Jim Denham and Maggie Groshan
The Council launched its first online low vision support group in 2020 to help connect people with vision loss across the state during the COVID-19 pandemic. While that group, now known as the Trailblazers, was open to anyone who was blind or low vision across Wisconsin, some participants expressed a desire to have a group focused more on younger adults. So a couple years later, the Council started a second low vision support group for college and working-age adults, now known as the Supernovas. That group is facilitated by Access Technology Specialist Jim Denham and Council board member Maggie Groshan.
“Young adults who are in college or who are entering the working world face a unique set of challenges related to vision loss,” Jim says. “This group was formed to give people a space where they can share common concerns and brainstorm solutions to issues many of them face on a daily basis.”
The group, which meets monthly, is kept intentionally small to ensure that every participant has a voice in every meeting. Each meeting focuses on a specific topic. Sometimes they focus on participants’ professional lives, like navigating the job interview process with vision loss and using access technology to give a presentation to a room of sighted peers. Other meetings tackle social life, like building and maintaining relationships or how to travel independently throughout the community.
Discussions may even cover things like beer companies that print braille on their labels. That conversation eventually led to a group meetup at a Dane County brewery. Every meeting also includes time for open conversations about whatever idea, concern or success participants experience in their daily lives.
“We have a very open atmosphere where what is said in a meeting stays in the meeting, so people tend to feel comfortable sharing about their lives,” Maggie says. “We’ve all really gotten to know each other and have built a real sense of community.” That sense of community has been boosted by occasional in-person meetups.
“The Supernovas group is important to me because it gives me and other young adults who are blind or low vision the opportunity to discuss topics we may not be able to discuss with our sighted peers,” Maggie says. “It helps us realize that we are not alone. The group is a place where I don’t feel like just ‘the blind girl’ around town. I am just another person with vision loss.”
“I joined Supernovas so I could get to know some people near my age who were dealing with some of the same struggles as I am,” says participant Amy Binsfeld. “I belong to a couple of other support groups whose members are great, but they are much older than I am. I keep attending Supernovas because its members are all very open and welcoming.”
“This group means a lot to me, because I know I’m not alone anymore,” says participant Janel Adler. “I really relate to this community because most people don’t fully understand what it’s truly like having vision loss.”