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Clocks that tell time in two languages, desk top magnifiers, and illuminated magnified mirrors are some of the many products designed to aid the visually-impaired that are available in Midtown Manhattan's Lighthouse Store.

The store is run by Lighthouse International, a worldwide organization that helps education, rehabilitation and research into visual disabilities.

Volunteer salesperson Ellie Roth is eager to share her knowledge about the store's products.

"I would just like them to know that there is stuff that can really make their life easier," she says.

Roth began to lose her vision 18 years ago, and ever since has been compiling information about products and services for those who have problems with their sight. She says she started volunteering at the store six years ago to help others just as Lighthouse has helped her.

"Everything takes longer, that's the thing. When you're used to doing things lickety-split, you don't have that opportunity anymore," says Roth. "You've just got to slow down yourself and it's upsetting because you have to find a new way to live."

Her colleagues say she sometimes spends hours teaching customers about the products in the store.

"Ellie really goes far and beyond what she needs to do in order to provide information and help the customer out," says store manager Maribell Cruz.

Roth says the help she gives to others is reciprocated.

"I found out that New Yorkers are so incredibly nice," says Roth. "When I have my cane out, there is not one person who doesn't help me, I can't walk a block with out someone saying, 'Can I cross?'"

Besides her work at the lighthouse store, Roth also created a website to teach people with low vision how to make their lives easier. She lists the products and services available to people who are visually impaired.

"I'll impart them things that maybe Lighthouse Store doesn't sell, because I am never trying to sell them anything, I am trying to help them," says Roth.

So, for sharing her knowledge and always wanting to help customers, Ellie Roth is the New Yorker of the Week.

If you'd like to nominate someone to be NY1's New Yorker of the Week, send an email describing their qualifications to: nyer@ny1.com or mail a letter to:
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