The Eyes Of Me Finishes February on A Strong Note: Colorado

Producing Partners are local community organizations that co-present Community Cinema screenings across the country. In Grand Junction, Colorado, Penny Mitchell describes a recent free event for the film The Eyes of Me by Keith Maitland.

“I know what it’s like to be sighted, and I know what it’s like to be blind. And I do think going blind has given me a different point of view.” Isaac, a subject in The Eyes Of Me

The film screening went quite well and was followed by a thoughtful panel. There was considerable discussion about, Isaac, the young man who lost his vision when the hospital would not operate because the family had no health insurance coverage. Several people thought that couldnt happen in Colorado because hospitals would have a mandate to operate in that situation. But one of our panelists gave several examples of similar problems she knew about in Colorado. She said that although he would be blind without the operation, it was not a life threatening situation and that may be one of the criteria.

The panelists also wanted to note that it was difficult to distinguish in the film which issues were rooted in socioeconomic problems and which were due to visual handicaps. The families in the film were from poorer communities and may not have access to advocates. That brought us to the advocacy groups available in our valley and the blind woman on our panel said that its incredibly hard to find these groups when they are generally only advertised in newspapers and she can’t read! The panelists noted that its been very hard to engage ophthalmology and optometry staff in a process to provide these resources to patients.

Read on for the details of our event in Steamboat Springs.

Jennie Lay describes the event at the Bud Werner Memorial Library. For The Eyes of Me we also partnered with Access Anything and STARS (Steamboat Adaptive Recreational Sports) to present a free screening of The Eyes of Me. We showed the first five minutes of the film with “audio description” allowing each guest to experience it with a blindfold before removing their eye coverings to watch the film as a sighted audience. Access Anything also made a short film highlighting video and photo footage of blind skiers and riders during the past few years’ adaptive ski camps on the Steamboat Ski Area and surrounding backcountry expeditions to open the evening’s program. The library put out a display of Braille books and resources from the Colorado Talking Book Library. Access Anything gave a short talk about high-profile adaptive sports and STARS talked about their programs and growing opportunities. We ended the evening by reading the update from the film director about each of the four teenagers who he highlighted in the film.

Tags: blind, braille, colorado, grand junction, rocky mountain pbs, steamboat springs