Council on Aging Answers 2015 - 35

COUNCIL ON AGING - ORANGE COUNTY

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Reality: People should be encouraged to use their
remaining sight. Eyes cannot be weakened or damaged
by normal use.
Myth: Expensive modifications in the workplace
are required to accommodate a blind employee.
Reality: Many adaptations can be made at little or no
cost. Often a minor accommodation, such as improved
lighting or additional software is all that is needed.
Myth: People who have lost their sight need extra supervision.
Reality: Sighted people should not be overprotective
of people with low vision although occasionally they still
may need help. Let them tell you when they need your
help. This increases their degree of self-confidence and
reinforces their capabilities, not their disability.
Try tasks and functions for yourself to discover
whether or not you can do them independently and
with confidence. Loved ones and friends may not understand that vision loss has many forms. If they know
your particular kind of sight loss, they will understand
that your ability to do some things and not others reflects you true abilities and limitations.
Low-Vision Aids
A wide array of devices, practical tips and innovative
ideas are available to help you.
Magnifiers - Magnification devices can be handheld, freestanding, mounted on a headband or on you.
Good lighting - Most people 65 and older need
Council On Aging-Orange County | 714-479-0107 | www.coaoc.org

about twice as much light as they did when they were
younger. Ensuring you have sufficient light that is properly directed is critical for close-up work.
Special eyeglasses - Bifocal or trifocal glasses that
are stronger than normal may help. Also, high-power,
prismatic "half-eye" reading glasses are available. Prism
glasses can help the good spots in one eye cancel out the
bad spots in another.
Electronic technology - Many "high-tech" vision
aids are available. They include video reading systems
that enlarge type 60 times, auto-focus spectacle telescopes, and talking computer systems.
A loss of vision is a loss of a primary sense and most
attention goes to its physical impact. The losses are far
more than material and everyone experiences the stages
in different ways and for different lengths of time. There
is assistance to help people accept the reality of their
sight loss and work through feelings adjusting to a world
that is new and unfamiliar.
While a variety of both optical and electronic visual
aids are available, education and counseling can be the
best way to cope with chronic vision loss. For more information or to find a support group near you, contact
the following organizations.
Braille Institute: www.brailleinstitute.org ,
1-800-272-4553 (1-800-BRAILLE)
Dayle McIntosh Disability Resource Center
www.dalemcintosh.org (714) 621-3300
Veterans' Affairs Visual Impairment Services
www.va.gov/blindrehab/VIST.asp or call (202) 461-7317.
American Foundation for the Blind: www.afb.org
Answers Guide 2015

http://www.brailleinstitute.org http://www.daylemc.org http://www.va.gov/blindrehab/VIST.asp http://www.afb.org http://www.coaoc.org

Council on Aging Answers 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Council on Aging Answers 2015