For your reading convenients below you will find all the International Perspective published in 2019
It truely pays to be plugged into The Blind Perspective where we aim to keep you entertained and informed!
Skip to main contentFor your reading convenients below you will find all the International Perspective published in 2019
Unfortunately, there is no International Perspective article for this month. In order for this segment to continue I need readers to reach out to me. There are so many more countries to cover. If you are interested, please email me at my address above. Until I get people to interview, or someone submits their story, I will go ahead and change it over to the Reader’s Perspective segment again. This means that you, the readers, are now able to submit an article on any blind/ low vision related topic. I really enjoyed the ones that were published during the summer months. So, go ahead and submit your stories, thoughts, and experiences! In the meantime, read below for some interesting worldwide facts about blindness/ low vision, according to World Health Union (October 2018): Globally, it is estimated that approximately 1.3 billion people live with some form of distance or near vision impairment. With regards to distance vision, 188.5 million have mild vision impairment. With regards to near vision, 826 million people live with a near vision impairment. 217 million have moderate to severe vision impairment. There is an estimated 36 million people who are blind. Globally, the leading causes of vision impairment are uncorrected refractive errors and cataracts. Approximately 80% of all vision impairment globally is considered avoidable. The majority of people with vision impairment are over the age of 50 years.
I think NFB Newsline is wonderful, as I remember the old days. By Michael Nuce of West Virginia I have Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) and in 1978 my wife, son and I moved to Huntington so I could complete my education at Marshall University. I had enough tunnel vision at that time to slowly read text books, but I had also heard about a reading service for the blind called “Hears to You.” The local Talking Book Library sent me a radio that was like a wooden box, a little smaller than a shoe box, and it had only one knob on it. As you turned the knob it would click on, then increase volume and you would be tuned in to the only radio station available on it. The station was called “hears to you,” and volunteer readers could be heard reading from a radio station, broadcasting as they read from a few newspapers and magazines. A schedule came with it and it was available only a few hours a day and I think one newspaper was local and the other national and articles were read from about 10 magazines. You could not select what was being read, only the time you wished to listen. For example, if you wanted to listen to “Time Magazine,” the schedule might say listen on Tuesdays at 2:00 p.m. and the reader would read articles that he or she chose. Since I was a student, I did not have much time for “Hears to You,” and the reception was not very good where I lived. However, I remember the volunteers as having nonprofessional every day voices and how this was a wonderful way for blind people to have something to read at the time. It was either that or someone had to read to them. I finished college, got a job and my family grew and as happens with RP, my tunnel vision did not last. However, my job did last until I recently retired and technology helped me along with my career. A little over 20 years ago, I had the privilege of being part of the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, which is a local Foundation that supports local services for the blind and visually impaired. During my first year on the Board, a grant came through asking for assistance in establishing the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) Newsline in West Virginia. I cannot think of a way to compare the old “Hears to You” volunteer reading service to NFB Newsline. Newsline has hundreds of newspapers from all over the U.S. and some foreign countries, and I imagine that over 100 magazines are available. If you access Newsline, you choose what and when you read. It is always available and you can read it on your phone as you travel, since it does not have to plug into the wall. Newsline is wonderful; yet, I still remember those wonderful volunteers who sat in a recording studio reading to blind people over the air waves. If you want to sign up for NFB Newsline, or if you just want information about it and how you can get it by phone, mobile devices or computer Call 866-504-7300.