WHAT IS OUTA SIGHT?
OUTA Sight is an acronym for Opportunities Unlimited
Towards Achievement without Sight. This non-profit,
tax-exempt foundation was created by David Lingebach. In 1979, David was
diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, an eye condition that causes deterioration
of the retina. Today, he has an acuity of 20/400 and a field vision of 5
degrees. David has experienced the emotions of thinking life was over because
he was going blind. He has experienced the frustration of adapting to constantly
deteriorating vision. He has also experienced the difficulty of learning
about services and resources for those who are visually challenged. Twenty
years after diagnosis, David was still learning about resources he had never
known about.
In the late 1990’s, when David was researching the vast array
of resources available to visually challenged people and the impact of
these resources, he discovered that many other people with visual challenges
receive scant information on low vision resources. So David decided to
do something about this situation by launching a foundation called OUTA
Sight--a foundation focused on educating and empowering those who are
visually challenged to become equal participants in today’s society.
Through OUTA Sight, David also seeks to educate members of the sighted
public who come in contact with visually challenged people—for example,
employers, health care professionals, customer service personnel, educators,
and public service personnel.
Through the education of parents, visually challenged children and
youths, educators, visually challenged employees and their employers,
low vision seniors and those who interact with them, David’s goal
is to fulfill OUTA Sight’s mission to create a world of unlimited
opportunities for those who are visually challenged.
MISSION STATEMENT
The OUTA Sight Foundation is committed to providing
unlimited opportunities towards achievement to those who are challenged
with vision loss. This will be achieved by analyzing the resources available,
pinpointing areas where significant improvements can be made, developing
programs that will enable such improvements, and implementing these programs.
THE CHALLENGES
OUTA Sight's challenge is to
educate every visually challenged person, as well as the general public,
on the resources and unlimited opportunities available to the visually
challenged!
OUTA Sight is meeting this challenge by focusing
on two primary areas:
1. Connection with visually challenged people
to expand their knowledge of the resources and services available to them
and to provide programs that will empoower them to lead independent and
successful lives.
2. Connection with service providers
to the public to enhance their awareness of visually challenged people
and give them the tools and techniques to effectively communicate and
assist them in a supportive, positive manner.
By connecting with these two target groups, several
things can happen:
1. Visually challenged people will be able to
gain the knowledge and seek the resources to successfully make the adjustments
necessary to continue achieving their personal and professional goals.
2. They will also, through word of mouth, share
their knowledge, experiences, successes and examples with others.
3. Those who work with the public will gain an
awareness of the visually challenged population, be able to identify those
who are visually challenged, and effectively interact with the visually
challenged in a positive, empowering manner.
4. Through their examples, the general public will
increasingly become aware of how to interact with visually challenged individuals,
and view them as "differently abled", rather than "dis-abled".
5. All this will translate into everyone becoming
aware that being visually challenges does not mean helplessness; rather,
it means performing activities differently, but just as effectively!
OUTA Sight SERVICES
OUTA Sight provides a toll-free Information and
Referral Service (1-800-499-OUTA). Not
only is the call free, but the service is free also. Right now, our referral
service primarily covers the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area. But gradually,
we will be expanding this service nationwide. Our web site will keep you
current on the areas OUTA Sight is covering.
OUTA Sight is continually working on programs that
will help us reach these objectives. As they are developed and implemented,
we will add information about them to our web site.
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