Being disabled can make a person think twice before going anywhere. Is it going to be accessible? Am I going to be able to enjoy and take advantage of the facilities? Is it worth me bothering?
Having this kind of information before visiting somewhere can be invaluable to help prepare you and avoid disappointment. It can be all too easy to put off a trip because you’re unaware if it will be worth going if your disability is going to be a major disadvantage or you’re nervous how you’ll cope.
The web site Disabiled Go can help. It is a online resource listing detailed information on the access to a wide range of places such as hotels, restaurants, education establishments, tourist attractions, libraries, hospitals, local services and more. All venues are personally visited by the Disabled Go surveying team and lists information from facilities for the disabled to details of toilet facilities, or even the surface of the car parks.
Using an easy interface, the site covers all aspects of things that could be a problem for people with all kinds of disabilities and could help in making decisions on whether it’s worth visiting somewhere or even deciding to go somewhere you thought wouldn’t have been an option before.
Disability Go also lists jobs, has news of events and disability issues as well as a discussion forum.
The site doesn't cover everywhere but is growing and constantly being added to.
Link:
Visit Disabled Go by clicking here.
Friday, 11 November 2011
Sunday, 6 November 2011
Action for Blind People on The Secret Millionaire
Some of the ways people can suffer from loss was highlighted on last week’s Secret Millionaire programme on Channel 4.
The show takes takes a millionaire from their luxury lifestyle and sends them out undercover to find people making a difference and which the millionaire can help in return with a donation. This episode followed Edward Douglas-Miller, who tragically lost a daughter just after birth and had sight problems which he feared could lead to losing his sight.
One person was Bernie Reddington, who works in the same role as me at Action for Blind People in Norwich (Assistive Technology Coordinator). Having lost her sight 17 years ago and two of her children inheriting the condition she has, she showed how she copes being totally blind and helping others in similar situations.
The programme also met a woman running a charity that helps bereaved parents and a man with motor neurones disease. An emotional watch, available on Channel 4’s catch up web site 4oD:
Friday, 14 October 2011
Tablet computers used as Braille keyboards
Researchers at New Mexico University have developed a system that uses tablet computers, like the Apple iPad, as Braille keyboards.
Touchscreen tablets can present a problem for blind and visually impaired people when the normal on-screen keyboards are not tactile and can’t be seen.
Tablets like the iPaad use speech software that feed back vocally what is under the users finger, meaning that you have to slide your finger around the screen until you find the right key. Rather than the users fingers having to find the keys the research group has developed a system where the device works out where the users fingers are. The combination of fingers determines the letter typed, in the same way a Braille typewriter would.
Though not yet commercially available the group hope to release the system which could be portable and help speed up typing, note taking and numerous other applications.
Elderly who take a daily Aspirin could be twice as likely to develop age related sight loss
A European study has found that pensioners who take an Aspirin everyday increase the risk of developing late stage age related Macular Degeneration (MD). People who took the painkiller were shown to be twice as likely to suffer from MD as those who didn’t. MD is the leading form of vision loss for the over 60’s
Many over 65’s with, or at risk of, heart disease take Asprin as an anti-coagulant to thin the blood but research by Dr Paulus de Jong at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience and Academic Medical Centre suggests that it could be unwise to recommend taking Aspirin for people showing signs of the eye condition.
The study doesn’t show why the drug exacerbates the eye condition, which examined the lifestyles of nearly 4,700 patients. It showed that roughly 2 out of every 100 people who didn’t take Aspirin developed wet form MD, the more severe form of the eye condition, whilst the figures jumped to about 4 per 100 with the patients who took the drug everyday.
It’s not thought that the drug causes MD, as it does not seem to effect early stage MD. It seems only wet, not the more common dry form MD, is affected.
However, Dr Jong told the Reuters news agency “For people with cardiovascular disease who take aspirin to prevent the condition from worsening, the benefits of the drug outweigh the risks to visual health… A healthy eye with full visual capacities is of no use in a dead body.”
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