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News, Links and Commentary

Friday, June 23, 2006

Driving Badly 

A Pennsylvania man with retinal degeneration is accused of vehicular homicide, according to Pennsylvania's CentralDaily.com ('Driver to go to trial in death of cyclist', 22 June 2006).

Thomas Fry was diagnosed with a vision impairment in 1981 but began driving again three years later. Two eye specialists who saw Fry have been cross-examined as to why they did not inform the state that Fry should not be allowed to drive. Fry's acuity is less than 20/100 (or about 6/30 in metric), which means that he can see at a distance of 20 feet, or 6 metres, what most people can see at a distance of 100 feet, or 30 metres.

Why would someone with impaired vision continue to drive? Fry has a valid Pennsylvania driver's licence. State College ophthamologist John Fisher gave Fry an 'emergency' examination in 2002 but did not inform the relevant state department that Fry should not be driving. When Fry's attorney Ron McGlaughlin asked Fisher if he would ask Fry for a ride:


Fisher said first, to muted courtroom laughter, that "it would depend on how badly I needed a ride" and then added that "I guess I wouldn't ask" Fry for a ride.


People are willing to weigh up 'how badly' they need to get where they're going against the risk of being involved in an accident. Bohdan Kulakowski, the cyclist killed in the accident involving Fry, may have weighed up the risks of cycling on a route shared with motorists, but did he take into consideration that some of those motorists may have impaired vision? Would you?

Deciding that one's vision is no longer adequate to drive safely is difficult. But the decision not to risk the lives of strangers, or even loved ones and yourself, should not be. If your vision is affected by retinal degeneration, please consider carefully the possibility that you're placing lives at risk and, if necessary, ask your ophthalmologist for their honest opinion - would he or she accept a lift home with you?

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Thursday, June 22, 2006

Discussion List for Sighted Partners and Adult Family 

Seeing Eye Partners is an e-mail discussion list that aims to support people whose partners have a vision impairment. Other adult family members are welcome, although the list is restricted to people who are sighted. Members are then free to vent and to ask questions that they might feel are too silly or sensitive to broach with their partner. To subscribe, send a blank e-mail to seeingeyepartner-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. For more information, please visit the SeeingEyePartner Home Page.

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Sunday, June 18, 2006

Genentech Seek UK Approval of Lucentis - But Not Avastin - For Wet MD 

The UK's Guardian newspaper reports that drug company Genentech is seeking approval only for Lucentis, and not the cheaper drug Avastin, for the treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration in the UK.


Unless Avastin is approved in the UK by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) it will not be universally available within the NHS. But because Genentech declines to apply for a licence for this use of Avastin, Nice cannot consider it. In spite of the growing drugs bill of the NHS, it will appraise, and probably approve, Lucentis next year.

Although Nice's role is to look at cost-effectiveness, it says it cannot appraise a drug and pass it for use in the NHS unless the drug is referred to it by the Department of Health. The department says its hands are tied.
('Drugs firm blocks cheap blindness cure', The Guardian, 17 June 2006)


For background on this story, these RetGen entries might be helpful:

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Friday, June 16, 2006

A Cockeyed Look at RP 

Ryan Knighton is a Canadian writer and teacher. Reviews of his latest book, Cockeyed, talk about his humourous, clear-eyed look at how a diagnosis of retinitis pigmentosa has affected his daily life.

According to Angus and Robertson, the hardcover edition will be published in Australia through The Perseus Books Group on 31 July 2006. The book will retail for $35.95 and can be ordered in advance. Cockeyed is already on sale in Canada and the US.

For more information about the book and its author, visit Ryan Knighton.com. Note: There are lots of images without descriptions here, with a regular navigation menu at the bottom of each page.

To listen to an interview with Ryan Knighton, visit ''Cockeyed': An Unsentimental Take on Blindness' (National Public Radio, 31 May 2006).

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Tuesday, June 13, 2006

PowerPoint Finds Its Voice 

Speech-Over Studio is a product developed by Tuval Software Industries that gives voice to PowerPoint presentations.

Another recent addition to my list of Speech Technology Links is KingLine Data Center, which specialises in speech data processing in languages including Chinese, Japanese and Spanish.

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Explore Nature and Culture in East Germany 

Vision Outdoors is a tour company specialising in tours for people who are blind or have a vision impairment. Their tours of East Germany take in Berlin, the Mecklenburger Lakeplateau, the Herz Mountains and the city of Leipzig. Along the way tour participants will sleep on a boat, hike through forests, travel on steam trains, and visit historic museums and the gathering place of the witches of Thale. For more information, visit the Vision Outdoors Web site, which has both German and English versions.

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Catching Up 

If you've visited RetGen recently, you'll have noticed that I haven't updated in a while. Since I last posted I've shifted from country Western Australia to our state's capital city, Perth.

I hope to slowly begin to add new entries and to find out more about the latest research into retinal degeneration.

If you have any news to share, please let me know!

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