Thanks to Weigel Williamson Center
“I got my driver’s license,” Peggy Campbell exclaimed into the phone.
The 73-year-old grandmother worried for several months whether or not she would even get her license renewed. And when the day came she credits the Weigel Williamson Center for Visual Rehabilitation for helping her.
That’s why one of the first things she did after passing the test was to call the staff at the Center with the good news.
“I couldn’t be more pleased with how they helped me,” said Campbell, who lives in Lincoln.
Campbell suffers from cone dystrophy, a retinal disease which decreases her central vision much like macular degeneration. While Campbell, who wears trifocals, doesn’t have any trouble navigating her home, cooking dinner, or playing bridge with friends, the cone dystrophy does make it hard for her to drive.
“You have a hard time reading road signs until you are right on top of them,” she said.
She was very concerned about passing the vision test at the DMV. Then her optometrist suggested Campbell go to the Weigel Williamson Center where she learned about bioptic telescopes.
A retired medical laboratory technologist, Campbell felt confident using the microscope-like lens that is mounted at the top of her glasses.
“It was like homecoming for me and the best part is I could see 20/20 with them,” she said.
Campbell worked with occupational therapist, Evy Katz, to learn how to use them while driving.
“You don’t drive looking through the bioptic telescope all the time. I look through the regular prescription part of my glasses most of the time while driving,” Campbell said. “But when I need to read a road sign, I’ve learned how to tip my head down and quickly look through the telescope to see it.”
Katz initially had Campbell wear the bioptic telescope as a passenger in the car, identifying road signs and traffic lights and scanning the road ahead. Katz also encouraged Campbell to practice at home. She was instructed to place various pictures of road signs throughout the house and to try to spot them through the telescope as quickly as possible.
Once she felt confident she could do that, she drove around her church parking lot and eventually grew comfortable enough to take her driver’s test.
With her bioptic telescope and permission slip in hand from John Shepherd, M.D., medical director of the center, Campbell entered the DMV.
“I was nervous during the driving test, we drove through the neighborhood around the DMV and then onto a four-lane boulevard, but I passed and they didn’t even make me take the written test,” Campbell said delighted.
Now she is able to join her friends for bridge, go to the grocery store or to church whenever she wishes.