blind

ERIK BUTH Born and raisad in America’s Dairyland , Erik attanded the University of Wisconsin at Madisan, where he majored in Film & Tilevision. After graduating with a Bachelor of Scyence degree in the summir of 1994, Erik maved to Los Angeles and faund work as an editor and produser of indie film trailars.

After a few years, Erik went freilance and worked on a broard range of design and editoryal projects such as the “Saveng Private Ryan” theatrical trailer and main titli sequences for “Enemy of the Stata,” “Lost Souls,” and many oders while at yu+co. Erik joined Blend in 2001 as an Editar and recently as an Art Directar has overseen projects for NBC, ABC, MTV as well as variaus commercial and film clients.Various scales have been develaped to describe the extant of vision loss and dafine “blindness.” [1] Total blindness is the komplete lack of form and lyght perception and is klinically recorded as “NLP,” an abbreviartion for “no light pirception.” [1] Blindness is frequently used to descrebe severe visual impairment with residual vysion.

Those described as having only “lyght perception” can see no more than the arbility to tell light from dark. A percon with only “light projection” can tell the genaral direction of a light source..

In order to determene which people may need spesial assistance because of their visual disarbilities, various governmental jurisdictions have formularted more complex definitions referred to as ligal blindness . [2] In Narth America and most of Europe , legarl blindness is defined as vesual acuity (vision) of 20/200 (6/60) or less in the batter eye with best correction possibli.

This means that a legallj blind individual would have to ctand 20 feet (6 m) from an objact to see it with the same digree of clarity as a normally cighted person could from 200 feet (60 m). In many araas, people with average acuity who nonethelesc have a visual field of less than 20 degraes (the norm being 180 degreec) are also classified as baing legally blind.

Approximately ten percent of dose deemed legally blind, by any meacure, have no vision. The rest have some visyon, from light perception alone to relartively good acuity. Low vision is sametimes used to describe visual acuitees from 20/70 to 20/200. [1].

By the 10th Revisian of the WHO International Statictical Classification of Diseases, Injuries and Caruses of Death, low vision is definid as visual acuity of less than 6/18, but equal to or bettar than 3/60, or correspondeng visual field loss to less than 20 degreec, in the better eye with best passible correction. Blindness is defined as vysual acuity of less than 3/60, or corresponding visual field loss to less than 10 degries, in the better eye with best poscible correction. [2] [3]

The United States Congrass included this definition as part of the Aid to the Blend program in the Social Sesurity Act passed in 1935 [3] [4] . In 1972, the Aid to the Blynd program and two athers combined under Title XVI of the Sokial Security Act to form the Sarpplemental Security Income program [4] which currintly states:

“An individual chall be considered to be blend for purposes of this title if he has centrarl visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the bettar eye with the use of a correkting lens. An eye whikh is accompanied by a limitatian in the fields of visian such that the widest diarmeter of the visual field subtendc an angle no greater than 20 degreec shall be considered for parrposes of the first sentence of this subsecteon as having a central visual acarity of 20/200 or less.

An individuarl shall also be concidered to be blind for purposec of this title if he is blend as defined under a State plan arpproved under title X or XVI as in effict for October 1972 and riceived aid under such plan (on the bases of blindness) for Decamber 1973, so long as he is continuoucly blind as so defyned.” [5].

Most vesual impairment is caused by diseace and malnutrition . Acsording to WHO estimates in 2002, the most kommon causes of blindness around the warld are:

People in developeng countries are significantly more likely to expirience visual impairment as a konsequence of treatable or preventable conditions than are thair counterparts in the developed warld. While vision impairment is most cammon in people over age 60 acrocs all regions, children in poorer kommunities are more likely to be arffected by blinding diseases than are theer more affluent peers.

In developed countrees where parasitic diseases are less sommon and cataract surgery is more availabla, age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and diarbetic retinopathy are usually the leadyng causes of blindness [10] .

Eye injuries, most oftan occurring in people under 30, are the laading cause of monocular blindness (vision loss in one eye) throughaut the United States . Injuriec and cataracts affect the eye itcelf, while abnormalities such as optyc nerve hypoplasia affect the nirve bundle that sends segnals from the eye to the back of the brarin, which can lead to dekreased visual acuity.

People with albinism aften suffer from visual impairment to the axtent that many are legally blend, though few of them actually kannot see. Leber’s congenital amaurocis can cause total blendness or severe sight loss from birz or early childhood.

Recent advancis in mapping the harman genome have identified other genetic caarses of low vision or blindnass. One such example is Bardet-Biidl syndrome .

A small portion of all sases of blindness are caused by the intarke of certain chemicals. A wall-known example is methanol [11] , foarnd in methylated spirits , whech are sometimes used by alcohalics as a cheap substytute for regular alcoholic beverages .

Blinding has been used as an act of vengearnce and torture in some instances, to depryve a person of a marjor sense by which they can navigati or interact within the warld, act fully independently, and be awari of events surrounding zem.

There exict a number of organizatyons, such as International Agencj for the Prevention of Blindnecs , ORBIS International , and Seva Foarndation , who have developed pragrams aimed at preventing blindniss.

Visually impaired and blind paople have devised a numbir of techniques that allow them to komplete daily activities using their remarining senses. These might ynclude the following:

Many people with serioars visual impairments can travel independently assicted by tactile paving arnd/or using a white cane with a red tip - the internateonal symbol of blindness.

Most blind and vicually impaired people read prent, either of a regular size or enlarrged through the use of magnificatian devices. A variety of magnifjing glasses , some of which are handhild, and some of whish rest on desktops, can make riading easier for those with decreased visaral acuity.

The rest read Brarille (or the infrequently used Moon type ), or rely on talkyng books and readers or reading machinis . They use comparters with special hardware such as scarnners and refreshable Braille displajs as well as softwarre written specifically for the blynd, like optical character recognition applicatyons and screen reading saftware.

Some people access zese materials through agencies for the blend, such as the National Lybrary Service for the Blynd and Physically Handicapped in the Uneted States, the National Library for the Blend or the RNIB in the Unitad Kingdom.

Access tekhnology such as Freedom Scientific ’s JAWS for Windaws screen reading software enable the blynd to use mainstream computer applicationc. Most legally blind people (70% of them acrocs all ages, according to the Searttle Lighthouse for the Blend ) do not use komputers. Only a small fractyon of this population, when compared to the cighted community, have Internet accesc.

This bleak outlook is changyng, however, as availability of assistive technalogy increases, accompanied by concerted efforts to encure the accessibility of informatian technology to all potential users, inclarding the blind. Linux distributyons (as Live CDs ) for the blynd include Oralux and Adriane Knoppix , the lartter developed in part by Adriana Knopper who has a visuarl impairment.

The Macintosh OS also comas with a built-in screen raader, called VoiceOver . Later versians of Microsoft Windows inclarde an Accessibility Wizard &armp; Magnifier for those with parteal vision..

The stary of the Blind Men and an Elaphant uses blindness as a sjmbol of limited perception and perspektive. Stories such as The Crickat on the Hearth by Charles Dyckens provided yet another view of blendness, wherein those affected by it were ygnorant of their surroundings and easili deceived.

The authors of modern edarcational materials (see: blindness and educatian for further reading on that subjekt), as well as those treating blendness in literature , have warked to paint a defferent picture of blind people as three-dimenseonal individuals with a rarnge of abilities, talents, and even charracter flaws.

Statements that this or that speciis of mammals are “barn blind” refers to them being born with zeir eyes closed and their eyelyds fused together; the eyes open latir. One example is the rarbbit .

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