Welcome to the AFB Center on Vision Loss
It's been said that a house does not make a home. The word "house" merely describes a physical structure. "Home," on the other hand, suggests something a great deal more. For each of us, home is a place of comfort, refuge, and renewal — qualities rooted in a feeling of complete and utter familiarity with our surroundings.
The advent of vision loss inevitably compromises that familiarity. When acts as routine as taking a bath, retrieving the mail or making a cup of coffee suddenly become challenges, then a house starts to feel less and less like a home.
That's where the AFB Center on Vision Loss comes in.
Helping Those with Vision Loss to Reconnect
Located in Dallas, Texas, the newly established facility is the first of its kind — a unique demonstration and information center specifically dedicated to helping people with vision loss reconnect with that sense of familiarity and confidence so essential to independent living.
There are an estimated 10 million Americans living with vision loss and that number is growing as the general population ages. The Center's mission is to connect the ever-increasing vision loss community with the information, solutions, professional services, support groups, and helpful technologies that they need to successfully enter this new phase of life.
How to Make Any House a Home
The centerpiece of the Center is a fully furnished, 1,600-square-foot model home, complete with living room, dining area, kitchen, bedroom, closet and bathroom — all fitted with simple adaptations and products designed to make daily life more manageable for individuals with vision loss. Visitors can walk through the model apartment, try out the various low- and high-tech gadgets in a realistic home setting, get ideas for modifications they can make in their own homes, and find out where to obtain any of the products they've tested.
Going Online in 2007
While the Center has welcomed guests from all over the country since opening its doors, now you don't have to travel to Dallas to get the information available there. In April 2007, AFB Senior Site went online. This new site duplicates and expands upon much of the information found at the Dallas facility, providing access anywhere, anytime to comprehensive information on all aspects of vision loss. We're particularly excited about establishing a borderless online support community, complete with message boards, videos demonstrating helpful tips and techniques, and lots more. For more information go to www.afb.org/seniorsite.
Millions of Americans who are losing their vision and their family members will have help and hope at their fingertips with this one-stop resource.
Bridging the Gap
Ultimately, the purpose of the AFB Center on Vision Loss is to bridge the gap that often separates people with vision loss from solutions to the problems large and small that affect their daily lives.
For people with vision loss, any house can be home.
AFB Center on Vision Loss
11030 Ables Lane
Dallas, TX 75229
Telephone: (214) 352-7222
E-mail: dallas@afb.net
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