Useful resources for low vision
Low vision devices
Hong Kong Society for the Blind
For visual assessment charts, refraction equipment, training materials, and low vision devices. Visit www.hksb.org.hk
ICEE Global Resource Centre
For low-cost spectacles, frames, lenses, and low vision devices. Prices for low vision aids start from US $2.50. Contact Vivasan Pillay at [email protected] or +27 312023811.
Internet browsing support LowBrowseTM is a free add-on to the Mozilla Firefox web browser, which is also free. It lets users read all text in web pages in a special reading frame at the top of the screen. The frame presents text in a single line and users can change the size, font, colour contrast, and letter spacing without having to zoom in and out. It has a speech option which reads the text. LowBrowse: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/lowbrowse/ (123.5 kB) Mozilla Firefox: www.mozilla.org (32 MB)
Community Eye Health Journal back issues
These back issues are available online (www.cehjournal.org – click on ‘Past issues’) and on the Community Eye Health Update CD which was sent out with Issue 76: Instruments and Consumables. Please let us know if you have not yet received a copy. New subscribers: an updated CD will be sent to you in 2013.
Vol. 20 No. 62, 2007. The visually impaired child
Vol. 17 No. 49, 2004. Low vision care: the need to maximise visual potential
Vol. 16 No. 45, 2003. Helping the blind and visually impaired
For information on testing near vision: Rènée du Toit. How to prescribe spectacles for presbyopia. Community Eye Health J 2006;19(57): 12-13.
Online resources for low vision
http://bit.ly/L2Y5VS – article on assistive technology by someone with low vision. PDF (1.6MB)
www.lowvisiononline.unimelb.edu.au – a guided learning resource for eye care workers who want to learn more about working with patients with low vision. Available in English, Chinese, and French.
https://www.lighthouseguild.org – a collection of articles, mainly aimed at ophthalmologists.
www.mdfoundation.com.au – practical guides (PDF format) for patients and their carers, with a focus on macular degeneration. Look in “Fact Sheets & Publications”.
www.afb.org – advice on living with vision loss.
www.svrc.vic.edu.au – for people with low vision who are in education.
http://www.ski.org/Colenbrander/Images/Low_Vision_Exam.pdf – practical guidance on performing a low vision assessment, aimed at trained low vision practitioners.
Low vision courses
Kilimanjaro Centre for Community Ophthalmology, Tanzania
For information, contact Genes Mng’anya, KCCO, Good Samaritan Foundation, PO Box 2254 Moshi, Tanzania. Tel: +255 27 275 3547. Email: [email protected] or visit www.kcco.net
October 17–26: Training in clinical low vision care. Basic and advanced clinical low vision care. Aimed at optometrists.
October 29–30: Population-based approach to establishing a low vision service