by Elmer Fischer
On August 7, 2002, I lost the love of my life from diabetes-related complications. Joann had been insulin dependent for 60 years and lost her battle with diabetes at the age of 64.
We met at an ACBO state convention in Columbus, Ohio in 1988. She and some of the other women were selling hugs for $1 each as a fundraiser. In subsequent years I told people that we met when Joann was selling her body at a convention. It was love at first hug and we were together from that day on and got married in 1993.
At the time of our meeting, I was totally blind and she was legally blind because of diabetic retinopathy. We both had had vision in our earlier lives and were drawn to audio description. We knew what was missing when the visual components of movies, theater, etc., were not there. Her early visual experiences fueled her passion for audio description and she was determined that people who are visually impaired should not miss out on the visual aspects of such things.
Joann was fascinated by clothes, colors, and a variety of similar visual experiences. She had a monogrammed T-shirt and/or sweatshirt in a variety of colors for every holiday and occasion and a pair of earrings to match. Her appreciation for things of beauty and color along with her passion for audio description drove her to help form Accessible Arts, an organization in Columbus whose primary mission is to audio describe first-run movies. Because of that organization, it has not been anything unusual for more than 50 visually impaired people to enjoy an audio-described film such as Titanic or Harry Potter, along with popcorn, candy bars and all the trimmings. The only reward she needed were the smiles that appeared on the faces of the moviegoers as they left the theater.
When we were married in 1993, she insisted that the ceremony be audio described for our visually impaired friends. The event was billed as the first audio-described wedding and was covered in the August issue of “The Braille Forum” in 1993. An amusing anecdote concerning our wedding is worth repeating at this time. Joann has twin daughters and they were both in the wedding. The describer knew this and told our visually impaired friends over the audio description receivers. A sighted friend who was sitting next to one of our blind friends saw the twins and commented that the two women looked enough alike to be twins. Our blind friend just smiled to herself, for she knew something her sighted companion did not know. Usually, it is the other way around.
So, when our family was planning the memorial service for Joann, there was no doubt in my mind that it had to be audio described. Like our wedding, we thought it would be a first. And so with a church full of people (estimated to total about 300), Joann was laid to rest knowing that the 25 visually impaired friends who were in attendance were able to experience the last tribute to her in full.
We heard comments from our visually impaired friends such as, “The flowers and the church were beautiful.” Also, the describer fed our friends the lines during a responsive reading as well as the congregational hymn. A sighted friend of mind said she was touched by seeing our visually impaired friends reading and singing along with everyone else. As a result, a blind friend said she felt that she had actually fully participated in a church service for the first time.
Some people say that audio description is nice but not necessary. However, Joann never felt that way and neither did the visually impaired friends who came to both our wedding and her memorial service. There is no monetary value that can be placed on experiences such as these. They are the things that give meaning to life.
Yes, the little things of life, which can only be experienced through sight, meant much to Joann. When people would ask her what thing she missed most because of blindness, she would without hesitation say, “I wish my husband, Elmer, could have seen me.” Many have told me that Joann’s dominant physical characteristic was her smile. They have told me it was ever present and from ear to ear. Well, that was one thing I did not have to see to appreciate because Joann smiled in her heart, and that was what showed on her face. I could see that inner smile, and I will remember it always. Her ever-present smile will be transformed in the future onto the faces of people who are visually impaired as they enjoy the audio-described movies and other events made possible through the dedicated efforts of the volunteers of Accessible Arts of Columbus.