The Optical Vision Site

Blind Photographers- Fantastic Images From The Visually Impaired.

If you want to be impressed and awed, check out The Blind Photographer Image site. The images are from blind or visually impaired photographers and cover a wide span of subjects going over a few years.

Blind Photographers

There is a blog on the site, you can visit them on Facebook as well. I am wowed by the creative expression the subject matter the abilities of those who are visually impaired to produce such work.

Camera For The Blind

When I saw this, I wondered why would a blind person take pictures? But why not? This camera is made for the blind to take photos. They too can share their memories with friends and families. To see how it works and more information go to  Nadeem Haidary.

Low Vision Patients Increasing

According to The Vision Council, the number of people experiencing low vision is increasing. Six million Americans experience low vision and another 20 million adults have some visual impairment. Adding low vision to your practice can provide you with two new sources of revenue – services and devices – that can lead to a significant return on investment. Adding low vision today could greatly expand your patient base.

To learn more, please contact the members of The Vision Council’s Low Vision Division shown below. You can also refer to our directory listing for low vision on www.opticalvisionresources.com.

COMPANY WEBSITE WORK PHONE

ABISEE www.abisee.com 800-681-5909

Art Optical Contact Lens, Inc www.artoptical.com 800-253-9364

Beecher Research, Inc. n/a 800-934-8765

CTP Coil, Inc. www.coil.co.uk 847-228-8818

Designs for Vision, Inc. www.designsforvision.com 800-345-4009

Dioptics Medical Products www.dioptics.com 800-959-9040

Enhanced Vision www.enhancedvision.com 800-440-9476

Eschenbach Optik of America www.eschenbach.com 800-487-5389

Fortifeye Vitamins www.fortifeye.com 866-503-9746

Lighthouse International www.lighthouse.org 800-821-0500

LowVision.com www.lowvision.com 800-826-4200

LS & S, LLC. www.LSSproducts.com 800-468-4789

Noir Medical Technologies, Inc. www.noirmedical.com 800-521-9746

Ocusource.com, LLC. www.ocusource.com 888-299-6657

Ocutech, Inc. www.ocutech.com 800-326-6460

Optelec www.optelec.com 800-826-4200

Vision Advantage International, Inc. www.visionadvantage.net 402-327-9274

Vision Technology, Inc. www.visiontechnology.com 800-560-7226

Walters Low Vision Optics www.walterslowvision.com 800-992-5837

Vision Aware- Excellent Self Help Resource Center For Vision Loss

Vision Aware- (who is following us on Twitter) is a wonderful resource for the visually impaired and for professionals who works with people who are blind or have low vision. The site has tons of good stuff from living, products, vendors, coping and families. I just read their post on Blind Bloggers- which are blogs by people who are blind or have low vision.

What to do with it- if you have a website or a blog- Place it on your links page. If you don’t have a website just print the page, put it in a plastic folder and put in the reception room. Excellent resource.

Blind Baseball or Beepball For The Visually Impaired

I have heard of the blind skiing and surfing but never blind baseball. The Stockton Stingrays is a blind and visually impaired  baseball team working with sighted volunteers to compete in an adaptive version of baseball.

Beep Baseball- is when all fielders and batters are blindfolded and players bat at beeping baseball and run toweard a buzzing base, scoring if they reach before a field gains full control of a ball. (see video) Pretty incredible.

Fashionable Blind Phone

Tactility Phone by Siwei Liu

One of our favorite sites is Yanko Design. They have done several pieces for the visually impaired. The latest is this fashionable blind phone. A clean look with a 3D braille Face. The hole at the bottom is to loop around your belt or purse or put some charms on.

Haptic Reader Lets The Blind Read Non-Braille Books

Photo:tuvie.com

Haptic Reader is a concept devices that assists the blind on reading braille book.s The flat glass surface converts the letters of the page into braille.

To see more to to Tuvie.com

Vision Impairment and Lost Productivity

Photo:lowvision.org

GENEVA—Corrected vision impairment could prevent billions of dollars in lost productivity annually, according to a study by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of School of Public Health, the International Centre for Eyecare Education, the University of New South Wales and the African Vision Research Institute.

Researchers estimate that nearly 158 million people globally suffer with vision impairment resulting from uncorrected refractive error, which can usually be eliminated with a pair of eyeglasses and an eye examination. This is the first study New Study: Vision Impairment Costs Billions Worldwide in Lost Productivityto estimate the productivity loss from uncorrected refractive error and is published in the June 2009 issue of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization

“The economic gains that could be made if eyeglasses were provided to everyone in need are substantial,” said Kevin Frick, author of the study and an associate professor with the Bloomberg School’s Department of Health Policy and Management. “Our research estimates $269 billion in productivity lost and nearly 158 million people are vision-impaired because of uncorrected refractive error—which is correctable. The Western Pacific region, which includes China and Vietnam, has the highest estimated number of cases of uncorrected refractive error at 62 million and is responsible for almost half of the potential loss of productivity. The Southeast Asia region, encompassing Bangladesh, India and Nepal, has 48.7 million cases.”

Frick, along with colleagues, used conservative assumptions and national data to estimate the purchasing power, parity-adjusted gross domestic product loss for individuals with impaired vision and blindness, and for individuals with normal sight who provide them with informal care. Researchers found that uncorrected refractive error has a potentially greater impact on the global economy than all other preventable vision disorders despite low-cost interventions such as eyeglasses.

“Apart from the moral obligation, this research indicates that there is a tremendous loss of human potential and lost productivity associated with avoidable blindness and impaired vision due to uncorrected refractive error,” said Frick.

“Potential lost productivity resulting from the global burden of uncorrected refractive error” was written by TST Smith, KD Frick, BA Holden, TR Fricke and KS Naidoo.