As a Certified Low Vision Therapist (CLVT), and New Jersey's only occupational therapist to achieve specialty certification in low vision (SCLV) from the American Occupational Therapy Association, Elsa Zavoda has spent the last five years as Vice President of Programs with the Vision Loss Alliance of New Jersey, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization serving adults with vision loss and blindness for the past 78 years by providing support, education, skills training, assistive technology.
Zavoda's passion for working with the visually impaired began 25 years ago as an occupational therapist by observing patients with strokes and brain injuries to understand how vision loss impacted their ability to function, which inspired her to later specialize in low vision therapy.
Throughout her career, Zavoda credits recent advances in technology as the biggest game-changer for those with low vision, particularly optical character recognition (OCR) and platforms such as Microsoft's free Seeing AI app for smart devices, which has opened up a world of opportunity for those with visual impairments, many of whom were previously unable to access print or online text using glasses or magnifiers.
It's that same technology that served as a vital lifeline for the Vision Loss Alliance of New Jersey's clients last year with the onset of COVID-19.
"Prior to the pandemic, all our services were provided in-person, adapting to the need brought about by COVID-19, the Vision Loss Alliance of New Jersey started offering online programming for clients new to vision loss," said Zavoda, including the Alliance's Living Independently for Tomorrow (LIFT), a virtual adaptive skills program for people adjusting to sight loss and their family members providing basic training in daily life activities.
Adding to the need, New Jersey's state-funded services and programs for the visually impaired were shut down for many months at the beginning of the pandemic. "Suddenly with our virtual model, geography was no longer a barrier to access to our services," according to Zavoda. "We began getting many calls from across the state from those new to vision loss who - prior to the pandemic – physically traveling to our location for services was not an option."
The Vision Loss Alliance of New Jersey turned to Hadley to augment their online learning experiences for their clients. Hadley, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, is the nation's oldest and largest leader in distance and online learning for visually impaired adults from all 50 states and more than 100 countries. Recently Hadley launched Hadley.edu, a new online learning hub offering free online workshops, videos, and podcasts on a variety of practical topics with live support from experts, and timely discussion groups.
As a graduate of Hadley's braille series, Zavoda herself has been an advocate and adopter of Hadley's free resources for the visually impaired clients she serves. "We have been using Hadley’s content for a long time at the Alliance," said Zavoda. "Hadley has been an indispensable resource to have at my fingertips, particularly since the pandemic. We are grateful to be able to share Hadley's resources with our clients. It's a great platform, with so many practical topics that are taught in a simple, effective, and respectful manner for adult learners, we are very much aligned."
For her efforts and contributions keeping the visually impaired connected to much-needed resources during the pandemic, Zavoda has been named a recipient of Hadley's HEROES Award. "Elsa has truly helped Hadley make our resources more readily available to visually impaired residents of New Jersey," said Julie Tye, President and CEO of Hadley. "Vision Loss Alliance of New Jersey and Elsa's commitment to learning has been invaluable, and we will never take it for granted."
"It's a high honor to be recognized by Hadley, they are such an esteemed organization in our profession, said Zavoda. "The fact that their services are free to users is just one of the many ways we are collaborating professionally to ensure we are removing barriers to help those with vision loss or blindness to achieve their goals."