By Blake Deshazo

The Selma Times-Journal

People in Selma and Dallas County with vision impairments will now have a place to go for support. The Visually Impaired People Organization is bringing back its support group to help people cope with and conquer vision problems.

The support group is free to attend, and the first meeting is Friday, Dec. 12 at 11 a.m. at the Dallas County Health Department.

“We try to empower people that are visually impaired that come in with low self-esteem and teach them that it is OK to be visually impaired,” said William Bowman, founder of the V.I.P. Organization.

Bowman said V.I.P. had a support group before, but it was shut down due to declining attendance. He said an increase in people with vision problems is what lead to the decision to bring the group back.

“So many people with visual impairments feel like their life is over,” Bowman said. “What we want to be able to do is show people that you can overcome it through finding a mentor or finding support and encouragement.”

Bowman said V.I.P. plans to hold the meeting every three months. He said the first meeting on Friday is to help people with visual impairments get to know one another.

“It is a great opportunity to hear from other people that are visually impaired about how they overcame their visual impairment,” Bowman said. “We want to provide socialization for people that are visually impaired so they can learn from each other.”

Bowman said he founded V.I.P. in 1995 because there was nowhere in Selma that offered support for people with visual impairments.

“I’m visually impaired myself, so I started trying to find outlets when my vision began to get worse,” Bowman said. “I tried to seek programs out there that could help me. I couldn’t find anything locally, and I knew we needed something here to help people that were visually impaired.”

Bowman said the first meeting is to determine what people need. Meetings later in the year will teach people about devices and other technology that can help them live a much simpler life.

Call Bowman at 354-4015 if you are interested in joining the group.