Maria Harmeier's Contact Details

Maria Harmeier's Company Details

Florida's Vision Quest, Inc.

Orange City, Florida, United States • 3 Employees
Nonprofit Organization Management

Vision disorders are the fourth most common disability among children in the United States and the leading cause of impaired conditions in childhood. Since 80% of learning depends on the visual system, students with uncorrected vision problems are at a tremendous disadvantage in developing the assets critical to healthy development. It is estimated that 1 out of 4 school-age children have undiagnosed vision problems significant enough to affect their performance in school and in life. In at-risk populations, such as children born into poverty, this percentage is likely to double. These children are not complaining as this is the only world they know. Several studies have linked uncorrected vision problems with juvenile delinquency. Vision problems can result in skill deficiencies, difficulty in reading and learning and poor academic performance -- which in turn, creates feelings of failure, low self-esteem and lack of interest in school. Among juvenile offenders, it is estimated that 7 out of 10 adjudicated juveniles have undiagnosed vision problems. Florida's Vision Quest (FVQ) is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization that attacks one of the root causes of social and academic failure – poor vision. Since the inception of the Vision Quest program in 1994, it has been its mission to ensure the academic and social success of Florida's most vulnerable children by providing vision screenings, comprehensive vision exams and new glasses for those challenged with poor vision. A simple pair of eyeglasses can allow a child to change F's and D's to A's and B's. A fifth grader recently said "I could never understand why the teacher spent so much time writing on the chalkboard when no one can see it!" For some students, a simple pair of glasses is the difference between dropping out of school and a graduation diploma.