June 28, 2019
Your donations have helped to provide advanced assistive technology so Rebecca Kozak can see everything she’s working on, despite being legally blind.
Rebecca was born with Bilateral Retinal Blastoma, a rare form of cancer causing tumors on her retinas. Her vision fluctuates throughout the day and at best, she can see at 20 feet what someone with 20/20 vision can see from 400 feet away.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in conflict resolution and sociology, and works as a receptionist in Human Resources at St.Amant, providing administrative support to her team. She’s a model employee; high performing, positive and professional, and known to go above and beyond by joining committees, taking on additional work, and volunteering. But visual limitations made work very difficult.
St.Amant’s Director of Human Resources Jennifer Kilimnik submitted a request to St.Amant Foundation to see if donations provided by you could buy some equipment to reduce eye strain and expand the range of tasks Rebecca accomplish.
“We were so happy to find out that your donations were available to help Rebecca do an even better job,” said Jennifer.
Rebecca demonstrated three of the assistive tools that she is thankful to you for providing.
The MagnaLink desktop video magnifier is a clear screen that attaches to her computer monitor and uses a camera to zoom in and magnify her monitor, immediately making text legible, adjusting text brightness and converting it to high contrast black and white.
Getting around from place to place is also a lot easier thanks to Rebecca’s hand-held GPS/reader. The Victor Reader Trek announces the direction she is traveling on foot, and gives a description of intersection ahead, with turn-by-turn directions. It also has a media player which provides access to over 36,000 web radio stations and a wireless connection to media content designed for people with low vision. The device allows her to add text documents from her computer.
Her personal favourite is the compact mini HD magnifier, which is pocket-sized so she can take it to meetings or anywhere else she wants to go. The touch screen magnifier reads text aloud.
“It makes me feel amazing that these accommodations are possible and I feel even more involved now than ever before. I’m more efficient, make fewer errors and there is less strain on my eyes,” she said.
See the difference your donations can make? Thank you!