On Wednesday December 7th, the Glaucoma Foundation honored Joe Lovett with the Kitty Carlisle Hart Award of Merit for Lifetime Achievement for his work on Going Blind. The event took place during the foundation’s annual Black & White Ball held at the Pierre Hotel in New York City. The Kitty Award is given each year to honor patients who make a difference despite visual impairments. Named for actress, singer, advocate and glaucoma patient, Kitty Carlisle Hart (1910-2007). Past award recipients include playwright, John Patrick Shanley; former New York Governor, David Paterson; and the forty-first President of the United States, George H.W. Bush.
Joe spoke briefly after showing the audience short selects from the film. The clip of the film was well received by the dinner guests. The portion chosen from Going Blind contained a look at Jessica Jones, who with her new guide dog Willie, was also in the audience. During his speech, Joe called for a greater promotion of low vision therapy for many patients who are sadly ignorant of its many benefits. Knowing one’s options is the first stop in properly diagnosing a problem. We want to thank the Glaucoma Foundation once more for a delightful and thought provoking evening. The event was featured by photographer, Bill Cunningham in The New York Times style section.
The Going Blind film production and outreach team came out to celebrate. From left to right, the photograph includes Woo Jung Cho, Hilary Klotz Steinman, Jamie Hogan, James Cottrell, Oliver Mosier, Matthew Akers, Joseph Lovett, Jessica Jones and Willie. It’s worth noting that a group of energetic dinner guests, led by Joseph Lovett, danced long into the night.
The foundation also awarded Jost Jonas, MD the Robert Ritch Award for Innovation and Excellence in Glaucoma for his groundbreaking work in the field. Dr. Ritch, Joe’s ophthalmologist and a character in Going Blind, was there to present Dr. Jonas with the award.
I have early stage glaucoma and have been depressed and terrified of the thought of losing my vision. Although I recorded it some time ago it took me several months to gain the courage to even watch this wonderful film. I was so moved and inspired by the stories of courage and determination of the amazing people in this movie. It has helped me put things in perspective and given me hope for the future, whatever it may hold. Thank you Joe Lovett for helping me understand the many dimensions of blindness and for opening my eyes to the options available as sight fails. It has given me a sense of peace and a determination to appreciate what I have today rather than worrying what I may lose tomorrow.
Thank you for your comment, Margaret! So glad you were inspired by the film, and thank you for sharing your story, which we find inspiring! Please keep in touch.
Thank you for producing this film. I’ve been losing my vision for prob. ~26 yrs or so, but like you said about yourself, I had undiagnosed vision issues all my life, & just got the rep for being a clutz, bumping into things & not good at sports, etc. I’ve been legally blind now for a long time, but I guess I’m still considered a “high partial” in the low vision world. I was angry about it for yrs, & I’m still not happy about it. Giving up driving was the hardest part. I don’t live in NY, so the public transportation isn’t as ubiquitous as yours, but I’ve never lived in any other area, so I know all the streets by shapes of landmarks & buildings; well, not all, but most of the familiar ones. I’m surprised that you’re still riding a bike (esp in NY) b/c an accident could leave you much more disabled. I have Stargardt, which is a ‘rare’ juvenile form of macular degeneration that doesn’t get nearly the attention or research funds that AMD does. In 20 or 30 more yrs when many more baby-boomers get AMD, signage will be much bigger.
I have other disabilities too, that all have a cynergistic effect on my quality of life. But I’m still doing better than I used to be. I don’t know whether people are ‘so afraid’ of dealing w/ blind people, like you posit in your film, I think most people don’t want to be bothered w/ the ‘extra effort’ that facilitating the participation of a blind person in an activity can take. I used to be married to a man who was totally blind, but before that, he’d had perfect vision, so he didn’t understand low vision at all.
I understand Jessica’s opinion, that she doesn’t want people to keep saying how incredible she is, when she’s going about her life. People say how incredible I am, but only a very few people have ever offered me a ride, even when I know we were going the same way. When I drove, I was always offering people rides, & taking things to drop off for people, & helping w/ errands, etc. But I shouldn’t complain, b/c things could always be worse. I hope your eye pressure stays low, or that if it gets higher, you start using a cane. It’s really not so bad using a cane, I’ve gotten used to it & I carry it proudly. I’m glad for the public to see more identifiable blind people out & about. And just BTW, a cane is much more reliable than your just trying to look down carefully not to miss a step or a curb or a crack in the cement! Good luck.
I have been legally blind since I was a child. I did not realize when I was young that i was different. I do not even think that my parents or the Doctors really understood my problem at the time. I am 65 now. I have Achromatopsia. Which is total loss of color, this causes low vision. It is rare especially in women. I have learned to live with this and to keep it from most people. You can learn to do that if needed. I did work all of my life and no one ever new. I saw the film and really connected with many of the people who just do not want to be different or have people feel sorry for them. good luck to all
The Going Blind documentary is excellent. I have been legally blind most of my life due to multiple scars on my retinas. Doctors do not know what caused these scars, but a young doctor once said, “It looks like a mad pumpkin carver got to your eyes!” Very much like Joseph I have also battled glaucoma for many years. All the eye drops in many combinations has not worked. Laser in each eye has not worked. Pressures between 16 and 30 have damaged my optic nerve. I will soon have the surgery Joseph had done. It helped to hear about the procedure first hand. If Joe can do it, I can do it. I never let legal blindness stop me. The state of Oregon paid for my education, and with many vision tools I became a classroom teacher for over twenty years. I served on the board of the Oregon Commission For The Blind for six years in an effort to pay back the state for helping me obtain a masters. I am now an artist, and was once part of a group of sight impaired artists called Through The Minds Eye. My oldest son, missing his front teeth at age six, called me lethally blind! His younger brother called me eagally blind! My brother said I was Mr. Magoo’s sister, not his sister. We have always used humor in my family as a coping mechanism, and it does help. Dealing with people not believing me has been perhaps the hardest. “Well, you sure don’t look blind to me.” If I’m in a bad mood, I’m apt to say, “Well, you don’t look one bit stupid to me.” Mostly I am very patient, and I try to educate people about legal blindness. Why on earth would anyone fake it? “Yes, I was just faking it for forty-eight years, so can I have that driver’s license now.” Forgive them, they know not what they do. OR they do believe me, which can be worse, when they talk a lot louder, and want to carry me across the street. See, laughter is a good thing
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