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By Root 266 0

the visually impaired community talks in terms of “a high partial,” “a low partial,” and “totally blind.” Someone with 20/200 vision can see what the person with 20/20 vision can, only he has to be within roughly 20 feet of the object rather than 200 feet to see it. That person should also be able to use Large Print or magnification to read fairly comfortably. Eyestrain will become an issue, however, in many situations. A high partial may or may not use any sort of mobility aid such as a White Cane, guide dog, or sighted guide unless travel conditions are difficult. For example, at dusk or after dark, a white cane may be helpful to find the edge of steps, ramps or the like. Low Partial folks will have a tough time with most large print and are more likely to use a mobility aid. Depth perception and glare can become major problems in travel for them. Their choice for handling print material will be limited to either audio presentation or braille. Totally Blind means a virtual lack of any sort of functional vision. Some people with minimal light perception may refer to themselves as totally blind although they can tell when the light is on in a room and startle the sighted partner by turning off the light. Mobility aids are common and the use of either audio or braille is essential.

Louis Braille: Louis Braille was the inventor of braille. As a child, he became blind due to an accident. As he grew and matured, he desired a written form of communication that would serve him as well as print for his friends and family.

Notetaker: First introduced by Blazie Engineering in the mid-1980’s, these easy-to-use personal organizers allow a person knowledgeable in Braille to create documents, read text, keep addresses and appointments, access a list of special utilities, and do so almost a decade before the sighted found similar convenience in the Palm Pilot and Pocket PC.

Ophthalmology: The branch of medicine concerned with eyes and diseases of the eye.

Optometry: The art or profession of examining the eye for defects and faults of refraction and prescribing correctional lenses or exercises.

Optical Character Recognition (OCR): The computerized process of identifying patterns of pixels in an electronic file as letters or other parts of language such as punctuation. Most advanced software performing this task can also maintain the format of the original page, if desired, through insertion of various codes in the “Save” or “Save As” process. OCR with any software package can make recognition errors. Powerful OCR programs will recognize potential errors and offer the operator the opportunity to edit the file on the fly.

Partially Sighted: The technical definition of “partially sighted” is that one’s best corrected visual acuity is no better than 20/70 in either eye, but better than mere perception of light.

Perkins Brailler: This machine is commonly known as a braille writer. Early in the 20th century braille writers were produced by Howe Press. They were expensive, noisy, heavy and needed frequent repair, however. The director of the Perkins School for the Blind in Massachusetts in the 1930s, Dr. Gabriel Farrell, wanted its printing department to produce a better machine. He found the man to do the job, David Abraham, teaching in their woodworking department. Abraham also had had training and experience as a mechanic and designing and building machines that manufactured stair railings. When Dr. Farrell learned of Abraham’s ability with machine design, he asked Abraham to design a new braille writer with the help of Dr. Edward Waterhouse, a math teacher. The three men developed the specifications for the new machine. The brailler prototype was completed in November 1939. After World War II, production of the braillers began. That machine has changed little over the years and is the same brailler known worldwide today.

Retina: The light-sensitive membrane covering the back wall of the eyeball; it is continuous with the optic nerve.

Scanner: In simple terms, these electronic machines examine a piece of paper bit by tiny bit and