SUMTER, S.C. — Fifty years of aiding the blind community in Sumter is being celebrated this month. October is Blind Equality Achievement Month, but members of the National Federation of the Blind South Carolina work every day to empower, connect and serve people who are visually impaired throughout the state.
“If I can help someone along the way, then I know my living is not in vain,” National Federation of the Blind Sumter Chapter President Debra Canty says about why she decided to serve in the role.
Canty began serving as president for the local chapter in 2001, just two years after she went fully blind following a seven year struggle with optic neuritis.
“I would always say, ‘God, please don't let me lose my natural eyesight,’ because I thought at that time if I did that would be the worst thing that could ever happen to me,” Canty remembers. “But looking back now, over two decades, I realized that losing my sight was not the worst thing that could have happened, because I've lived my best life as a blind person.”
Through it, Canty tells me she’s found her passion: educating others about blindness and helping provide resources to people who are visually impaired.
“When a life has been changed, or a life has been improved, that gives me joy to see someone else able to do the things in life that they thought they could not do,” Canty shares. “I am a believer and my faith is strong. And I do believe God chose me as a blind person to continue to help other blind people realize that blindness is not the worst thing that can happen to you.”
The federation serves people who are blind by teaching them how to use technology, helping with transportation and providing assistive devices like talking clocks. It also provides fellowship through forming a community of people who understand each others’ experiences, Canty says.
“Miss Debra Canty is a mover and a shaker,” Doug Hudson, the former chapter vice president, says. “In the Sumter chapter, she is responsible for most of its growth.”
Hudson was one of the original organizers of the Sumter chapter, which he helped start alongside five other members in 1973 when he was a student at Sumter High School.
“Sumter needed a place where blind people could come and socialize and also be represented in the state organization because we needed to positively impact legislation,” Hudson says. “We needed to socialize, we needed to improve the perception of blindness, what it is and what it is not. And we thought a Sumter chapter would facilitate such a thing.”
When he served as vice president, Hudson tells me there were about 10 members. Now, Canty says there are 100 as the chapter celebrates its 50th anniversary.
“I think it means a half century of dedicated blind people trying to improve the plight, the situation of the other blind people,” Hudson shares.
The chapter will be hosting a Christmas gala to continue the celebration on Dec. 12 where over 300 people are expected to come together.
