News, Links and Commentary
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Optobionics Research Update
Optobionics have announced positive news about their Artificial Silicon Retina in the April 2004 issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology (Vol. 122 No. 4). The article is available online and is called 'The Artificial Silicon Retina Microchip for the Treatment of Vision Loss From Retinitis Pigmentosa.'
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Open Access to Research and Journal Articles
Open Access News is a weblog about making published, peer-reviewed research available without charge and without most copyright or licensing restrictions. The Directory of Open Access Journals lists journals that provide such access and the Free Medical Journals specifically lists medical journals that provide this service.
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Sunday, April 25, 2004
A (Temporarily) Blindfolded Blogger
The Blindfold Blog follows a guide dog instructor in training through an exercise that sees him blindfolded for 10 days and learning to work with a guide dog. The experiences of sighted people losing their vision for a finite period of time, with no light perception, is interesting but obviously not the same as the experience of people losing vision gradually and not (hopefully) completely as happens with most forms of RD. I've enjoyed reading parts of the blog today - especially mention of visual hallucinations and emotional changes.
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Talking Apples
The next version of the Macintosh operating system is expected to have built-in speech output. The feature will be 'built in, not bolted on' so the company says, which sounds like a big leap forward for accessible computing. More information is available at Apple - Accessibility - Spoken Interface. I learnt about this development through the E-access Bulletin.
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Sunday, April 18, 2004
Acquired Synesthesia in RP Patient
A patient with RP experienced an unusual side effect of total vision loss when he began to 'see' movement in response to tactile stimulation. A research article providing more information on this case of synesthesia is available in PDF format on line. The reference is: Armel, KC and Ramachandran VS (1999) 'Acquired Synesthesia in Retinitis Pigmentosa' in Neurocase, Vol. 5, pp 293-296.
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Thursday, April 15, 2004
Web Accessibility Needs Not Met By Disability Organisations
E-Access Bulletin (Issue 52, April 2004) reports on a survey that found nearly 60% of 1000 disability sector Web sites failed to meet basic accessibility standards. The survey, 'Disability 50' was conducted by Ethical Media. More about the survey can be read in 'Disability organisations fail to meet challenge on accessibility' (Ethical Media, 30 March, 2004).
Exemplary exceptions included the Web sites of UK organisations AbilityNet, Action For Blind People (pleasant, bright design that's easy to read), The British Council of Disabled People and The Disability Rights Commission.
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Exemplary exceptions included the Web sites of UK organisations AbilityNet, Action For Blind People (pleasant, bright design that's easy to read), The British Council of Disabled People and The Disability Rights Commission.
Monday, April 12, 2004
Guide Dog Collection Boxes Take On New Life
Guide Dogs NSW/ACT are currently holding an exhibition and silent auction at the Queen Victoria Buildings (QVB) in Sydney. Australian artists were invited to work with old life-size collection boxes to produce pieces for the exhibtion, called How Much Is That Doggie. The exhibition and silent auction will run until April 27 and will be followed by a live auction (by invitation) of the works on April 28 - International Guide Dog Day. The event is also supported by Sotheby's. If you don't live in Sydney, you might like to see the transformed guide dog collection boxes at the Web site (my favourite is Sandra Haynes' Sandy the Life Saver Dog!).
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RPList's Tenth Birthday!
The RPList (Retinal Degeneration Discussion List) celebrated its tenth birthday on April 8. I first subscribed to the list seven years ago and it has provided me not just with information and support but also with a lively example of how the Internet can benefit people. I value this very much. Congratulations to the people who first collected the e-mail addresses of a few contacts with retinal degeneration and those who continue to maintain it.
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Thursday, April 08, 2004
In The Picture
Roger Weiss is a photographer and teaches photography as a substitute teacher despite having macular degeneration (MD). Roger comments about the ups and downs of coping with MD, while children from a school Roger visited recently share their new understanding of blindness, in 'Photographer overcomes obstacles' (Bucks County Courier Times, April 5, 2004).
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New Low Vision Reading Devices
Reading is once more possible for lawyer Julius Mendalis, who is featured in an article on adaptive equipment in the The New York Times - 'Sleek New Devices Help Low-Vision Patients See' (April 6, 2004).
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Monday, April 05, 2004
Career In Boatbuilding Still Blooms
Roger Hall is a boatbuilder with a difference in that he lost his vision to RP at age 17. One of his boats will feature in a garden display at this year's Chelsea Flower Show and Roger explains how he made his dream of working with boats come true by starting his own business in 'Flower show coup for blind boatbuilder,' (The Western Mail, April 5, 2004).
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Marathon Effort For Senses (UK)
Steve Kenyon will be running in London marathon this year to support Senses, a UK organisation that supports people with both hearing and sight impairments. Steve became aware of their work when diagnosed with Usher syndrome. More information and a number for people in the UK wishing to sponsor Steve can be read in the article 'Marathon effort by charity runner' (The Advertiser, April 2, 2004).
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Thursday, April 01, 2004
Plain Text With PureText
Many people need to send e-mails in plain text without formatting, especially if the recipient has an older e-mail client, has a vision impairment, or is one of the many members of a single e-mail discussion list. Sometimes this becomes difficult when copying and pasting text from Web pages or word processing documents. PureText is a small program that allows you to strip text cut or copied to your clipboard of any rich text formatting. PureText won't remove white space or fix word wrapping problems. Instead it has the same effect as pasting text into Notepad before pasting it elsewhere and saves you from having to open and close Notepad and repeat the copying and pasting process.
I learnt about this useful free program from Tudogs.
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I learnt about this useful free program from Tudogs.
