Imagine waking up one morning and not being able to see the clock next to your bed — and not because the power is out.

That’s what happened to Marilyn Miller on the Fourth of July two summers ago. She had long coped with seeing out of one eye due to the other being severely affected with age-related macular degeneration, but now her good eye couldn’t even see the periphery that her bad eye could.

A ferry ride and holiday wait at the hospital in Seattle later, Marilyn was informed that blood vessels in her eye had become twisted, and what she saw (or didn’t see) was what she was going to get for the rest of her life. Thankfully, Marilyn’s partner Peggy Swingle knew just where to turn — or at least what call to make next.

Megan Hawgood, the mother of one of Peggy’s piano students, had spoken of the Visually Impaired Persons support group with which she worked. She was able to get them the VIP’s resource guide and an application for the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library within minutes of the call, and she highly recommended that Marilyn begin attending the monthly support group meetings the VIP holds at the library every second Wednesday of the month.

“I’ve never been a joiner,” Marilyn said, “but the next week I tried — and it was such a relief to be there.” She hasn’t missed a meeting but once ever since.

Visual impairments come in many varieties. Some can come on suddenly, as in Marilyn’s case with her “good eye”; others happen over time, as in the most common age-related macular degeneration (see below); and yet others can happen as a result of an illness, as in the case of current VIP President, Jerry Brader.

Like Marilyn’s case, Jerry’s two eyes each have their own story. One has macular damage that came as a result of an infection he had in his 20s. But when he contracted chicken pox in his 40s in 1996, two weeks of severe fever poached out the retina in both eyes, resulting in his current primary visual impairment, retinitis pigmentosa (RP).

Jerry says that with RP, “life is more like a Monet painting — I don’t have definition and the colors are all off.” The brighter it gets, the less Jerry sees. To read printed material, the print needs to be very large and then he can only see what’s directly in front of his eyes. Using VIP resources, Jerry takes full advantage of adaptive aids (see below) to live his very busy and full life as husband, father of two school-aged kids, masseur, and as his alter-ego, Majik the Clown.

Probably the most common variety of visual impairment experienced by the people who frequent the VIP meetings is macular degeneration (MD) — which is often age-related, and worsens over time with more and more of the central field of vision disappearing behind a “blind spot,” leaving only peripheral vision.

Evelyn Peratrovich, the VIP’s longest-standing member, has MD. “When the VIP first started in 1992,” Evelyn said, “we were just 19 people meeting at the Winslow Arms – organized by a Nancy Humleker, a clinic assistant at the Poulsbo Eye Clinic. I saw the notice of the second meeting in the paper, and suggested to my husband Stan that we go. Both of us had vision problems, but because I had the best vision in the group at the time, I became secretary and started my role as archivist. Besides providing us with all sorts of resources, the VIP really became central to our social life — we met such great people there. I often think of the outstanding and inspirational individuals I’ve met through the VIP over the years.”

When the VIP started, the resources available looked quite different than today. They had the original and unwieldy Washington Talking Book and Braille Library machine that played cassette “books on tape.” Now those books are played on a more portable rechargeable digital player, and come on a cartridge that could hold hundreds of books if needed.

Members of the VIP Book Club use the player and the library service to read books for the bi-monthly discussion meetings. The player also has a side USB port that the VIPs use to play recordings — made by volunteers — of the Bainbridge Review and Islander, which are circulated on flash drive weekly to any VIP members wanting the service. VIPs can now also download digital books and other reading material to play via a flash drive or blank cartridge on the WTBBL machine, or on a variety of devices, including Victor Readers, iPads and iPhones (and other smart phones and tablets).

What’s completely new and changing for the better almost daily are all the applications that are being developed to use on smart phones and tablets, which can be a game changer for VIPs who want to continue leading their lives in the fullest way possible. For example, one app that has caught the attention of many at the VIP group is the KNFB Reader. Using it, a VIP can take a photo of any written document and his/her smart phone will read it out loud immediately.

Beginning in April, the VIP is organizing volunteers to be available for training help with those adaptive apps on members’ smartphones and tablets, which sometimes take a little bit of help from a sighted person to get working most effectively.

The VIP group plans its monthly meetings to keep members up to date on the newest developments in adaptive aids, medical advances, and other topics of interest to VIPs — such as the various arts accessible programs in Seattle (Art Beyond Sight at the Seattle Art Museum, and Seattle Vision Loss Connections’ trips to see theater). The VIP also works hard to provide an avenue for exploring the treasures on our own island, with meetings occasionally scheduled at the Bainbridge Island Historical Museum, and the BI Museum of Art, and field trips planned on occasion to Bloedel, with one in discussion to BARN. Through Dale Spoor, the VIP group has also reached out to help the blind community on our sister island, Ometepe.

Members have come and gone over the years — with some who’ve moved away staying connected via modern technology. Dan Stroeing – one of those inspirational people Evelyn thinks about, who lost his vision suddenly due to stroke, but refused to let that stop his love of skiing and adventuring — continues to share articles he finds and new tools he’s exploring in his new home of Minnesota, and has even talked about attending meetings via FaceTime when he can.

The VIP wants to spread the word about their monthly meetings and all the support and connections that are available there. As everyone who has eventually come to the VIP will tell you (no matter what variety of visual impairment he/she has), dealing with visual impairment is no walk in the park, but knowing others who are dealing with the same thing, and having access to all the existing and developing aids out there is invaluable.

The VIP support group meets the second Wednesday of every month from 1 to 3 p.m. in the big meeting room upstairs at the Bainbridge Public Library.

Megan Hawgood has worked with the BI Visually Impaired Persons Support Group for the past two decades.