Blind Leading Blind
By Jordan Ikeda
Rafu Staff Writer
Friday, Mar. 14, 2008

Ernie Takemoto and Bill Takeshita Use Their Experiences to Help Educate Visually Impaired People.

JORDAN IKEDA/Rafu Shimpo
Ernie Takemoto and Bill Takeshita play like Ray Charles and Stevie
Wonder showing that fun and fulfilling lives don’t stop after becoming
visually impaired.

Blindness is not something people usually prepare for. There is no blind­ness saving fund. People don’t learn Braille in anticipation of losing their vision. And yet, sight is a valuable gift that many take for granted until they no longer have it.

Ernie Takemoto used to work as a probation officer. Head of the Asian gang unit, he covered all of Los Angeles County checking on convicted gang members. It’s a job that requires odd hours and the ability to remain in control when situations become hairy. He really enjoyed his job and used to be really good at it too. Felt like he was doing something for his own community.

Then came the news that he had diabetes.

Like many of the other challenges in his life, Takemoto felt confident he would get through it. See, Takemoto is a generally funny guy. He enjoys self-deprecating humor and can dish out the jabs as well. He’s the type of person that is really easy to talk with, who can make it easy for others to get to know each other. But that side of his personality, mixed with the nature of his job, produced a somewhat muted view of his condition. He continued to live a life mostly unchanged.

“If I would have watched my diet, and been instructed better, probably earlier in what could happen, then probably would have been able to do something, take more active involve­ment with my health,” he said. “But basically did whatever wanted.”

Seven years ago, Takemoto woke up one morning and had problems see­ing out of his right eye. By the time he went in to see a doctor, he was told he had glaucoma and that the medical staff would do everything they could to save his left eye—the right being too far gone.

Transferred to UCLA to see a glau­coma specialist, Takemoto underwent successful glaucoma surgery. Despite the success, his vision continued to slowly deteriorate.

“The moment knew when couldn’t drive anymore,” he said, “the culminat­ing fact was when was driving down the middle of the street, in the center median. I almost hit someone. I knew it was time.”

It’s not an easy thing to admit some­thing like that. To take away certain free­doms and privileges one has enjoyed for the better part of his life. That in itself is hard enough. But Takemoto was also go­ing through a divorce. Pick any number of sayings about negativity spawning negativity, or when it rains it pours.

“Everything was just happening at one time,” Takemoto said. “That was the most difficult thing think I’ve faced. I didn’t want to live anymore. It had gotten to the point where said, ‘This sucks.’”

“I always felt like was in control of my life,” he said. “Being in the job that I was in, I always had to be a confident and aggressive type of person. What this has taught me, is I’ve learned how not to be so independent. I have to trust others to be able to help me.”

Takemoto has learned how to trust a great deal since then. He found faith in God through the guidance of Rob Yamemoto. His best friend, Glen Hi­sayasu, introduced him to Kathy Zelaya, a mobility trainer who helped him to begin to learn how to manage a life without sight. She offered her services free of charge.

During this time, he also met Bill Takeshita.

Takeshita had been, for seventeen years, a practicing optometrist with a private practice in Santa Monica. He had also been the chief of optometry for an organization called the Center for the Partially Sighted (CPS) that specializes in helping the visually impaired.

Ironically, in 2004 he began to develop his own vision loss. It started with blurry vision in one eye and slowly continued to progress until it had spread to both. This past September, Takeshita lost all of his vision. The condition he suffered from is called rod-cone degeneration where the photoreceptors in the eyes lose their ability to function. There is no current treatment.

Takeshita is an easy-going guy. He’s al­ways smiling, cracking jokes. He takes his blindness with a grin and seems to view it as a challenge. He makes the people he is with feel comfortable. Because of his demeanor and manner of speaking, someone who had never met him might think that he doesn’t miss his vision. That would be a false assumption, but a testa­ment to his spirit.

Giving up his job was the hardest part. Giving up driving and the freedom it al­lowed, was a close second. Takeshita loves sports, played NAU, had season tickets to the Lakers and Bruins. All of the things he enjoyed most, for him will never again be experienced in the same way.

“I was really scared,” Takeshita said about losing his sight, “because would see how so many people would come into our center and they were really depressed or really angry. I didn’t want to become that way.”

Forced into early retirement, Takeshita spent the next year of his life searching for a cure he knew didn’t exist. Despite the vast advances in medicine and sur­gery, there is no such thing as an eye transplant.

Anything that might cure his vision he tried, spending a great deal of time and money along the way—alternative medicine, acupuncture, vitamin therapy, intravenous chelation therapy. Like any­one, he didn’t want to be blind. There was too much for him to still see. His son Brent 1 just started high school. His daughter Jaime will soon be in college.

“I used to think,” Takeshita said of his daughter, “I’m never going to get to see what she looks like when she gets married. You know, you have those thoughts.”

During the same time he was going through his loss of vision, his brother Dave was suffering from a heart condition. The two would talk a lot, leaning on each other for support. He credits his brother for helping him find faith as well.

When his brother passed away, it really changed his perspective.

“I just realized that certain things don’t have control over,” Takeshita said. “You just make the best of what you can do for each day.”

He found peace, realized how fortunate he was to still be alive, to still have the opportunity to share life with his wife and two kids, his friends and family all of whom he credits with helping him and car­rying him when he was down—especially his wife June. At that point he stopped searching for cures and instead looked to embrace his future.

His blindness, however, hasn’t stopped him. investigated in how to read Braille and how to use computers. He also jumped back into the job market. He is currently an adjunct professor at the Southern Cali­fornia College of Optometry. He teaches doctors about low vision—a sub-specialty in optometry specializing in working with people with vision problems. He is also the director of low vision at the Braille Institute and still has ties with the CPS.

“I still have patients come to me,” Takeshita said, “but instead of doing the procedures, they tell me what they see and then calculate how the center can help them.”

Back working, back helping people with their vision problems, Takeshita was introduced to Takemoto through a mutual friend.

“He’s been very helpful with me,” Takemoto said of Takeshita. “Just trying to get converted into it. I’m learning more now than ever have. In the sense that I’m trying to become a little more, where able to work through things on my own, rather than have other people do everything for me.”

“I don’t think that any person in this world is truly independent,” Takeshita said. “I go to these meetings and they say, well you know the blind people, they need to be totally independent. I don’t think could ever be totally independent.”

Takemoto echoes that thought, “Being Japanese, think that’s made it harder too. You’re always told to enryo. Not to depend on others, but to depend on yourself. With this condition can’t. There is no way could do this on my own.”

The beautiful thing is, people with vi­sion impairment don’t have to go about it alone. There are a whole host of programs, tools, and devices that are readily available for those who are looking and in need.

Both Takemoto and Takeshita are on a mission to spread the word, to help other people currently in need as well as aid in providing information so that others might avoid vision loss.

There are three main types of vision impairments that can affect Japanese and Japanese American people. Diabetes, glaucoma and macular degeneration. Diabetes and glaucoma generally occur in anyone over the age of 40.

Most people can’t tell that they have either condition because it affects the peripheral vision. Vision can remain clear until either disease becomes really advanced. Neither disease can be cured, but if caught early enough both can be controlled through the use of medications and treatment.

Macular degeneration affects older people and is the leading cause of vision loss and blindness in people over the age of 65. It occurs with degeneration of the macula, which is the part of the retina responsible for the sharp, central vision needed to read or drive. The disease causes this area of the retina to suffer thinning, atrophy and at times bleeding.

Takeshita stresses that it is of the ut­most importance that people get their eyes checked every year so that the doctors can test for these types of problems. And not just the standard checkup for glasses. It is imperative that the doctor administer eye drops that dilate the pupils. Some places don’t always give these types of tests dur­ing routine checkups.

“Unfortunately what saw when practiced,” said Takeshita, “most of the Japanese people who came into our clinic, had eye conditions for the most part that could have been prevented. I think again, a lot of it is cultural. You’re not trained to go into the office and complain.”

“A lot of Japanese men, they just don’t go in,” added Takemoto, who can per­sonally attest to that fact. “They got this macho man mentality. I’m okay.”

The silver lining is that according to Takeshita, 90 percent of people who are visually impaired have vision that is useful. Very few who have no functional vision.

For those people with low vision who live in the Los Angeles area, there is the CPS that provides evaluations, counsel­ing, rehabilitation services, referrals to local services, and a store that provides a variety of items and tools from glasses to computers that aid low vision patients. Transportation is also available.

Another resource is the Braille Insti­tute that has five locations in Southern California: Los Angeles, San Diego, Palm Springs, Orange County and Santa Bar­bara. They offer over 200 classes that are as diverse as dancing and creative arts and as functional as home management.

“I go down to the Braille Institute three times a week,” said Takemoto who was at first hesitant to go due to the synonymous nature of the name Braille with blindness. “I initially didn’t want to be a part of it, because I’m not blind. But then I found out about the classes they offer, and, I have to tell you it’s a lot of fun.”

Takemoto takes a hiking class where they travel out to Griffith Park. He also takes a cooking class that costs only $5 for the entire semester, a sports conversa­tion class hosted by former Dodgers first baseman Wes Parker and an independent living class that helps teach people how to best organize their lives in a way that will help them function independently. All of the classes besides cooking are free.

If a low vision person is of working age, then there is something called the California Department of Rehabilitation. They specialize in looking to help people that have disabilities obtain equipment that will aid them in their lives.

“I got this CCTV screen,” said Take­moto. “What it does is you stick any sort of printed material beneath it and it blows it up—magnifies it.”

“It’s a 20-inch computer monitor with a camera underneath,” added Takeshita. “You can put a newspaper or medication labels, and it will magnify it so you can read it.”

Other tools include JAWS which is software that outputs the contents on the computer screen to the speakers. It basi­cally reads aloud the text on the screen. There is also a program called ZoomText which enhances everything on the screen. Kurzweil is another program that scans any printed material and reads it.

AIRS LA (Audio Internet Reading Service of Los Angeles) is a reading service that features podcasts of essential and popular topics and streaming audio of special events.

Most of these services are either free or covered by Medicare and Medical insurance. There are also different kinds of programs where if someone is low income they might get funding through the Department of Rehabilitation. There is government money and insurance that is available for those in need.

The point is that there is hope.

Takemoto and Takeshita know the importance of staying active. They also know the importance of information, of being knowledgeable on how to deal with being visually impaired or blind. They want to start a support group where people can come and talk to them, talk with oth­ers who are struggling through the same feelings and same problems.

They are willing to work hard to make this happen. For those interested and especially for those in need or those with questions, email Jikeda@rafu.com or call (213) 629-2231 ext. 148 and leave a mes­sage with your name and number so that we can put this dream into motion.

“It’s important to know that despite age, race, gender or whatever, there is help and information out there, available for anyone in need,” Takeshita said.

To access the Braille Institute visit www.brailleinstitute.org or call (323) 663-1111. To access the Center for the Partially Sighted visit www.low-vision.org or call (310) 458-3501. To access the Department of Rehabilitation visit www.dor.ca.gov or call (916) 324-1313. To access AIRS LA visit www.airsla.org. Also visit the Bill Takesita Foundation’s website www.drbillfoundation.org.