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Purpose: To explore the knowledge of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and habilitation services for children with visual loss from ROP, among health care professionals (HCPs) involved in care of preterm children and to explore their attitudes and practices in relation to referral for habilitation.Methods: A modified knowledge, attitude and practice questionnaire were administered to ophthalmologists and paediatricians associated with ROP care. Data were collected about their knowledge, beliefs and practices of ROP and referral to rehabilitation facilities. Data were analysed to establish level of knowledge, type of attitude and practices and its association with speciality.Results: Response rate was 78% (25/32). Most (14/25, 56%) were ophthalmologists. All (100%) participants knew that ROP can cause blindness. Knowledge about Indian ROP screening criteria was poor among a third (8/25, 32%), more so in paediatricians (5/11, 45.5%). Most (21/25, 84%) did not have knowledge of what a habilitation service entails and where such facilities are located. More than two-thirds (18/25, 72%) believed that special education should be preferred over inclusive education. Overall, 10/25 (40%) of the HCPs had never referred a child for rehabilitation. More than a half (13/25, 52%) were not confident of counselling parents of blind children. All agreed that rehabilitation services are not part of but should be included in medical curriculum.Conclusion: Indian guidelines for ROP screening are not universally known among HCPs. Educating medical undergraduates, providing counselling training to professionals and integration of rehabilitation into the health system will ensure continuity of care for children with visual loss and their families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

purpose of the study was to analyze all the steps needed to manage partially sighted or blind persons. Purpose: The aim of the first research was to collect and analyze data and opinions regarding the mobility of visually disabled people in Turin. The aim of the second research was to assess issues, daily needs and expectations regarding the urban reclassification plan for Via Nizza (Turin). Materials and methods: In the first study, we proposed a survey, partially structured and partially unstructured, of 100 patients enrolled in the Visual Rehabilitation Center of the Ophthalmic Hospital of Turin. In the second study, we collected data from a survey of eleven patients enrolled in the Turin section of the Italian Confederation of Blind. Results: It was observed that the visually disabled population was not necessarily elderly (46% of the population was less than 60 years of age); it was observed that the visually disabled people were active frequently. Environmental aids considered more useful were sound traffic lights (30%) and gradient signaling (29%); the first was not widespread in urban areas and was the aid most requested by the patients enrolled (49%); 48% of enrolled patients did not use tactile maps. As regards the reclassification of the urban plan of the area in Turin, important needs and expectations were highlighted. Conclusion: As regards urban planning in Turin as well as in other Italian cities, many changes in public facilities are to be done to ensure an increasing independence and safety of visually impaired people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Purpose: The aim was to describe the population of children with congenital or early infancy blindness in Sweden, with regard to causes of blindness and prevalence of neurodevelopmental impairments. Methods: Medical, psychological and pedagogical records of Swedish children with congenital or early infancy blindness (total blindness or light perception at the most) born in 1988–2008 were analysed regarding year of birth, gender, cause of blindness, gestational age, associated neurological disorders/syndromes, associated neurodevelopmental impairments, cognitive level and type of school placement. Results: A total of 150 individuals, 80 girls and 70 boys, were identified, corresponding to a prevalence of 7/100 000. Five causes of blindness dominated, constituting 76% of all represented aetiologies: retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), optic nerve hypoplasia (ONH), Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), optic nerve atrophy (ONA) and microphthalmia/anophthalmia. Nearly three of four children in the study population had at least one additional disability besides blindness; the most common being intellectual disability (ID) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). More than half of the population had more than one additional disability. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was most common in children with ONH, ROP, LCA and microphthalmia/anophthalmia. Conclusion: In children born within the last decades, isolated blindness is uncommon and the rate of multidisabilities is high. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) seems to be more strongly associated with specific aetiological subgroups. Further development of the support to families and schools should be based on knowledge about the considerable heterogeneity of the population of children with blindness, and the common occurrence of coexisting neurodevelopmental disorders, especially ID and ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates how normative attitudes about work construct barriers to workers who are blind and visually impaired. The researcher collected narratives about rhetorical experiences from blind and visually impaired participants in the United States and analyzed accounts of these workplace interactions to identify rhetorical commonplaces that drive arguments about work. These commonplaces reveal the ableist assumptions that construct access barriers and constrain rhetorical possibilities for disabled workers' self-advocacy. The author proposes that business and professional communication students and practitioners should engage in collaborative approaches to flexible thinking and leadership necessary for reimagining work in ways that promote accessibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precision measurements of a nanoscale sample surface using an atomic force microscope (AFM) require a precise quantitative knowledge of the 3D tip shape. Blind tip reconstruction (BTR), established by Villarrubia, gives an outer bound with larger errors if the tip characterizer is not appropriate. In order to explore the errors of BTR, a series of simulation experiments based on a conical model were carried out. The results show that, to reconstruct the tip precisely, the cone angle of the tip characterizer must be smaller than that of the tip. Furthermore, the errors decrease as a function of the tip cone angle and increase linearly with the sample radius of curvature, irrespective of the tip radius of curvature. In particular, for sharp (20 nm radius) and blunt (80 nm radius) tips, the radius of curvature of the tip characterizer must be smaller than 5 nm. Based on these simulation results, a local error model of BTR was established. The maximum deviation between the errors derived from the model and the simulated experiments is 1.22 nm. Compared with the lateral resolution used in the above simulated experiments (4 nm/pixel), it is valid to ignore the deviations and consider the local error model of BTR is indeed in quantitative agreement with the simulation results. Finally, two simulated ideal structures are proposed here, together with their corresponding real samples. The simulation results show they are suitable for BTR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the main objective of the television program "Growing Up Fisher," produced by DJ Nash based on blind characters. Topics include concerns of producers and the broadcasts networks towards blind characters and public, spreading sensitivity of blind people in public and ways of development of blind people and proper training and opportunities provided to them by the National Federation of the Blind.

While most aspects of web accessibility are technically easy to solve, providing accessible equivalents of data visualizations for blind users remains a challenging problem. Previous attempts at accessible equivalents focused on sonification of population data. This paper describes the creation of two prototypes for providing real-time weather information in a sonified format for blind users. A structured requirements gathering using interviews and surveys led to the development of the first sonification prototype using both keyboard and touchscreen (with a tactile overlay) access to weather data on a PC and Mac. This prototype was evaluated for usability by five blind users. Based on the feedback from the usability evaluation, a second prototype on a new platform (Android tablet computer) was created. We discuss the development and evaluation process for the sonification prototypes, with a detailed description of the usability evaluations performed in the field. The studies show that when working at the intersection of users with disabilities and new technologies, it's important to be flexible and adjust quickly to get the most out of field studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a speech by Scott LaBarre, president of the National Association of Blind Lawyers, delivered at the National Federation of the Blind convention held in Dallas, Texas on July 3, 2012, in which he discussed the means that the U.S. law deals with safety-based custodialism against people with disabilities, importance of his doctrine of direct threat to blind, and the assumption of risk for being blind.

The article presents a speech by Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), delivered at the organization's convention held in Dallas, Texas on July 5, 2012, in which he discussed the task of the organization, characteristics of one's understanding that support the natural law, and the basis on the occurrence of blindness.

This essay explores new models of the citizen-patient by attending to the post-Revolutionary blind 'voice'. Voice, in both a literal and figurative sense, was central to the way in which members of the Hospice des Quinze-Vingts, an institution for the blind and partially sighted, interacted with those in the community. Musical voices had been used by members to collect alms and to project the particular spiritual principle of their institution since its foundation in the thirteenth century. At the time of the Revolution, the Quinze-Vingts voice was understood by some political authorities as an exemplary call of humanity. Yet many others perceived it as deeply threatening. After 1800, productive dialogue between those in political control and Quinze-Vingts blind members broke down. Authorities attempted to silence the voice of members through the control of blind musicians and institutional management. The Quinze-Vingts blind continued to reassert their voices until around 1850, providing a powerful form of resistance to political control. The blind 'voice' ultimately recognised the right of the citizen-patient to dialogue with their political carers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a speech by Jacobus TenBroek, founder of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) in the U.S., delivered at the banquet of the NFB annual convention held in New Orleans, Louisiana on July 6, 1957, in which he discussed the distinction of the NFB from other groups in the area of blind welfare, several events of discrimination against blind people in the U.S., and his wish of minimizing the extent and character of blindness as an impairment.

Research dealing with governmental and managerial ideals and tools for transparency has observed how these tools co-create new types of blindness. It has documented the existence of three different types of blindness: blindness caused by power games, by cognitive limitations and blindness as a side effect of the categories applied. This paper puts forward a fourth type of organizational blindness in addition to the already documented ones, namely self-imposed blindness to potentially destructive information. This paper studies how relevant - but problematic - information is actively ignored and kept out of sight in the decision processes by looking at a specific case study involving the construction of a model intended to control, and render transparent, the quality of health services in Denmark. This paper outlines the forms of inattentiveness which make communication blind to information that could question the quality model. Five forms of inattentiveness are identified that function as answers to the question of how communication avoids actualizing relevant but also potentially destructive information. This study documents a considerable amount of blindness to potentially relevant themes and it points to activities that produce this blindness as they reduce the probability that potentially destructive subjects are actualized. Information is not only something organizations need, but may also be something they protect themselves against. In that case, the forms of inattentiveness may be a function that forms organizational processes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents advices on various topics in the U.S. including the treatment of blind people at doctors' offices and blood centers, the need for them to ask assistance in an airport and the use of blind people's condition to get their wants. It suggests that blind patients should request medical forms in advance to complete them at home. It proposes that blind travelers should make decisions based on their level of confidence and competence.

This article discusses the InfoEyes Information Service, an innovative virtual reference service for individuals who are print-impaired, which began as a pilot project in 2004 and continues to serve this historically underserved population. The context for this discussion is framed by a brief historical summary of the provision of library services for people who are blind or visually impaired in the United States. Challenges facing this service such as accessibility of virtual reference chat products, reference staffing issues in talking book libraries, and the relationship to public library virtual reference services are also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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PURPOSE: To describe the development of a formal system of welfare for blind and partially sighted people in Denmark. METHODS: The principal laws in Denmark relating to a formal system of welfare for blind and partially sighted people are noted and commented on. No such collection of laws has been found in the literature. The history of aid to visually disabled people in Denmark is described, as are the Danish classifications of visual impairment. DEVELOPMENT: Formalized welfare for blind and partially sighted people was started in Denmark in 1811, as a private initiative by the Kjaede Order. Later, the Danish state took over responsibility, and in 1858 the Royal Danish Institute for the Blind was established. Since then a series of laws concerning welfare for blind and partially sighted people have been issued in accordance with economic and social development in Denmark. In 1858 the Braille writing system for blind people was introduced. The Danish Association of the Blind was founded in 1911 and has profoundly influenced subsequent legislation. During the last 10 years, several visual centres have been established. Since 1968 prevention of blindness has also played a prominent role in Denmark. CONCLUSION: Great steps have been taken towards improving the welfare of blind and partially sighted people. However, being blind is still very difficult. Modern technologies and hectic lifestyles have created new problems for blind people. The obligations of the Danish state towards visually disabled people have, therefore, increased in recent years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the benefits of cataract blindness prevention. Risk factors of cataract; Availability of surgical services; Delivery of good vision rehabilitation; Correlation between cataract prevalence and age.

Focuses on the benefits of blindness prevention. Prevalence of blind people in developing countries; Reliability of blindness management in restoring or preventing visual loss; Implication of visual loss for the person affected and the society as a whole.

Focuses on childhood blindness in the context of VISION 2020--The Right to Sight program. Reasons for establishing the program; Causes of severe visual impairment and blindness in children; Availability of primary health care and eye care services.

Summarizes the blindness prevention programs created by the World Health Organization (WHO). Accounts of early partnerships with international nongovernmental organizations; Rationale for the development of Vision 2020--The Right to Sight; Efforts of WHO on blindness prevention in 1950s.

Presents updates on blindness in the U.S. as of May 2, 1996. Approval of documents by Division 9 of Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired related to the practice of orientation and mobility; Launch of a public service announcement campaign by the American Foundation for the Blind; Decision of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to fund several health maintenance organizations throughout the U.S.

The article discusses gene therapy for vision impaired patients diagnosed for a disease Leber's congenital amaurosis (LCA). It states that Ohio social worker Tami Morehouse, a culprit of LCA, underwent gene therapy and could identify the improvements in her vision. Topics include Argus II artificial retina implant that provides video data for temporary vision and embryonic stem cells to treat blindness. It also talks about an organisation Project Prakash that offers vision care in rural India.

The article presents a reprint of the article " Disability Now - Our voice, Our Lives," which appeared in the previous issue of "Guardian." The article discusses several topics including consideration of Braille as "embattled" by doctor Matthew Rubery, curator of an exhibition on alternative methods of reading for blind people, Braille machines and digital aspects of Braille.

The article explores the basic needs of blind adolescents in relation to the needs of sighted adolescents. Blind individuals required utilization of intellectual, physical and emotional functioning in daily activities. Development of these skills were essential for the blind to effectively communicate with sighted person. Examples of researches on critical problems regarding blindness and their communication with sighted persons were mentioned to provide insights on the difficulty experience by blind individuals.