Brazos Valley Center for Independent Living
Connecting people to the power of independence
February is Low Vision Awareness Month!
Come join Insightful Connections, the organization of Texas A&M students who are blind or visually impaired, to learn more about the challenges and triumphs of those who have low or no vision. Topics will be Braille, independent travel, assistive technology, and life experiences, followed by a question-and-answer session.
Logistical details are:
When: Tuesday, February 4th
Location: Koldus 111
Time: 5:30pm – 6:30pm
Each June, the Pharmacy Council on Child Vision Care reminds youngsters and their parents about the importance of caring for their eyes. The mission of Child Vision Awareness Month has three parts:
The Hadley School for the Blind is acknowledging this month by highlighting four of its family education classes, including:
BVCIL is acknowledging this month with media posts and an interactive display about how children, youth, and their parents can succeed in education and life with a vision impairment.
For additional information about this initiative, please contact Pharmacists Planning Service, Inc. (PPSI), c/o Pharmacy Council on Child Vision Care, 101 Lucas Valley Road, Suite 382, San Rafael, CA 94903.
Learn more about living with vision loss on Tuesday, April 3, 2013. Sponsored by Christal Vision and presented by Freedom Scientific, this seminar will feature hands-on demonstrations of many products useful to people who have low vision, such as adaptive computer software, digital magnifiers, and “talking” devices. Participants will also enjoy FREE learning sessions and a free lunch.
Space is limited, so be sure to register early! Here’s the info:
Date: Tuesday, April 3, 2013Time: 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Location:
United Way of the Brazos Valley
909 Southwest Parkway E., Suite 100
College Station, Texas 77840
Register by Phone: (800) 336-5658
Register by Email: Seminars@FreedomScientific.com
Register Online: www.FreedomScientific.com/Seminars
It’s Tax Time again, and if you don’t see well or have any of a number of other access needs, those piles of forms can be downright daunting! But wait! There’s lots of help out there!
The Governor’s Committee on People with Disabilities once again announces “Tax Time with Lex the Service Dog,” a captioned video guiding people who have disabilities to accessible online resources for tax prep. And he even does it in sign language. Just click the red and white arrow to meet Lex:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=B6cMaSwCjU8
For those not comfortable doing taxes on the Internet, we also have great local resources to help with tax prep. Both the Bryan and College Station public libraries offer FREE tax prep assistance to anyone in the community, and they tell us they are more than willing to take the extra steps to assist their neighbors who have disabilities, such as explaining complex tax topics and reading small print forms out loud.
Here are the times and locations:
Clara B. Mounce Library in Bryan:
201 East 26th Street
Bryan, Texas 77803
(979) 209-5600
Hours are: MWF 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., T 1:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m., R 2:00 – 5:00 p.m., Saturdays 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Larry J. Ringer Library in College Station:
1818 Harvey Mitchell Parkway
College Station, Texas 77845
(979) 764-3416
Hours: MWF 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Saturdays 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Both locations are fully wheelchair accessible. Use elevator at Bryan location to access tax help on second floor.
During the month of February, BVCIL will acknowledge Low Vision Awareness Month with interactive activities, an awareness field trip, and lots of informative web posts showcasing how people with low vision maintain their independence. Prevent Blindness America initiated Low Vision Awareness Month to call attention to Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) which, according to PreventBlindness.org, is the number one cause of vision loss in people over 65.
Vision is measured in terms of acuity, which means accuracy and sharpness. Acuity is expressed as a fraction, with the top number, which is always 20, representing what a person with ideal vision can see clearly and accurately from a distance of 20 feet. So, a person with perfect vision sees 20/20, has 100% of the visual acuity humans typically have, and sees clearly and accurately what he or she should see at that distance.
A person has moderate low vision if her or his visual acuity is between 20/70 and 20/200 in the best corrected eye. Best correction means that even with glasses, medicine, assistive technology, or even surgery, the person’s vision cannot be corrected to better than 20/70. With a best corrected acuity of 20/200 or below (only 10% of ideal vision), or a visual field of less than 20 degrees, a person has severe low vision and is considered “legally blind,” or eligible for disability benefits because of the vision loss. A more generalized definition of low vision is vision loss that interferes with a person’s ability to perform Activities of Daily Living (ADLs).
But just because low vision may make ADLs more complicated does not mean that people who have low vision can’t live independently. Quite the contrary! People who have low vision can choose from a broad spectrum of assistive devices and adaptive techniques to enhance their independence. Some people with low vision choose a long white cane or dog guide to help with mobility. While some with remaining vision do use Braille, such as to access computers, others use electronic high-powered magnification devices to make reading easier. Kitchen aids such as large print cooking timers and battery-powered liquid level indicators enable independent meal preparation.
During Low Vision Awareness Month, we will feature in our office an interactive display about low vision and how people who have it sustain independence. Our Visually Impaired Persons (VIP) peer group will have a lunch outing to promote awareness. Please also follow our web site and our Facebook page throughout February to learn more about life with low vision.