2009

In March of 2009, four passionate advocates represented Georgians at
the third annual Eyes on Capitol Hill fly-in held in Washington DC. The event occurred in the midst of Atlanta’s “snow jam” so,
following plane delays, the four activists proved that they were quick
studies in learning how to effectively advocate. Debra Francis,
Donna Lott, and Kristina and Jacob Seymour used their life experiences
with vision issues, as well as their newly learned advocacy training, in
their Hill visits.

The advocates included Debra Francis of Atlanta who failed a
Prevent Blindness Georgia vision screening at Morehouse School of Medicine and was subsequently diagnosed with glaucoma. Also representing Georgians was Donna Lott of Suwanee who has been legally blind since 1995 due to retinitis pigmentosa (RP). An inspirational speaker, she was accompanied by her husband, Don. Kristina Seymour, and her 10 year old son, Jacob, of Lawrenceville, rounded out Georgia’s team. Jacob also has retinitis pigmentosa due to Ushers Syndrome which can cause profound deafness as well as RP. Kristina noted that Jacob’s “peripheral vision is gone, but he has his central vision – more importantly – he is focused and solid from within.”

Together, the team visited the offices of Senators Saxby Chambliss and
Johnny Isakson and the offices of Representatives John Lewis and
John Linder to lobby for the following:

In addition, they shared statistics on the prevalence of age-related eye diseases in Georgia noting that more than 77,000 Georgians age 40 and older are visually impaired. In addition, more than 45,000 Georgians 50 and older have macular degeneration, while more than 117,000 40 and older suffer from diabetic retinopathy. Glaucoma affects 64,000+ aged 40 and older. The economic impact of vision problems in Georgia cost more than one and a half billion dollars.