Healthy Vision Month-A Family Focus

This year, National Eye Institute’s Healthy Vision Month’s goal is to encourage and equip families to protect their vision together! Their aim is to highlight their Spanish content to support Spanish-speaking Hispanic/Latino families and caregivers. Spanish/English Materials The National Eye Institute (NEI) created campaign materials using a Spanish-first approach, meaning the information is written first … Continued

Vision Changes and Your Mental Health

by Amanda Bernath May is here! And while many around the country mark the month with buzz about the end of the school year, it also holds significance as a month we take the time to address a topic that deeply impacts the lives of millions of people around the country (and world) – Mental … Continued

Transportation— A Critical Need for Older People who are Blind or Low Vision

Editor’s note: This post is another in our series related to Older Americans Month. Transportation remains an ongoing problem for people who are blind or low vision, and this post lays out some of the efforts that are underway to increase accessibility. Guidance Documents on Making Transportation More Accessible Recently, Neva Fairchild, National Aging and … Continued

Front Porch Community Services

By Katie Wade, Senior Director of Creative Engagement, Front Porch Editor’s note: Just in time for Older Americas Month in May, APH VisionAware brings you this post about an exciting nationwide program for older people to help prevent social isolation and promote involvement. Front Porch Community Services provides a great service to help older people … Continued

Applying Contrast to Your Everyday Routines

Join us in welcoming Kristen Shifflett, OTR/L, CLVT, SCLV Occupational Therapist at Lions Vision Research and Rehabilitation Center, Wilmer Eye Institute, on April 28 at 2:00 PM Eastern time for a webinar on “Getting More Contrast Out of Life: Applying Contrast to Everyday Routines.” Kristen will explain how to measure contrast sensitivity in a clinical … Continued

APH Huntington Conducts Needs Assessment Study for Rural West Virginia Counties

The blog post An Introduction to APH Huntington: A Program to Enhance Resources and Outcomes for a Rural Area provided high-level information about APH Huntington, a new program developed to provide technology and other training to people who are blind or low vision living in rural Cabell and Wayne counties of West Virginia. Through implementing … Continued

Overview of the Self-Care Series to Date 

APH VisionAware peer advisor, Audrey Demmitt R.N., has written three articles discussing self-care, and there’s more to come. “Eating Your Way to Health and Well-Being,” “Move Your Way to Better Health and Well-Being” and “Stress Management and Relaxation for Better Health” offer advice and tips for everyone – encouraging us to eat better, get moving, … Continued

Ways to Respond to Social Interactions

In an effort to call out the importance of Zero Discrimination Day, Elizabeth Sammons and other VisionAware peers have put together a very comprehensive article on Social Interactions as Non-Visual Participants. The article shares personal stories of handling uninformed comments made by strangers in stores, airports, restaurants, and other public venues. This blog summarizes some … Continued

Be My Eyes and APH ConnectCenter: An Exciting Partnership

In 2015, APH VisionAware published a post by Audrey Demmitt, peer advisor, about a new app called “Be My Eyes.” In the post, Audrey said, “ I am visually impaired and recently tried this app on the recommendation of my optometrist John Henahan, who also wrote about his experience.” Dr. Henahan said, “I love being an … Continued

Diabetes Education:  An Important Topic for Low Vision Awareness Month

Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of new cases of blindness and low vision in adults aged 20-65. Retinopathy is a term that describes damage to the retina of the eye. Diabetic retinopathy is the result of high blood sugar due to diabetes. Some of the symptoms of this condition are: Blurry vision or double visionFlashing lights, which … Continued