Visually impaired celebrate with a movie

Today is International Day for Persons with Disabilities and to commemorate, the Belize Council for the Visually Impaired took the members of its Visually Impaired Club to watch a movie. According to Communications Officer at B.C.V.I. Carla Ayres-Musa, the members still have the right and ability to experience the same things that those with sight do.

Carla Ayres-Musa, Communications Officer, B.C.V.I.
“We do something for them every month and this month since Christmas is coming up, we wanted to give them their Christmas gifts and do something different rather than just having them in the usual places and Princess offered the movie theatre for free so we decided to bring them to the movies because most of them have never been to a movie and I don’t think any of them have ever been to Princess. They are visually impaired and a lot of them are actually totally blind.”

Kendra Griffith
“So why a movie?”

Carla Ayres-Musa
“We just think that just the question you know, I think ninety percent of the people we approached and say that to said, but they can’t see and I think that’s one of the issues we want to clear up and one of the stigmas that we want to get rid of at B.C.V.I. that just because they are visually impaired, and just because they’re blind, that doesn’t mean they don’t want to experience the smell of popcorn and sitting in a cosy movie theatre and having the surround sound and everything.”

“From our records, of the people who are blind and of the numbers who are blind, eighty percent of that blindness is avoidable. So just getting your eyes checked, just doing a yearly screening, you can correct defective errors with glasses, you can have cataract surgery, you can get medication to stop glaucoma. So there is a way to prevent it, to keep the numbers from getting higher.”

In addition to free eye testing and low cost surgery, B.C.V.I. also provides treatment, medication, rehabilitation, and training for teachers on how to use Braille.