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Human Interest

Expanding Horizons For Blinded Veterans

Posted: 7/6/2011

Jeff Henson, right, riding in tandem with Army veteran and friend Shawn Howard. Henson lost his sight but regained self-confidence through VA blind rehab programs advocated by BVA.

(NAPSI)—Taking advantage of programs designed for blinded veterans was a life-changing experience for Jeff Henson.

Henson was a recent trainee at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Southeastern Blind Rehabilitation Center (BRC) in Birmingham when he mentioned to social worker Sonya Graham that he wanted to attend the upcoming Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic in Snowmass Village, Colorado. Graham didn’t waste a moment in trying to help Henson.

“Sonya made dozens of calls to help me get information and funding,” said Henson. “I also received a lot of help and encouragement from my instructors.”

It was a turning point for Henson. “After participating in my first sporting event, I was hooked,” he said. “I felt in my heart that I could compete with anyone on any level.”

Such confidence and motivation were quite a reversal.

“I had been active in athletic activities all of my life,” he said, “but I stopped doing things after I lost my vision because I did not know there were adaptive sports programs out there.”

Participation gave him the confidence to compete once again at age 50 against sighted athletes in nonadaptive events.

Since the Winter Sports Clinic, his activities included the Georgia Golden Olympics, which led him to the National Golden Olympics in San Francisco. He competed there in two events against sighted athletes. He also rode a tandem bicycle from Miami to Key West.

Upcoming plans include a tandem ride from the White House to Gettysburg and the Normandy Challenge, a 10-day trip to France for a ride through World War II D-Day battlefields.

The VA residential BRC programs that restored Henson’s self-confidence were the result of the advocacy efforts of the Blinded Veterans Association, or BVA, of which Henson is a member.

Since 1945, BVA has been the impetus behind congressional funding and VA implementation of rehabilitation programs to help blinded veterans and their families adjust to the challenges of blindness.

“Most blinded veterans know very little about what’s available to them in adaptive sports and in so many other areas—things that can literally change a life and bring hope to a person with vision loss,” said Henson.

Chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1958, BVA links veterans with the services they’ve earned. Membership is open to all legally blinded veterans who have served in the U.S. military. Membership is not required for veterans to receive assistance, which is free of charge. For more information, call BVA at (800) 669-7079 or visit www.bva.org.

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