To best support students with low vision in the general education classroom, special education teachers can facilitate use of several adaptations including: (a) attention to curriculum access (e.g. text magnifiers), (b) mechanisms for promoting social connectedness, (c) managing physical space, and (d) effective instructional techniques. This…

This brief report describes the growth and expansion of the Art"Access" program at Queens Museum in New York, NY, that is shaped and operated by art therapists and teaching artists. Art"Access" was first piloted in 1983 as Please Touch for individuals who are blind or have low vision. The authors conducted oral history research…

Telehealth clinical applications, which allow medical professionals to use telecommunications technologies to provide services to individuals remotely, continue to expand in areas such as low vision rehabilitation, where evaluations are provided to patients who live in rural areas. As with face-to-face low vision rehabilitation, the goal of…

This paper presents some results of research carried out with a group of blind and partially sighted youths who are enrolled in a school for people with visual disabilities in Brazil. This research aims to promote different articulations between the body and cognition. Based on actor-network theory, it considers that having a body means learning…

This article presents the story of Wesley Brooks, a freshman at Middlesex County College and someone who will not let his disability impede him from what he sets out to achieve in life. Brooks was born 24 weeks early and weighed just under one pound. This resulted in him having cerebral palsy, which impacts his motor movement. He also had to…

The Independent Laboratory Access for the Blind (ILAB) project has developed a suite of speech accessible tools for students who are blind or low vision to use in secondary and postsecondary science laboratory classes. The following are illustrations of experiments designed to be used by educators to introduce them to the ILAB tools, and to…

This article suggests that approaching vision loss from age-related macular degeneration from a sociocultural perspective, specifically considering perceptions of aging, blindness, disability, and generational viewpoints and norms, may be critical to understanding older adults' responses to vision loss and visual rehabilitation.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a leading cause of vision loss in Americans aged 60 and older. The loss of central vision from AMD can decrease visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, glare sensitivity, color discrimination, and the ability to adapt to changes in lighting conditions. Older adults with vision loss often have other chronic,…

This review aims to document the efficacy and validity of vision therapy for modifying and improving vision functioning. The paper describes the essential components of the visual system and disorders which can be physiologically and clinically identified. Vision therapy is defined as a clinical approach for correcting and ameliorating the effects…

Services provided 124 visually impaired students involved in a federal demonstration project in Oakland County, Michigan, (1979-1980) involved preliminary assessments, referral to a low vision specialist, and follow-up training. Development of a general remediation scheme and a team approach facilitated follow-up care and use of low vision aids.…

Providing Access to the Visual Environment (Project PAVE) is a statewide multidisciplinary project that provides low vision services to children ages 3-21 in Tennessee. This article describes the project's administrative, direct service, and research components and the philosophy on which it is based. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

The final report describes a project to facilitate the efficiency with which legally blind persons use their remaining vision. The project developed a diagnostic assessment procedure, a design for instruction which includes 150 sequenced lessons, and a sourcebook on low vision. The reliability and validity of the diagnostic assessment procedure…

Low vision services to help visually impaired students maximize their use of residual vision are provided through a multidisciplinary regional clinic team in a sparsely populated area of Texas. Workups give classroom teachers information on techniques and optical aids. (CL)

A visually impaired rehabilitation teacher describes a model developed in Maine for providing low vision services, with emphasis on teaching the use of near-point aids to assist on near-point tasks. The article addresses preevaluation services, assessment of clients with low vision, and follow-up when the client begins using the aids at home. (DB)

This paper presents a summary of presentations and discussion from a World Health Organization meeting of experienced low vision practitioners. It outlines the magnitude of the problem; current status of low vision care; enhancement of the use of vision; and recommendations in definitions, identification, assessment, low vision centers, education,…