A Magazine By, for and About People with Low Vision

Vision Access

A Magazine by, for and about People with Low Vision.

Volume 24, Number 2

Fall, 2017

Published Tri-annually for Members in These Formats: Large Print, Email, and Audio CD.

a not-for-profit organization affiliated with the American Council of the Blind.

Council of Citizens with Low Vision International

1703 N Beauregard Street Suite 420

Alexandria, VA 22311

(844) 460-0625

www.cclvi.org

Views expressed in Vision Access by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the editor or of CCLVI. All rights revert to individual contributors upon publication.

Vision Access welcomes submissions from people with low vision, from professionals such as ophthalmologists, optometrists, low vision specialists, and everyone with something substantive to contribute to the ongoing discussion of low vision and all of its ramifications.

Submissions are best made as attachments to email or may also be made in clear typescript.

Vision Access cannot assume responsibility for lost manuscripts. Deadlines for submissions are:

August 1, December 1, and April 1.

Submissions may be mailed to

Mike Keithley, Vision Access Editor

191 East El Camino Real #150

Mountain View, CA 94040

(650) 386-6286

Publications Committee:

Joyce Kleiber, Sarah Peterson, Patti Cox, and Mike Keithley. Formatting: Christine Chaikin.

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Table of Contents

From the Editor's 'Desk 7-8

President's Message 9-12

Insights into Low Vision

Goes Spanish! 13-14

A Look Back: Sparks in Review 15-17

Fundraising 18-20

The Sam Genetsky Awards Video Magnifiers

Make a Difference for Those with Low Vision 21-26

Meet the 2017 Fred Scheigert

Scholarship Winners! 27-35

Quality of Life 5 Innovative Ways Art Is Becoming More Accessible to the Blind Community 36-43

Science and Health

National Eye Institute News 44-48

Request for Contributions 49

CCLVI Officers and Directors 50-53

CCLVI Local Affiliates 54

CCLVI application Form 55-56

From the Editor's Desk

By Mike Keithley

Old roll top editor’s desk.

Welcome to the fall issue of Vision Access. I'm writing this on the 4th dog day of August, a day so hot and muggy that it's hard to want to do anything.

But King, who isn't hot, is hounding me to get going and stop complaining.

But King, remember the days you complained so much about walking on those hot sidewalks and streets? "That was then, it's now." Guess you can't argue with that.

While I was thinking of "dog days," I learned that they actually refer to the rising of Serious, the star marking the nose of Canis Major (the dog), before the sun in the last week of July.

And that got me wondering if there are such things as star charts low vision people can use.

But two Google searches didn't find anything. So much for that!

In this issue of Vision Access, we hear a lot about the CCLVI convention, part of the ACB Conference and Convention in Sparks Nevada; and there's pictures!

Lindsey Tilden shares information on this year's scholarship awardees, and Catherine Schmitt Whitaker tells us about the Sam Genetsky awards.

And in closing, Cathy submitted this tidbit:

AutoDrop is an easy way to take eye drops. Find out more information at www.owenmumford.com/en/patients-product/autodrop-and-autosqueeze/

President's Message

By Leslie Spoone

Dear CCLVI colleagues,

We have all returned from an exciting and informative convention.

This year's event was both extremely cold and extremely hot at the same time as we moved from the opening general sessions to the afternoon CCLVI programs on the Pool side Terrace.

CCLVI was well represented by Donna Pomerantz, Zelda Gebhard and Sara Conrad, who distributed "Large Print" surveys to low vision ACB members throughout the conference.

This survey was created by CCLVI and the ACB Board of Publications (BOP).

Jim Jirak and Mark Bulger did an outstanding job hosting our members throughout the week in our own CCLVI Suite with several fun filled receptions, shown by "Lindsey's cake" at the end of this article.

The CCLVI Firecrackers walk team was captained by Kathy Farina and raised $1,570.

Special thanks to Linda Allison, Angelo Lanier and Robert Spangler for manning the Marketplace table Sunday and Monday mornings.

Fred Scheigert, CCLVI Board Director, ran for a position on both ACB Board and the Board of Publications.

We congratulate Fred for his willingness to serve.

A resolution for decals on glass doors was introduced by CCLVI and the Florida Council of the Blind and was unanimously approved.

There was significant interest in the presentation from Dr. Bill Takeshita and Vickie Parker at Sunday night's session of "Let's Talk Low Vision," and twenty copies of our Insights to Low Vision book were sold.

Wow, what an action packed convention!

Congratulations to Christine Chaikin on being elected to the CCLVI Board of Directors.

Also, special thanks to Sarita Kimble for her service on the CCLVI Board.

Congratulations go out to Kathy Farina, Robert Spangler, Zelda Gebhard and Fred Scheigert for re-election to their current Board positions.

CCLVI held a telephonic Candidates Forum with all ACB Officer Candidates in attendance.

The forum took two hours with lively discussion and communicated the unique issues of ACB's low vision membership.

The Medicare Low Vision Equipment Bill, HR 2050, has now been introduced in the House and all members should contact their US Representatives to promote its passage.

The upcoming CCLVI Board meetings will be on September 6, November 1 and January 3.

All members are encouraged to call in and participate, and I look forward to chatting with you in September.

Best Regards,

Leslie Spoone

CCLVI president

Picture shows Lindsey Tilden with her cake on the table.

Insights Into Low Vision Goes Spanish!

By the Insights Into Low Vision Book Team

On the heels of the successful launch of CCLVI's well-respected publication Insights Into Low Vision in 2012, we are poised to offer the publication in Spanish.

In doing so, we are conducting a poll to see, within our membership and in the low vision community, if Insights Into Low Vision were to be published in Spanish, would you or someone that you know be interested in purchasing it.

The questions in our poll are as follows:

Would you, someone that you know and or an agency that you frequent, be interested in Insights Into Low Vision, Spanish edition?

If yes, how many copies would all interested parties be willing to purchase at the time of availability, and or as an advanced purchase?

What kind of devices do you use (computer, victor reader stream, CD player), and in which formats would you like the Spanish edition made available for purchase?

Please send your responses to "" with the subject line "poll responses for insights into low vision book Spanish."

Also please include your city and state as well. Alternatively, you can call in your thoughts to our toll free number at (844) 460-0625.

If you get a voicemail message, simply let us know your answers to the above questions.

Thank you for taking our poll.

A Look Back: Sparks in Review
By Jim Jirak, Convention Chair

As we transition from the summer season into fall, I think it only appropriate to recap our convention week for those that were unable to join us in Sparks.

Before doing so, I’d like to take a moment and recognize my plenary committee. A big thank you to Sara Conrad of Madison, WI; Angelo Lanier of North Little Rock, AR; Zelda Gebhard of Edgely, ND; President Leslie Spoone of Orlando, FL and Richard Rueda of Sacramento, CA for outdoing themselves with the remarkable and very diverse programming assembled.

As mentioned in my last article, we had our own suite. As it was smaller than Minneapolis, our Saturday afternoon scholarship mixer took place in the Executive Director’s suite.

It was well attended. And the scholarship committee chose very worthy candidates to receive the award. Hopefully this event can return to our own suite in St. Louis.

For the second year in a row, we offered a package price ticket which included admittance to all ticketed events.

As last year, we had several events for which we charged to help defray associated costs.

We sold 7 more package price tickets this year, increasing the number of pre-sold package price tickets to 23.

We received positive feedback on Dr. Bill’s Sunday afternoon presentation, the Sunday evening combined session with Vicki Parker, our Monday afternoon All About You session dealing with health and wellness, Sara’s Advocacy Jumpstart and the Wednesday afternoon travel panel.

Tuesday evening’s Trivia and Name That Tune moderated by Zelda and Angelo was also well received. And our Wednesday afternoon open house proved to be an overwhelming success. It is hoped that this can expand to multiple evenings next year.

For your planning purposes, the overall dates of the 2018 convention are June 29 to July 6, with the St. Louis Union Station in St. Louis, MO being the host hotel.

Your 2018 plenary committee will soon begin to meet and establish the dates for our programming and annual membership meeting.

As always, membership input on topics of interest is welcomed and encouraged.

If you have ideas, please reach out to me via email at or via phone at (402) 679-8448.

Fundraising

Hello Everyone.

It was nice to see so many of you at the ACB national conference and convention in Reno this year!

It was a good time to catch up with friends and to make new friends.

CCLVI participated in the Brenda Dillon Memorial Walk again this year. Our team, the Firecrackers, raised over $1500!

One half of the money raised goes to ACB and the other half, about $750, comes back to CCLVI! We are always glad to have people walk with us on the team.

If you would rather be a “virtual walker” you can walk at home and get friends and family to donate to the walk. We are also happy to accept donations from folks, whether they walk or not.

There were some other fundraising events at this year’s convention. Tickets were sold at the ACB marketplace for some gift cards and some lovely jewelry.

The combination ring and bracelet was won by Kathy Casey. The emerald ring went to Lindsey Tildon.

The tote bag went to Linda Simmons. Kathy Farina and Sara Conrad won gift cards to Starbucks.

There was a Starbucks in the casino at the Nugget Hotel. How handy is that!

The fifty fifty raffles were won by Jim Jirak and Cathy Schmidt Witaker.

Thank you to everyone who participated in these fundraising events.

The fundraising committee is working on some projects both during the year and at next year’s conference and convention in Saint Louis.

If you have fundraising ideas, let me know.

Kathy Farina

First Vice President CCLVI and Chair, Fundraising Committee

The Sam Genetsky Awards

Video Magnifiers Make a Difference For Those with Low Vision

By Dr. Catherine Schmitt Whitaker

The Council of Citizens with Low Vision International (CCLVI), Enhanced Vision, Mattingly Low Vision, and Nu Eyes are proud to announce recipients for the annual Dr. Samuel Genensky Video Magnifier Memorial Award.

The partnership recognizes and celebrates Dr. Genensky's achievements and thirst for knowledge, and CCLVI is grateful for vendor partner contributions and the meaningful difference these awards are making in the lives of individuals who are low vision.

In 2017, a total of 4 video magnifiers were awarded to individuals who are low vision with demonstrated need and potential to significantly improve their daily living with the use of a video magnifier from a competitive pool of applicants. meet our awardees for 2017!

Felix Reges is a happy 9 year old who loves electronics and figuring out how things work. Adopted at age 15 months, Felix has low vision and autism.

He will be returning to school this fall with a pair of Nu Eyes video magnification glasses and the ability to see the blackboard from a distance for the first time in his life.

While the focus has been on his autism condition, the video magnifier is critical for Felix's development to learn how to read and see his coursework.

Jose Thersita Arockia shared that "one day the cashier at the local store said her most favorite sentence: 'Change will not be given always, and you have to bring the change.'

These were golden words to me.

I shared my fears with my rehabilitation counsellor. That was when I was introduced to the wonderful World of CCTVs." After using the school's video magnifier for many years, Jose now has her own Acrobat by Enhanced Vision.

As a graduate student at the University of Southern California in Counseling, she is able to use her video magnifier for a variety of functions from viewing course work diagrams to putting on makeup.

Jose's goal is to counsel families who have children with autism, and it's influenced by her experiences growing up with a brother who has it.

Marylyn Gust, an older adult who is losing her eye sight from macular degeneration, geographical type, believes the video magnifier will enable her to regain independence in her life.

The Clover 5 from Mattingly Low Vision will empower Marylyn to read her mail, create arts and crafts, cook, and read her Bible.

She is trying to stay active in her community, and the portable video magnifier will allow her to see with magnification in a variety of settings.

Regina Mitchell is thrilled to be the recipient of the Braille Institute's donation of a pre-owned Merlin by Enhanced Vision.

The magnifier has allowed her to assist her daughter with reading and math homework, view photographs, read prescription-bottle labels, and takeout food menus.

A classically trained chef, Regina began losing her eyesight due to a rare eye disease she acquired as an adult that became a chronic illness.

The experience has inspired her to pursue a bachelor's degree in biology with a minor in neural science with the goal of becoming an immunology researcher.

She summed up her feelings about receiving the video magnifier by saying: "How do I thank you all for this amazing honor and opportunity and the start of a new life!"

A video magnifier is a machine that enlarges print material on a monitor to a font size from 2 to 10 times larger. The magnifier also allows the user to change background and text color to maximize color contrast and eyesight usability.