Best practices to help the visually impaired

By: Hassaan Javaid “Good & perfect vision is a blessing; one that’s taken for granted unfortunately!” Just imagine living a life being visually impaired that’s beyond correction even through eyeglasses, lenses or surgery. And while it’s enough to give you the shivers, there’re many people out there actually living such life, suffering from what we know as “low vision”. Some other medical terminologies describing the anomaly are visually impaired, legally blind and partially sighted. Primary causes of low vision are hereditary conditions, certain eye injuries or diseases namely macular degeneration and glaucoma so on. Irrespective of the origin, compromised vision often leads to anxiety, depression, feeling of isolation and helplessness but, you can definitely do a few things to make these people feel at ease. Be cooperative If you’ve someone in the family or social circle suffering from low vision or perhaps partially sighted, here’s how to make them feel independent, confident and help them make the most of their eyesight.

• Create awareness about low vision aids or perhaps take them to the best facility like an eye clinic in Abu Dhabi. These optical devices enhance what remains of the vision which allows people to perform various routine activities confidently.

All such devices come with customised magnifiers made for reading, include electronic text-to-speech support and handheld telescopes to see distant objects. Arrange a visit to expert eye practitioner who can recommend just the appropriate optical support device per the individual’s specific condition. A detailed examination of the anomaly would determine possible course of treatment as well as most appropriate visual aid. Practitioner may also recommend non-optical aids so that individual(s) with low vision so they can conveniently live their life to the fullest. Such devices include audio books, raised or large-font book, pillboxes, visual-guide cards, certain clocks and phones so on.

• Install bedrooms and common living space with bright lights and likewise fixtures that helps in seeing things clearly especially kitchen, bathrooms and work areas so on.

Remove all unnecessary household clutter that may result in fall and injury. Brighten up the stairs and slopes within the home with eye-catching colours for maximum convenience, safety. List down all the important contacts and keep them at a place conveniently accessed by person facing low vision.   Be a shopping assistance A trip outside the house and being assisted by someone would surely lifts up the spirit of a person with low vision. And nothing works best than shopping so take them to the nearest mall, help them purchase the usual household groceries and enjoy a cup of coffee or ice-cream on the way back for a memorable trip. Travel instructions Familiarise individual(s) with low vision about transportation services that can be easily accessed especially to places frequently visited. Encourage the people to open up, ask questions, hold a casual chat and so on but, be careful not to say or ask anything that make them feel disturbed or down because of having low vision. Conclusion Learn as much as you can about the vision anomaly as it may be treatable and all you need is taking the person to one of the best eye clinic in Dubai for appropriate treatment.]]>