- April 29, 2024
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Katie McCoy stood on a stage with scenery made to look like a bus while her guide dog, Bristol, laid at her feet.
An audio recording of McCoy’s thoughts of her trying to get from a cafe to a farmers market by taking a bus played aloud. In the recording, McCoy almost was hit by a car while crossing the street.
With a blindfold over their eyes, dozens of people listened intently, hearing the anxiety and fear in McCoy’s voice. The blindfold simulated an experience of someone who is visually impaired. McCoy has retinitis pigmentosa, a rare, genetic eye disorder that involves the breakdown and loss of cells in the retina.
When the audio recording was complete, everyone was able to remove their blindfolds.
But for McCoy, every day is like living with a blindfold on at all times.
Through the multisensory presentation “Beyond the Dark,” people were able to hear McCoy’s story of how she lived in darkness for 24 years until she received a guide dog, Bristol, from Southeastern Guide Dogs.
The audio of McCoy’s travels provided insight into the life of a person who is visually impaired.
“The thing about the darkness is you can’t move beyond it until you’re willing to ask for help,” McCoy said. “(Bristol) takes a world filled with fear and helps me navigate it. Bristol is the wish my heart made before I even knew what I was wishing for.”
McCoy, who is an associate director of philanthropy for the nonprofit, will share her story through “Beyond the Dark” at Lakewood Ranch Cinema on April 25.
The presentation of “Beyond the Dark” at Lakewood Ranch Cinema will be the first time Southeastern Guide Dogs has given the presentation off campus. The nonprofit typically gives the presentation once per month at its Palmetto-based campus.
“Beyond the Dark” gives people an opportunity to hear from McCoy as well as Sean Brown, a retired U.S. Army sergeant who received a service dog from Southeastern Guide Dogs when he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Brown, who is an associate director of philanthropy for the nonprofit, said it’s important for people to see behind-the-scenes of the reality of what veterans and people who are visually impaired live with every day.
“A lot of times you see folks who are visually impaired out in public, and you have no clue the lives they live and the hurdles they go through,” Brown said. “Most people have no clue what it’s like to live in the shoes of a veteran.”
McCoy and Brown said the presentation demonstrates the importance of Southeastern Guide Dogs and how it’s changing people’s lives, including their own.
When Brown medically retired from the Army in 2013, he was living in Savannah, Georgia, and struggling with PTSD. He was working three part-time jobs and had to hide how he was struggling because all his jobs were in the public eye.
In 2018 after an argument with his wife, Brown said he knew it was time to get help. He said it was the closest he had been to taking his own life.
Brown received a service dog from Southeastern Guide Dogs in March 2018.
“Southeastern Guide Dogs gave me a mission again,” he said.
Brown said his job gives him the ability to take care of troops again like he did during his time in the Army. He said since the nonprofit began providing service dogs to veterans, it has not lost a veteran to suicide.
Having the presentation at Lakewood Ranch Cinema will allow people to dive deeper into the multisensory experience with the surround sound, Brown said. During the presentation, Brown shares audio of a nightmare that brought him back to being at war.
“It’s going to allow people to get a true feel of what the reality is for so many people,” Brown said. “They get to take the blindfold off, but we live with these things all day long.”
The presentation also gives people an opportunity to learn more about the nonprofit and its mission. Demonstrations of how the dogs are trained are conducted.
