Organizers say this is the 28th season for the expo.
PHOENIX — An event meant to help empower visually impaired people was held in Phoenix on Friday.
The Vision Rehabilitation and Technology Expo (VRATE) took place at the Ability 360 Sports & Fitness Center.
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Emilly Price, an attendee who was born visually impaired, said it was a relief for the event to offer everything in one place.
“When you have a disability that doesn’t allow you to drive, it’s a lot nicer to not have to chase things in circles and try to figure out transportation,” Price explained.
Price spoke about her triumph with stage four brain cancer from 2019 to 2020
“I had cancer in my pineal gland, pituitary gland, third and fourth ventricle and hypothalamus and on my optic nerve,” Price said. “When I got my tumors removed, I lost all the vision in my good eye, and my right eye is now my primary eye, and I can see a little bit out of it.”
Price who tried out an artificial intelligence assisted technology at the expo, said it was a “game changer” since she doesn’t have peripheral vision.
“A disability does not mean that you can’t do it,” Price said. “It just means that you have to do it a little differently.”
The event included a range of speakers discussing self-advocacy, social security disability benefits, education and employment attainment, along with best selling novelist Barbara Hinski.
Megan Duwyenie, chair of volunteers for the expo, said being part of the expo was a full circle moment because finding resources for her as a child was difficult.
Fortunately, Duwyenie said her mother was able to find help from the Lion’s Club, which helped her get the technology she used to read her school books.
“Having a conference probably would have given [my mom] so many more options,” Duwyenie said.
Duwyenie said she hoped the conference inspired people to think positively about finding employment and moving forward.
“All these new things are all just adding to our toolkit,” Duwyenie said. “So that we can remain competitive with our sighted peers and live independent lives.”
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