Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness

Describes a five-year research and demonstration project which trains and assesses the effectiveness of “barefoot” rehabilitation workers. The workers, all raised in rural villages in south India and familiar with the social structure of rural areas, received a few weeks of intensive training, including instruction in eye health care, basic mobility, daily living, and manual dexterity. Learning from experience, regular refresher courses, and project reviews increased their skills. The principal objective of rehabilitation was integration of blind individuals into family and community life. Results to date show service was delivered at costs low enough to be feasible in a developing nation.

Describes the highlights of the National Health Planning and Resources Development Act and shows how professionals in the field can participate in local planning activities on health services for blind and severely visually impaired persons.

An architect who also has a graduate degree in special education, the author uses both these areas and his own experience as a visually impaired person, to show how color contrast can improve the effectiveness of limited vision in the home. Ten photographs illustrate practical suggestions for using color contrast in the kitchen, dining area, living area, bathroom, and office desk. All suggested remedies are inexpensive and simple enough for the visually impaired person to carry out himself.

In a unit of 20 lessons sighted children were taught about the long cane, guide dogs, daily living skills, eye physiology, causes of blindness, eye care, braille, and attitudes toward blindness. The children were also required to perform some activities under blindfolds. After completing the unit, the children revealed far greater knowledge about blindness and had more positive attitudes toward blind persons—valuable preliminaries for mainstreaming blind children.

Examines the design of tactile political maps by constructing two experimental maps having either a broad raised line or a broad incised line. Performance on these two maps was compared with performance on a thin raised line map (control), which is typically found in braille books. The subjects were 72 braille readers in grades 4-12. Performance on the broad raised line map was superior to performance on the control map. Performance on the broad incised line map did not differ from performance on the control map.

An almost totally blind, 26-year-old, retarded man whose rate of eye contact was below 30 percent in any time period was trained in his sheltered workshop environment. By employing auditory feedback and the opportunity to avoid break time, the client's eye contacts were increased to over 80 percent. After 10 months, the response had not only generalized to other people and places within the workshop, it also remained above the 74 percent level.

Use of the Sonicguide as part of an orientation and mobility program helped an elementary school student to develop and reinforce mobility concepts and spatial awareness. Several high school students successfully used the Sonicguide as an object detector and environmental sensor. Crucial questions about using the Sonicguide with children, including logistical difficulties and selection of suitable students, are raised, and some tentative answers provided.