Proper lighting is the most important aspect of preserving eyesight

According to a video on OttLite’s web site the Disney Corporation asked OttLite founder, Dr. John Nash Ott, to time-lapse film the growth of a pumpkin. It was to be used in the animation of the pumpkin that turns into a coach for the picture “Cinderella”. Unfortunately the pumpkin did not mature. Dr. Ott realized that the lights used for filming were too hot and they dried the plant and it died. He then created a lamp that provided natural daylight without the harmful effects of excessive heat. That led to the healthy, full spectrum lights that we have today.

OttLite today offers full spectrum lighting, natural daylight lamps. Vision Dynamics now offers their new lamps, all using OttLite™ Illumination, with 508™ Technology. They are not luxury items but cannot be found in mass market stores. They are professional grade lamps available to the consumer in select stores and medical offices. They are available as floor lamps , desk and table lamps, portable, specialty, and magnification lamps.

Proper lighting is the most important aspect of preserving eyesight and it is one that we can all easily make use of without breaking our budgets. Everyone should and can protect their present eyesight in every way possible. Being legally blind since childhood, I am keenly aware of the need for conserving the eyesight you have right now. There is no easier way to start doing that than by using the best light available for all the things you love to do. Light up your home or office, use them for reading or craft work. They will even help your plants!

I have always provided easy solutions to our clients and adding these new products is another step in that direction. Give your eyes a break! They’ll love you for it.


Charlie Collins

Merry Christmas from Charlie Collins!

12-23-2009 –
I am more grateful than ever this Christmas season and it is not Christmas day. Funny for years how I believed that somehow, someday, things would be better on their own and all along all I needed to do was sit back and realize how good I have it.
Living with legal blindness owned me for years, but now (the only time I have) I am deeply grateful. I took charge of my life and now am happy, joyous, and free.

I wish for all a happy and successful Holiday Season. This could be the time to take complete control, 100% responsibility for our lives and be grateful for our blessings.

Making a decision to focus on what I can do, and not what I cannot do or did not have made a huge difference in my life.

Yes, I can read with a video magnifier, better lighting, pocket magnifier, a computer that reads to me and displays very large print, a camera that takes a picture of my magazines – actually any printed materials - and reads them back to me in a human sounding voice, and best of all many low tech items that enable me to live a much higher quality of life.

I am grateful for all the wonderful people in my life, for my clear mind’s eye, and the inspiration I get on a daily basis to help others with their struggles.

We are all blessed. I look forward to hearing from you and seeing you in the store.

Charlie Collins

Vision Dynamics, LLC of Cheshire, CT strengthens ties with HumanWare, a Canadian based international provider of Low Vision/Blindness products

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
EDITORIAL CONTACT:
Jack Sheehan
Director of Marketing
Vision Dynamics
203-271-1944
jack@visiondynamics.com


Vision Dynamics expands its long term association with HumanWare in adding their complete Low Vision Line, highlighting the new Intel Reader.

Cheshire, CT – December 17, 2009.

Charlie Collins, founder and owner, of Vision Dynamics is happy to extend their twelve year association with HumanWare. “We have always offered the HumanWare line of Blindness Aids and as we both continue to grow, we are very comfortable in knowing that they are constantly seeking to add new products.” said Charlie.

HumanWare is a Canadian based company with offices in Australia/New Zealand, Europe/UK, and the United States. On the HumanWare web site it states.”HumanWare's products are having a profoundly positive impact on the lives of people who are blind or visually impaired. These are the tools that empower them to live independently and compete effectively in a sighted world.”

Vinnie Zappa, V/P of Low Vision Sales for HumanWare, stated “HumanWare products are designed to last, to grow (and in many cases, to go) with the user. Giving them the independence to compete effectively with peers, to feel connected – to be a vital part of the global information age in which we live”. Charlie adds “This statement fits right in with our mission to inspire and empower people with low vision, blindness, and learning difficulties with the hope, desire and ability to lead happy and independent lives.”

HumanWare’s Low vision aids include the brand new SmartView Synergy video magnifier (CCTV), myReader2 (auto reader) and the SmartView Graduate (close-up/distance camera). Humanware has a full line of hand held portable magnifiers including the SmartView Nano, Pocket, Versa and Versa+. Video readers offered include the new Intel Reader. There is a soon to be released Orator for BlackBerry Smartphones. This will bring your BlackBerry to life using state of the art text to speech (TTS) technology with adjustable volume and speech rate.

“This is the kind of awareness and advanced thinking we are accustomed to from HumanWare.” said Charlie. “They are cutting edge providers in our industry. That is why we have been able to benefit from this partnership for so long.”

Vision Testing

Charlie Collins:

As one who is visually impaired I am very familiar with struggling with my initial thoughts. Are you having doubts or questions about your vision? Can’t do more of the things you used to handle easily? Not sure what, if anything, you can do? I remember having all these thoughts when I was diagnosed with Juvenile Macular Degeneration. If you are struggling and looking for some answers try these everyday living questions.


Do you find it difficult for you to watch sports or the news, your favorite “soaps” on TV?

Can you see the regular print in newspapers, magazines or books?

Can you see the large print headlines in the newspaper?

Are you having difficulty when you use your computer, play cards, sew, or doing other favorite things?

Are you having difficulty reading labels on medicine bottles or prices at the supermarket?

Are you having difficulty reading your own handwriting or your personal mail?

Are you sometimes even having difficulty recognizing the faces of family or friends?

Does seeing in dim or bright lights seem to be getting more difficult?


If you answered yes to three of these questions and have not had an eye exam recently I advise
you to do so as soon as possible. Your problems may not be serious and you may only need a minor adjustment to your normal vision.

If you answered yes to more than three of these questions there is a definite need for a vision examination conducted by an optometrist or ophthalmologist.

You are not alone in your doubts, perhaps even fears, about these questions. I personally know there are many ways to solve whatever problems you may be experiencing. My staff and I can help with advice or with the vision aids we deal with every day. Please call me or send me an e-mail today. I have been where you are so I know the way out.

You can help me help the vision impaired needy.

Charlie Collins:


I am a sufferer of Juvenile Macular Degeneration. I know what it is like to face life with the fear and anxiety that loss of vision brings to its victims. I also remember what happened when I realized there was help for my problem. Now I want to show people who are really hurting in this recession how they can still get help.

Using my large print, talking computer, I read a letter last week from an agency representing our local nonprofit agencies.

“With the nation’s unemployment rate over 10%, more and more middle-class families find themselves seeking services from nonprofit providers. The very people who were donating to nonprofit providers as recently as eighteen months ago are now applying for services.” states a recent letter from The Connecticut Nonprofit Human Services Cabinet (CNHSC) This agency represents well over 800 nonprofit providers across Connecticut that contract with the state to provide health and human services on its behalf

The letter added “The economic bubble has burst for our state. Unfortunately, there was no bubble to burst for nonprofit providers; we’ve been “doing more with less” for so long that many cannot remember what it is like to not struggle to balance a budget. The fiscal hardships that the state went through in 2009 are what nonprofit providers have been going through for years.”

This letter made the severity of the problems facing nonprofits very clear. I made up my mind right then that I was going to do something to help. You may be able to help too. Our company, Vision Dynamics in Cheshire, is well known to these agencies. Our reputation is one of always being ready, able and even anxious to help. We believe there are many vision aids not being used by the original purchasers for many reasons. We upgrade people’s aids many times and they usually keep their original product. We will be contacting those folks to offer to act as a drop off station for vision aids that are no longer being used. We have arranged to deliver these items to the non-profits that we and CNHSC support and make sure they get to the people that need them. I know we can make a difference in someone’s life that might not happen without this help.

If you or a loved one has one of these in your house, a magnifier or other item that is no longer being used because a stronger one was needed, someone can still use that original! There are other examples, readers, Braille products and many others. Our staff, most visually impaired themselves, is expert at placing the right tool in the right hands. You can drop off any vision aid product at Vision Dynamics, 470 West Main Street in Cheshire, CT. Items dropped off before December 15th may make a Merry Christmas gift for a needy person!

If you or a loved one needs vision aid advice but are unsure about the help available to you, please contact us, we may be able to put you in touch with an agency that can help you.

GM Teams With National Federation for the Blind to Develop Safe Sound Alert For Electric Vehicles

Electric cars are silent-running which for many people is a very good thing. It can potentially lead to some risk to the visually-impaired and other pedestrians however as some studies show.

A study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published in September reveled bicyclists and pedestrians are struck at a significantly higher rate by hybrid as opposed to conventional cars.

GM has created a special pedestrian alert signal for the Chevy Volt. ”It is an active system,” says Chief engineer Andrew Farah, meaning the driver must activate it. Passive systems produce a sound at all times. The Volt pedestrian alert sound is a light volume horn-like sound similar to the chirp of some cars keyless entry indicators. ”It has to be automotive,” says Farah referring to the quality of the tone.

The fist generation Chevy Volt will not be equipped with a passive alert system. Competitor Nissan has reportedly developed a system for its upcoming LEAF EV which sounds like a floating car from the Bladerunner movie. GM is looking at the possibility of passive alert for future Volt generations. Other electric automakers such as Tesla remain uncertain.

Today GM has announced that they formed a partnership with the National Federation for the Blind to identify what will be a “safe level of sound” for alerting visually impaired and other pedestrians to the approach of a silent running EV.

Meetings have begun earlier this year and are also aimed at protecting runners, cyclists, and children.

“We have significant background in the area of pedestrian alerts dating to our work on our first electric car, the EV1,” Farah said, “The most important thing is to listen to the people who will interact with these vehicles in everyday life.”

Deborah Kent Stein, who chairs the NFB’s Committee on Automobile and Pedestrian Safety, said, “A recent report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) demonstrated that the silent operation of hybrid vehicles is an issue for all pedestrians, not just the blind. In certain situations, electric or hybrid vehicles are twice as likely to be involved in collisions with pedestrians. The NFB looks forward to working with the safety agency in the crafting of appropriate standards establishing an acceptable level of minimum vehicle sound.”

“The National Federation of the Blind appreciates the opportunity to work with General Motors on this problem,” said Dr. Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind. “We urge all automobile manufacturers to work with the blind in designing vehicle sounds to alert us to the approach, speed and direction of vehicles so that both drivers and pedestrians can safely use America’s roadways.”

A low-level low-speed vehicular sound for EVs may be inevitable, though no formal federal regulations currently exist. Future legislation may arise in concert with input from the Society of Automotive engineers to develop a national standard.

A lack of consensus and standards among automakers could conceivably result in a virtual cacophony of discordant sounds once streets become filled with EVs from various automakers. Thus all cars should produce similar sounds, likely ruling-out the possibility of customizable “car tones,” as some pundits have speculated about.

Like it or not, the sound of silence appears to be on its way.

Below is GM’s video on the sound of the Volt:




Article Courtesty: www.gm-volt.com

Health Alerts: Macular Degeneration

10:55 AM CST on Tuesday, November 24, 2009
The New York Times


MACULAR DEGENERATION


Therapies can help prevent vision damage

Cases of age-related macular degeneration are expected to rise significantly by 2050, but better use of therapies is expected to lower the percentage of cases that result in vision loss and disability.

Scientists at Research Triangle Institute International analyzed existing data and projected the disease's future prevalence based on various treatment scenarios. Their study, published in the Archives of Ophthalmology, concludes that cases will increase from 9.1 million in 2010 to 17.8 million in 2050. They attribute almost all of the increases to aging of the U.S. population.

The disease causes deterioration of the macula, the main area of the retina, a thin tissue at the back of the eye where light-sensitive cells send signals to the brain. Damage to the macula results in blurred or distorted vision and blind spots.

Study authors say existing therapies could cut visual impairment by as much as 35 percent. One cost-effective way to delay the disease, researchers say, is through antioxidant vitamin therapy.


SOURCES: American Health Assistance Foundation; Archives of Ophthalmology