Vision Health
(Globe & Mail insert)
Technical aids boost independence
It looks like any warehouse space for dry goods until you notice the very large numbers on the playing cards and the fact that the wristwatches can talk.
At the Technical Aids Distribution Centre of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), more than 1,200 gadgets and devices help make life easier and more productive for people who are blind, visually impaired or deafblind.
Pocket magnifiers, folding aluminum canes, large print bingo cards, braille embossing sheets, hand-held tape recorders and talking thermometers are just a few of the home and workplace devices the CNIB distributes across the country to be sold to consumers in its stores.
The devices can be divided into two categories:
"Low-tech" products include braille calendars, magnifiers and needle
threaders. "High-tech" devices include closed-circuit televisions,
voice-synthesizing software and optical character-recognition reading
machines - devices that interpret the written word and relay it through
synthetic speech.
"For working-age blind people, computers with adaptive equipment are essential, more so than for a sighted person," says Cathy Moore, CNIB consumer and government-relations director in Ottawa.
Indeed, for people who are blind or visually impaired, computers offer unlimited access to information.
In the workplace, their importance in levelling the playing field with sighted workers cannot be measured.
However, they are also costly, adds Ms. Moore. Voice-synthesizing software can run as high as $1,500, while low-vision aids often used by the elderly can climb in excess of $1,000.
Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Alberta have assistive-devices programs that pay at least half the cost for eligible applicants.
But for Canadians without a program in their province, they have to shoulder the entire cost.
"There really is a need for national standards around the provision of technical aids and the CNIB is working toward that with the National Coalition for Vision Health. That would ensure equitable access to assistive devices in all parts of Canada. We are trying to put universal access to these devices on the national agenda," Ms. Moore says.
In addition to the sale of technical aids, the CNIB also helps determine each client's individual needs.
Services provided at centres within local CNIB offices include:
- Information about available technical aids.
- Research into developing assistive devices.
- Product demonstration with hands-on trials by the client.
- Assessment of a client's personal, professional and environmental needs.
The CNIB also works with developers and vendors in the research and development of adaptive technology for Canadians who are blind and visually mpaired.
Such projects include promoting technology awareness to governments, employers, educators and funding partners.
For more information about CNIB products, contact the CNIB office in your.
