For the third year running, BVA hosted a meeting of the VIPs (Visually Impaired Participants) at the 39th annual VA National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic (WSC) in Snowmass Village, Colorado, March 31-April 5. The purpose of the meeting, originally organized in 2023 by Illinois Regional Group President Anthony Woodson and supported by VA Blind Rehabilitation Outpatient Specialist Barbara Fultz, was to address mobility issues at the event, promote BVA, and provide a forum in which blind and low vision veterans could demonstrate support for one another.
According to BVA Director of District 3 Douglas Ingram, more than 20 VIPs attended this year’s meeting. The lone non-member of the Association in attendance agreed to sign up for membership following a discussion of the benefits of doing so, the programs BVA provides, and the upcoming national convention.
“The meeting was also an opportunity for our members to talk about the activities, or lack thereof, in their regional groups and in the areas where they live,” Doug said. “We asked them to work with their VA Recreational Therapist on activities and to encourage the members in their local areas to plan and engage in a larger number of activities together.”
The meeting also featured a handful of door prizes and promotional items from BVA National Headquarters that were shared among the attendees.
A world leader in rehabilitation, the National Disabled Veterans WSC provides nearly 400 profoundly disabled veterans with training and rehabilitation every year. Veterans with TBIs, spinal cord injuries, visual impairments, amputations and other severe disabilities are challenged to overcome perceived limitations through adaptive skiing, sled hockey, scuba diving, rock wall climbing, education and other activities.
In this short video, volunteer adaptive ski instructor Lou Simmons, by profession a Construction Manager from Millerton, New York, demonstrates a WSC technique used in teaching downhill skiing to the visually impaired. The skier is BVA National Ombudsman Tonora Lyn Shannon of Saint Clair Shores, Michigan.
