by mistakenly applying “without realizing it was a program for blind people.” 

“We hope that this will be an opportunity for other senior service providers to see how they can adapt their programs to be accessible. We are a model but they can take our programs back to their local center.” Miller explained.

With the city’s senior population—currently 1.3 million—set to balloon by 46 percent within the next 25 years and Mayor Bloomberg’s announcement last week that New Yorkers are living longer than ever—with a record high life expectancy of 80.6 years—centers like this are integral to the livelihood of New Yorkers.