Working Together Across London for People with a Visual Impairment

‘working together across London for people with a visual impairment’

LVIF E-Bulletin: 10th July 2017

This Bulletin is also available on our website: http://lvif.co.uk/category/news-bulletins/

2017 meeting dates can be downloaded here:

http://lvif.co.uk/2016/10/lvif-meeting-dates-2017/

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NB: The views and opinions expressed in this bulletin are those of the contributors. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the LVIF or its members as a whole.

Introduction

Welcome to the latest edition of the LVIF Bulletin! Thank you to everyone who provided feedback on how frequently the Bulletin should be sent out. We will continue to send the Bulletin every fortnightly but, an extra edition will be added if there are a lot of news items and events.

This edition contains several technology updates, an exciting development in the treatment of nystagmus and information about this year’s National Eye Health Week. There is also a wide range of events, including museum tours, VI sports and the launch of a new social group. Don’t forget to check out the ‘And Finally…’ section for a rather amusing photo!

NEWS

Item1: Complete list of Braille Commands for iOS 11: and How to Customize Them.

Item2: eSight 3 Electronic Glasses Launches in Europe

Item3: New VR Headset to Help Visually Impaired People See

Item4: Moorfields CEO appointed chairman of World Association of Eye Hospitals

Item5: Does your little minion need a sight test?

Item6: Calling all Disability Equality Trainers

Item7: Philips Televisions Are Now Accessible for Visually Impaired People

Item8: Drivers’ blind spot for pavement parking puts people with sight loss in danger

Item9: London Assembly Health Committee review into eye health and preventing sight loss in London

Item10: All-night services on Friday and Saturday nights will start on the London Overground East London route in December this year

Item11: Sightsavers awarded Independent Research Organisation status

Item12: Magnetic implants used to treat nystagmus

EVENTS

Event 1: 1-1 Swimming Coaching at Ealing Swimming Club

Event 2: Benefits Overview Course

Event 3: National Eye Health Week 2017

Event 4: Circus Performing Arts

Event 5: VI Bowls

Event 6: Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave Exhibition

Event 7: “Expectations Exceeded” Parents workshop

Event 8: Hammersmith Socialising Meeting

Event 9: Hamlet

Event 10: The City is Ours Exhibition

Event11: Glaucoma Support Group

And finally…

NEWS

Item1: Complete list of Braille Commands for iOS 11: and How to Customize Them.

If you have a braille display with a Perkins style keyboard, you can control your iOS device by entering certain key combinations. I will include a list of these braille keyboard commands. While some of them will work with iOS 10 as well, iOS 11 will allow you to assign keyboard commands where none currently exist, and also change existing keyboard commands.

To assign a keyboard command where none exists, or change an existing keyboard command, go to Settings\General\Accessibility\VoiceOver\Braille.
From there, select more info next to the braille display that you have paired to your device, and then select Braille Commands. Now you will see a list of buttons like Braille, Device, Interaction, Keyboard, ETC. Each one has a list of braille commands that you can see when you click on one.

Click here for the complete list

Item2: eSight 3 Electronic Glasses Launches in Europe

eSight 3 is a wearable, hands-free solution that provides sight without the need for any surgery. The glasses have been clinically validated and patented engineering breakthrough that allows the visually impaired to see in the same manner that sighted people do.

“eSight 3 is the culmination of over 10 years of research and development, led by the world’s largest, most knowledgeable lab in the world dedicated to eradicating vision loss through wearable technology,” said Dr. Brian Mech. “I am incredibly proud of the hard work our team has undertaken, especially in obtaining the necessary approvals to commercialize our technology in the complex European market. Ahead of this important milestone, we are honoured to have had some of North America’s top medical institutions and eye care professionals clinically validate eSight. Our fundamental belief is that ‘Everyone Deserves to See’, and bringing our technology to Europe is yet another key step in fulfilling our global mission.”

Dr. Jane Macnaughton describes the wearable as, “The first head mounted device that offers real potential for the visually impaired. There is nothing comparable in the marketplace, and I am excited to see where this technology is going to take us.”

Read the full article

Visit the eSight website

Item3: New VR Headset to Help Visually Impaired People See

With a swipe of your finger this new technology, called Iris Vision, uses Samsung VR headset combined with software uploaded to a Samsung Galaxy phone.

People with low vision are able to get up close and personal to the world around them.

“What’s really great about it is that it works at all these different distances. You can hold things up to read, you can look at a computer screen. I can go across and use it to look at people’s faces, watching TV, a play or a show. We haven’t had a low vision device that can do all those different things at all these different distances and be able to focus automatically,” said Tom Perski, senior vice president of rehabilitation services at the Chicago Lighthouse.

Users see a bubble appear that they can make bigger or smaller. Then within the bubble, a person can zoom in or zoom back out.

“The image looks like a giant wide screen TV right in front of the eyes, so it works for so many people with different eye conditions like macular degeneration, glaucoma, retinitis pigmentosa, diabetes related eye diseases,” Perski said.

“So we’re really excited and it’s been taken by storm here in the Midwest. We’re the first to be showing it and it has been successful, and as I mentioned we have not seen anything like it before,” said Perski.

Visit the Iris Vision website

Item4: Moorfields CEO appointed chairman of World Association of Eye Hospitals

David Probert, chief executive at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, has been appointed chairman of the World Association of Eye Hospitals (WAEH). David will lead the association for the next two years, taking over from Charity Wai, chief operating officer at the Singapore National Eye Centre. The announcement was made at the WAEH 11th annual meeting, which was held from 14-17 June at the Tianjin Medical University Eye Hospital – the first time the meeting has been held in China.

Since joining Moorfields in April 2016, David successfully led the trust to gain a rating of ‘Good’ from the Care Quality Commission, the independent regulator of all health and social care services in England, and accreditation for five further years as a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre and Clinical Research Facility. He is the former director of strategic development at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH) and has 18 years’ experience in healthcare management.

Commenting on his appointment, David said, “The World Association of Eye Hospitals is an invaluable forum to work together and share knowledge. I am looking forward to leading the association to ensure that it continues to promote collaboration in ophthalmology to improve care and outcomes for people with sight loss around the world.”

Over the last three years as chairman, Charity Wai has been instrumental in growing the WAEH membership from its eight founding member hospitals. She helped connect the association to eye hospitals in the United States, Central America and Asia. There are now 40 eye hospitals that participate in the annual meetings, connecting members across five continents to discuss the future of eye care.

Item5: Does your little minion need a sight test?

The Association of Optometrists (AOP) has advised that parents taking their children to see 3D blockbuster Despicable Me 3 this summer should look out for warning signs that their child might have an undiagnosed vision problem.

Optometrist and AOP spokesperson, Ceri Smith-Jaynes, explained: “Difficulty watching 3D films comfortably can be an early sign of vision problems. To be able to get the full 3D effect and view the film with ease, you need good binocular vision – both eyes seeing clearly and working together. If something upsets that balance, it can lead to reduced vision – known as amblyopia (or ‘lazy eye’) – in one or both eyes and poor 3D vision. And, if the problem only affects one eye it can easily go unnoticed. Signs to look out for at the cinema include children failing to appreciate the 3D effect, feeling dizzy or experiencing headaches.”

Vision problems in children can often go unnoticed. In a recent survey of the AOP’s optometrist members, the majority said that at least one in five school children tested have an undiagnosed sight problem that requires correction. This supports previous figures which indicate one million children in the UK have undiagnosed vision problems

Top five signs your child may need a sight test:

1. An eye appearing to drift inwards or outwards

2. Difficulty concentrating

3. Headaches

4. Frequent eye rubbing or eye straining

5. Holding their head at an unusual angle

Read the full article here

Item6: Calling all Disability Equality Trainers

Are you a disabled person able to run inspiring Disability Equality training sessions?

Transport for All and Inclusion London, two leading deaf and disabled people’s organisations, are looking for new freelance trainers.

The training opportunities focus on transport providers and a range of public and voluntary sector organisations – all of whom want to improve the accessibility and customer service experience for their disabled customers.

We have established an excellent track record in designing and delivering bespoke Disability Equality Training, firmly rooted in the Social Model of disability that equips frontline and operational staff as well senior managers with the knowledge, skills and confidence to better serve the needs of disabled customers.

We are now looking to grow our team of freelance disabled trainers at an exciting time of growth.

As a freelance trainer, you will deliver high quality training designed by us for our clients. You will have excellent communication skills, a passion for Disability rights and the Social Model of Disability, an in-depth understanding of how to use a social model approach to improve service delivery and a winning hearts and minds personal style.

Essential experience required:

• Lived experience as a Disabled person;

• Experience of delivering Disability equality training to a variety of audiences using a variety of training approaches;

• Experience/knowledge/interest in the issues faced by disabled people in particular around access to transport services and/or improving accessibility of services

• Excellent communication skills;

• Good IT skills.

Payment: to be negotiated.

To apply please send your CV and a one page covering letter addressing the essential experience detailed above to by the 11th July.

Interviews will take place on the 18th July at our offices in Brixton.

Item7: Philips Televisions Are Now Accessible for Visually Impaired People

The entire line of 2017 Philips brand televisions and video players now offers Enhanced Accessibility to allow blind and visually impaired users to control the devices’ functions. Adding Enhanced Accessibility to products entails the addition of voice guide descriptive menus, easy to read user interface, guide dots on remote controls, easy access to closed captioning/subtitles and secondary audio, easy access to support, and an easy way to identify these products with the help of an Enhanced Accessibility logo.

Remote controls on the affected Philips products feature guide dots so that users can easily control key functions, such as power on/off, volume adjustment and mute, channel selection, playback functions, input selection, and other important functions.

Read the full article here

Item8: Drivers’ blind spot for pavement parking puts people with sight loss in danger

More than half of UK drivers park on the pavement but many don’t realise they could be putting people with sight loss and others in serious danger, according to a survey.

Research by YouGov for the charity Guide Dogs shows that 54% of UK drivers park on the pavement, with more than a quarter (29%) of those doing so a few times a month or more.

More than half (55%) of these drivers say they think about their impact on people with sight loss, whose lives are being endangered because they are forced to step out into oncoming traffic, but they park on the pavement anyway. This means certain streets in towns and cities have become no-go areas for blind people.

Guide Dogs is asking the public to support its petition calling for the Government to make pavement parking illegal unless special exemptions are in place, and hosted a parliamentary reception for MPs on Monday 3 July around the issue.

Read the full article here

Item9: London Assembly Health Committee review into eye health and preventing sight loss in London

The London Assembly Health Committee is conducting an investigation into eye health and preventing sight loss in London.

Why are we looking at this issue?

The RNIB estimates that there are more than 5.7 million people living with sight-threatening conditions in the UK. Many of these people require ongoing, recurring support to manage their conditions to prevent sight loss.

In London, around 193,000 are estimated to currently be living with sight loss, including over 25,000 people with severe sight loss (blindness). This figure is projected to rise to almost 268,000 by 2030, including 35,000 people with severe sight loss. Sight loss affects people of all ages, but prevalence rises with age. Around 50 per cent of people in the UK who lose their sight do so due to avoidable eye conditions.

Regular sight testing and early detection of eye conditions can prevent sight loss. There are significant health inequalities in relation to access to eye screening, eye health advice and treatment services in London. Take up of regular eye screening in London is low, particularly for some at-risk groups.