Senator John Boozman with Joe Lovett, Jessica Jones and Steve Baskis
On Wednesday, September 19, Going Blind screened on Capitol Hill to a packed audience of legislators, Hill and agency staffers, and veterans’ representatives. Senator John Boozman from Arkansas, an optometrist and low-vision specialist, gave a special introduction to the event. The crowd watched a 45 minute condensed version of the film followed by a 60 minute panel and discussion.
Outreach Coordinator Julie Gaynin and GoingBlindMovie.com Web Designer Tim Pugh outside the Going Blind Congressional Screening
Special thanks to Jeff Todd of Prevent Blindness America for providing welcoming remarks and to all of our panelists: Steve Baskis, Jessica Jones, Dr. Robert Murphy, Dr. Suleiman Alibhai, Chris Danielsen and Kim Hutchinson.
A live twitter feed of the event was provided courtesy of Maureen Duffy and is available at: twitter.com/goingblindmovie
For more information on the speakers, or to see the event invite, visit: www.goingblindmovie.com/chs/. You can aslo watch the entire panel discussion on YouTube.
This event was made possible with help from the American Academy of Ophthalmology, Blinded Veterans Association and Reader’s Digest Partners for Sight Foundation.
Additional thanks to: the National Eye Institute; the office of Senator John Boozman; Jeremy Scott; Prevent Blindness America and; the House of Representatives, Vision Caucus Co-Chairs: Rep. Gene Green, Rep. Phil Gingrey, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, and Rep. David Price.
We need your support on this campaign to reach millions with life changing information about vision loss. Fractured Atlas has come on board as a partner and now your donations are tax deductible. Please check out our indiegogo Campaign Page.
Going Blind tells personal and courageous stories of everyday people living and thriving with vision loss in extraordinary ways. The film is being used as a tool to raise awareness about new technologies, training and low vision therapy that allow people with vision loss to continue leading full and active lives. Although the film has already reached tens of thousands of people worldwide, there are still many more that need this vital information. Of the 25 million blind and visually impaired Americans, only 5% seek vision rehabilitation services of any kind.
Vision loss will touch each of us either directly or through someone we love. With your help we can reach more people and together come out of the dark about vision loss.
What you’re funding
This fall, we have the opportunity to reach millions of people with this important life changing information. But we need your help.
Capitol Hill Screening and Panel Discussion: On September 19th, Going Blind will be presented to lawmakers to raise awareness about rarely discussed issues experienced by the visually impaired community. We need funds to get speakers, Jessica Jones and Steve Baskis, to Washington and to promote this screening. For more information view Capitol Hill Screening Page
Nationwide Public Television Broadcast: Starting in October and for the next 12 months, Going Blind is being distributed free of charge to over 300 public television stations around the country. It is urgent that we have the resources to contact all the local stations to get the film and its issues out to the general public. For more information view Broadcast Page
Educational Distribution: We need to continue to get the film into the hands of more organizations that work with the blind and visually impaired. So far we’ve licensed the film to over 200 organizations, but there are many people in need of this information who don’t have access to the film. For more information view Outreach Page
What impact will you have
Every dollar counts towards fulfilling our outreach goals to make everyone aware about (1) the need for and value of early identification and intervention; and (2) the development and availability of low vision therapy, mobility training and other vital medical and social services that can better the lives of millions.
More specifically, by supporting at the $350 level you also have the opportunity to directly support a local grassroots organization or library in your community. An educational DVD of Going Blind allows organizations to screen the film internally and to the public an unlimited amount of times. For instance, The New Hampshire Association for the Blind has screened the film to the public 25 times to date. They report attendees of their screenings of Going Blind “have been empowered by the movie to seek out specialized vision rehabilitation services for the first time.” The film has become the centerpiece of their community and educational outreach campaign.
Our goal is to make Going Blind available to all local libraries and blind and vision service organizations around the country. Through your donation, you directly support grassroots organizations like NHAB and our various labor intensive outreach initiatives.
If you need a suggestion, we will soon have a list of organizations from around the country seeking a donation.
What else can you do to help
Support our campaign efforts by clicking “Add to favorites” below the campaign video and commenting on our indiegogo page
Share this link on Facebook and Twitter and via email with your friends and family
Visit our Website to learn about the film and facts about vision loss, and find links to resources to make yourself aware about these issues
Join the movement and help us reach millions with this vital information!
Thank you from the Going Blind Outreach Team: Joe, Woo, Julie, Jamie H, Jamie Z, Ian, Adam, and AJ!
Since 2006, Lovett has been working with ZERO TO THREE to produce videos highlighting their innovative programs and approaches in working with the court system to improve the lives of infants and toddlers.
On Monday, April 30, 2012, Lighthouse hosted the New York City premiere of ZERO TO THREE’s Safe Babies Court Teams video in their plush screening room. Nightline’s Cynthia McFadden did an incredible job introducing the film and leading the discussion panel for our latest video for ZERO TO THREE.
The audience really responded to our video and ZERO TO THREE’s demonstrated success in helping children in foster care reach permanency earlier. We thank all of our friends, colleagues, and collaborators for joining us for this wonderful evening. And special thanks to Logan Schmid, one of the producer’s of the video, for sharing his birthday with us.
For the second year in a row, New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation turned to Lovett to create web videos to encourage women to get mammograms. We developed an unique graphic treatment to personalize the videos and imbue them with emotional resonance.
In all, we created 5 individual videos, including two in Spanish, and one compilation video around their campaign which asks women to dedicate their mammograms to a loved one. We delivered the finished videos within one week of receiving the client’s footage, just in time for the launch of the campaign.
Joe Lovett and Woo Cho attended Evenvision 2012, billed as a collaborative working session for global thinkers and international filmmakers produced by Independent Filmmaker Project, the United Nations Department of Public Information and the Ford Foundation. It was a wonderful opportunity for those working on specific projects for sustainable future and the creative community to meet and exchange ideas. The Lovett team left brimming with new ideas and future contacts for global impact projects.
We released our Outreach Toolkit for Going Blind in June 2010 so that ambitious individuals and organizations of all sizes could use it as a template to spark further conversation about vision loss, and to increase awareness about the resources available in their local communities for the visually impaired. In addition to utilizing the Toolkit, we hoped they would bring their own innovative ideas to the table and many have risen to the occasion.
One such organization is the New Hampshire Association for the Blind (NHAB). For the past year, NHAB has been one of the greatest champions of Going Blind and our ensuing outreach effort, Going Blind and Going Forward. Since licensing the film for educational distribution in January 2011, they have helped organize 21 screenings throughout the state of New Hampshire and they remain committed to bringing Going Blind into as many communities and venues statewide as possible.
In the past year the film has become a key component of their public education initiative and Guy Woodland, Senior VP of NHAB, explains they have already seen an impact; attendees of their Going Blind screenings “have been empowered by the movie to seek out specialized vision rehabilitation services for the first time.”
We are very grateful to NHAB and the other individuals and organizations all across the country, and the world, that have partnered with us in spreading the message of hope and raising awareness about the resources and services available. We sincerely hope others will follow in their footsteps and will continue to develop their own new and creative ideas.
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.
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 event was featured by photographer, Bill Cunningham in The New York Times style section.
