Meet People and Learn about Vision Loss

Why does she volunteer at VisionCorps?

“I enjoy it,” says Dot Milliken about her volunteer work with VisionCorps. She has volunteering with VisionCorps since 2014 when she first retired.

“It’s a great way to meet people and learn about a disability – impaired vision — that most of us aren’t really familiar with,” explains Dot. She says she first picked VisionCorps as a place to volunteer because she was familiar about the organization when she was working.

“I see how much people with low vision can do. Low vision doesn’t keep you from living life to the fullest and I’ve always been very impressed by how much people who are blind can do. They are willing to get out and do things that are hard.”

Dot provides transportation for clients and for some VisionCorps employees who regularly go out to visit with clients near or in their homes.

“Right now, I mainly drive people,” says Dot. She comes into the VisionCorps office in Lancaster about five hours a week and uses a VisionCorps car to drive people to appointments. She is a regular driver for Benjamin Brenya, the access technology specialist who is blind, who often has appointments to visit clients to help them with technology training.

She does not mind coming into the office to pick up a car to drive. Driving isn’t hard, says Dot, and much easier now since she can use GPS directions instead of “the old Mapquest driving directions that had to printed out!”

“Since I live outside the city, I like doing something there. I like going downtown and seeing and being around a variety of people,” says Dot.

“I see Benjamin about once a week. He is from Ghana and he’s amazing – he’s not afraid to do anything,” says Dot. “We talk about his activities and how he likes to ride on a tandem bike with a friend.

“I have another friend who connected Benjamin to the president of Millersville University, who is also from Ghana, and he then got to meet the Millersville president.

Dot drives Benjamin to locations in Lancaster and other counties. She also drives Katarina Eller who provides orientation and mobility instruction to clients with impaired vision. She hears from Benjamin via e-mail to set up a scheduled for driving and receives a group e-mail from Katarina when she is looking for a driver.

In her earlier years of volunteering, Dot visited clients who were blind. She would visit some residents of retirement communities about once a week. She had two women she saw at different times and she would visit, take them to lunch, or do errands with them.

“There’s a difference between people who lost their vision early in life or were born blind versus those who lose their vision later in life. It’s harder for people to lose it later in life. They have a lot to relearn. While there are so many more tools now with all the technology, sometimes older people tend to be more afraid of technology.”

Dot hopes her experience will encourage others to consider volunteering.

“I think it’s a great way to meet people and learn about vision loss, a disability that most of us aren’t really familiar with,” she says. “You learn quickly that people who are blind or have low vision can live a full life.

“I plan to continue to volunteer here. I’m healthy and blessed, and I like to drive,” says Dot. ”VisionCorps is my number one volunteer opportunity. It’s a great organization, and I encourage people to find out more about it.“