Fifty-six-year-old Lynn Jensen from Port Moody, British Columbia (Canada), who lives with sight loss, is preparing to share her experience of safe and enjoyable travel. On 26 November she will speak to members of the South Surrey/White Rock Low Vision Support Group about her book “Best Kept Secrets for Travelers with Sight Loss” and strategies for living independently with vision loss.
The meeting will take place at Cranberry Lane, 15241 18 Ave., where Lynn Jensen will talk about practical tips for international travel, the specifics of journeys with a guide dog, planning and packing, as well as how to prepare for different situations on the road. She will also focus on the everyday skills described in the book, including organising money and basic self-defence techniques.
According to Jensen, the book is based on more than 20 years of travel experience after she lost her sight as the result of a brain injury at the age of 27, shortly after graduating from the University of British Columbia School of Nursing. Her first trips after losing her sight were far from easy, but gradually she returned to travelling, first visiting Hawaii with her twin sister and then expanding the geography of her journeys.
Lynn says she has discovered travel in a new way – through sounds, smells, people, food and time spent with loved ones, including her guide dogs. Her first guide dog, a Labrador named May, visited 13 countries, 14 US states, five Canadian provinces and one territory during her eight-year “career”. Today Jensen travels with her fourth guide dog – a Labrador named Quest – and focuses more on helping other people with sight loss.
Jane Klein, co-coordinator of the South Surrey/White Rock Low Vision Support Group, notes that Lynn’s advice is especially useful for those who are afraid of travelling because of deteriorating vision: her experience helps people overcome various fears, and the knowledge they gain can also be applied in everyday life. The support group has been meeting for more than two decades, gathering on the fourth Thursday of the month from 13:00 to 14:00, and brings together people with different diagnoses, including macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy.
The meeting is open not only to people with sight loss, but also to their relatives, friends, carers and anyone who wants to better understand the needs of people with low vision. Klein emphasises that group members learn from one another, share their own experiences and look for ways to “live well with sight loss”, easing the fear associated with the diagnosis and finding practical solutions for everyday life.
The experience of the South Surrey/White Rock Low Vision Support Group has already inspired a similar initiative in Langley: according to Klein, several participants valued the meetings so highly that they started their own group, which now operates under the auspices of the Langley Senior Resources Society.