Lions Club’s newest member shares experience with blindness
CRANBERRY TWP — “Set a timer for 10 minutes, close your eyes and continue to do whatever you had planned … you’ll realize you’ve lost your independence,” Judy Kahl said to the Cranberry Lions Club during a meeting on Tuesday evening, March 10.
Judy Kahl, who has Usher Syndrome, shared her journey with hearing and vision loss while raising awareness and fundraising research. Usher Syndrome is a genetic disorder that causes hearing and vision loss.
Lions Clubs International is a global volunteer organization dedicated to community service, sight and hearing conservation, diabetes awareness, and humanitarian aid.
“When I was a teenager, I saw ‘The Miracle Worker’ and thought there was nothing worse than being blind and deaf,” Kahl said. “Little did I know I would be dealing with both.”
At the age of 7, Kahl began suffering from hearing loss. Doctors assumed this was due to German measles, a misdiagnosis. She worked with a speech pathologist and was fitted for hearing aids.
When she was 25 years old, she began to lose her vision. She was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a partial diagnosis.
According to the National Eye Institute, retinitis pigmentosa is a degenerative disease that affects light sensitivity in the eye. At this time, she had no idea that her vision and hearing loss were connected. Her Usher Syndrome diagnosis would not come until she was 62 years old.
By 2007, Kahl was profoundly deaf. Kahl recalls this moment when she and her husband were in a bar, and she realized her hearing was gone.
“All of a sudden, they dimmed the lights, and I could no longer see, and I didn’t realize how much I was reading lips,” Kahl said. She realized that without her sight, she couldn’t understand anybody.
“I made a commitment. Getting my hearing back was my first miracle. Now I’m ready for my second miracle.”
By 2008, Kahl had two cochlear implants, and she could hear better than she ever had before. She made it her mission to focus on blindness, not just for herself, but for the millions of Americans who suffer from vision loss.
Kahl spends most of her time working with the Foundation Fighting Blindness, which is responsible for researching and developing treatments for all types of vision loss.
“If I can make a difference in one person’s life, it delights me,” Kahl said.
Throughout the seven years Kahl spent in Florida, she hosted several events and raised more than one million dollars for the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Kahl is currently running her Good Egg Campaign, in which participants donate and challenge 11 others to match their contributions, essentially filling an entire carton of eggs.
Kahl has plans to partner with the Strand Theater to host a fundraising movie night featuring “The Miracle Worker.” Proceeds from the event would go to the Foundation Fighting Blindness.
