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Electronic assistant system for blind people is introduced which is capable of detecting obstacles around the blind person allowing him to walk, deal and react with the surrounding environment independently. Ultrasound and IR distance sensors are used in this development to detect the distance of obstacles surrounding the blind person according to the sensors distribution. The system here will convert the sensor signal to vocal signal and vibration to be accessible for blind person hearing nearby obstacles as high frequency beep and further obstacles as low frequency beep, Vibration motors will be set in the two sides of the blind person indication for left or right obstacles. This study shows a design and implementation of assistant system which will be helpful for blind persons who always suffer from being dependent on someone for help or doing their stuff.

Purpose: To review the current literature on the prevalence of cataract in Hispanic females living in the United States. Methods: Review relevant literature on cataract, eye disease, and health practices of Hispanics living in the U.S. Results: Females comprise 64.5% of blind persons worldwide. Internationally, female gender is associated with lower awareness of cataract and other diseases of the eye and women are less likely to have cataract surgery than men in low- and middle-income countries. Conclusion: Hispanic women receive disparate care compared to their male counterparts. The etiology of this is likely multifactorial but possible contributors include genetics, gender roles, and personal healthcare decisions. Interventions to address this disparity should be targeted, efficient, and sustainable.

Raffaele Nuzzi, Eleonora Bottacchi, Francesca Monteu Eye Clinic, University of Turin, Molinette Hospital, Turin, Italy Significance: The purpose of the study was to analyze all the steps needed to manage partially sighted or blind persons. Purpose: The aim of the first research was to collect and analyze data and opinions regarding the mobility of visually disabled people in Turin. The aim of the second research was to assess issues, daily needs and expectations regarding the urban reclassification plan for Via Nizza (Turin). Materials and methods: In the first study, we proposed a survey, partially structured and partially unstructured, of 100 patients enrolled in the Visual Rehabilitation Center of the Ophthalmic Hospital of Turin. In the second study, we collected data from a survey of eleven patients enrolled in the Turin section of the Italian Confederation of Blind. Results: It was observed that the visually disabled population was not necessarily elderly (46% of the population was less than 60 years of age); it was observed that the visually disabled people were active frequently. Environmental aids considered more useful were sound traffic lights (30%) and gradient signaling (29%); the first was not widespread in urban areas and was the aid most requested by the patients enrolled (49%); 48% of enrolled patients did not use tactile maps. As regards the reclassification of the urban plan of the area in Turin, important needs and expectations were highlighted. Conclusion: As regards urban planning in Turin as well as in other Italian cities, many changes in public facilities are to be done to ensure an increasing independence and safety of visually impaired people. Keywords: visually disabled people, blindness, public facilities, environmental aids, sound traffic lights, gradient signaling

The world over, prevailing technologies to assist physically challenged people are either complex or available at high cost. The recent development in the medical world, however, claim to facilitate comfort and make their life autonomously operational but lack of information, training, and functional intricacies often lead to discouraging users. This paper presents a comprehensive study of an existing system called 'Internet of Things' (ioT); this system is a programmable well-synchronized network of different electronic devices, sensors, mechanical & digital machines and highly active communication network. IoT is used to provide assistance to visually challenged (blind) people and help to extend their self-reliance not only in the known environment but also unknown places would become easily accessible to them. In this preliminary approach, various possibilities to develop multisensory network based on 'Inter of Things' have been proposed. This approach not only targets technical complications associated with available technologies but also introduces inexpensive and user-friendly applications which can easily be employed to provide comfort.

Lack of eyesight generates blind spaces. Blind spaces often enacted together with sighted are different from visual spaces in important ways. Sharing physical and social space with sighted may imply special challenges for blind persons with regard to interaction order and social identities. The article is based on ethnographic data with the purpose to describe enactment and management of physical and social spaces for blind born persons in different settings. It focuses on the physical and social plasticity of blind spaces and the mediated, practiced and often toolic relationship between body, self and physical and social environments.

Motivated by the aim of developing a vision-based system to assist the social interaction of blind persons, the performance of some face detectors are evaluated. The detectors are applied to manually annotated video sequences acquired by blind persons with a glass-mounted camera and a necklace-mounted one. The sequences are relevant to the specific application and demonstrate to be challenging for all the considered detectors. A further analysis is performed to reveal how the performance is affected by some features such as occlusion, rotations, size and position of the face within the frame.

INTRODUCTION: The number of blind persons in India in 2000 was estimated to be 18.7 million, of which 9.5 million were cataract –related. If there is no change in the current trend of blindness, the number of blind persons in India would increase to 31.6 million in 2020. If effective strategies are put in place to eliminate 95% of blindness due to cataract by 2020, blindness in 15.6 million persons would be prevented who would otherwise be blind in 2020, and 82 million blind person-year would be prevented [1]. In 2000, 3.5 million cataract operations were performed but this remains insufficient to treat the backlog and the newly blind[2]. Productivity per individual surgeon/unit should be increased through a high volume, high quality cataract surgery approach to solve the problem of India’s curable blind[3][4][5][6]. The World Health Organization global initiatives have called for a dramatic increase in surgical volumes worldwide[4]. However, it is becoming evident that outcomes of cataract surgeries are not always good and this aspect of surgical services must be further examined. Hence in this study an attempt has been made to analyze the results of 6000 surgeries performed by experienced surgeons utilizing the technique of manual small incision cataract surgery.

Blindness has been interpreted in diferent, often controversial ways, since ancient times. It has been stereotyped and labeled by sighted people and has thus afected the acceptance of Visually Impaired persons, the tolerance towards them and their integration into societal life. Te main purpose of this study is to fnd out the contemporary beliefs and social attitudes of Greek sighted people towards blindness and blind persons. 115 sighted Greek people, most of them from urban and rural areas of Athens and Crete, were asked to fll in a questionnaire consisting of 25 questions. Our results showed that firstly, visually impaired people are still treated with some prejudice concerning the size of their disability, their education and their integration into society. However, they have ceased to apply antiquated perceptions based on fear or ignorance. Sighted people no longer believe that blind individuals are beggars, evil or blinded because of a punishment. Secondly, sighted people still believe that blind persons possess some extra powers and abilities such as better sense of things, especially of hearing, sixth sense or better judgment abilities. Finally, the common belief about associating blind people with their musical talents and skills is no longer in actual existence. Cilj ovog istraživanja je da utvrdi savremena uverenja i stavove Grka sa normalnim vidom prema osobama sa oštećenjem vida. Još od davnih vremena slepoća se interpretira na različite, često kontra verzne načine. Ona je takođe stereotipizovana i obeležena od strane onih koji vide, što je uticalo na prihvatanje osoba sa oštećenjem vida, toleranciju prema njima i njihovu integraciju u društvo. Prvo, prema osobama sa oštećenjem vida se i dalje odnosi sa određenim predarasudama vezanim za stepen njihovog oštećenja, nji hovo obrazovanje i integraciju u društvo. Međutim, nestale su zasta rele percepcije zasnovane na strahu ili neznanju. Osobe koje vide više ne veruju da su slepe osobe prosjaci, zlikovci ili da je njihovo slepilo nekakva kazna. Drugo, osobe koje vide i dalje veruju da slepi imaju nekakve dodatne moći i sposobnosti, kao na primer izraženija čula, naročito sluh, šesto čulo ili bolju procenu. Konačno, rasprostranjeno verovanje kojim se slepima pripisuju muzički talenti i sposobnosti više ne postoji.

Is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors. Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness. Also the aim of total blindness is the complete lack of form and visual light perception and is clinically recorded as NLP, an abbreviation for no light perception. In this paper, a specific system is that improves the mobility of blind persons into a limited area is presented. The proposed solution includes wearable equipment of head hat and mini hand stick.

Although attentional processes and working memory seem to be significantly involved in the daily activities (particularly during navigating) of persons who are blind and who use these abilities to compensate for their lack of vision, few studies have investigated these mechanisms in this population. The aim of this study is to evaluate the selective, sustained and divided attention, attentional inhibition and switching and working memory of blind persons. Early blind, late blind and sighted participants completed neuropsychological tests that were designed or adapted to be achievable in the absence of vision. The results revealed that the early blind participants outperformed the sighted ones in selective, sustained and divided attention and working memory tests, and the late blind participants outperformed the sighted participants in selective, sustained and divided attention. However, no differences were found between the blind groups and the sighted group in the attentional inhibition and switching tests. Furthermore, no differences were found between the early and late blind participants in this set of tests. These results suggest that early and late blind persons can compensate for the lack of vision by an enhancement of the attentional and working memory capacities.

This study was conducted to assess the coping mechanisms of some blind trainees engaged in agricultural activities at the Nigeria Training Centre for the Blind, Ogbomoso, Oyo State, Nigeria. The participants in this study were blind trainees and agricultural inspectors. Focus group discussions were used to elicit their feelings concerning their coping mechanisms with agricultural activities at the centre. In addition, a practical session, and participatory observation, was carried out to examine the trainees and their reactions to the agricultural training programmes. Findings revealed that the blind trainees could effectively undertake farming activities despite their disability. It was, however, noted that the facilities for agricultural training programme in the centre are not inadequate. Moreover, the study further discovered that the number of blind persons seeking agricultural training was far less than the expected intake for the centre. There were also more male than female trainees in the centre. Based on the findings, recommendations were made to improve the farming training programme for blind trainees at the centre. More facilities should be provided and efforts made to encourage more blind persons to use the centre. This will discourage begging and dependence, activities often engaged in by blind persons who have not been rehabilitated.

Introduction Cataract is the second leading cause of blindness and visual disability in the region of Eastern Herzegovina and Eastern Sarajevo. It is a curable and preventable cause of blindness, because visual function can be surgically recovered. The aim of our study was to determine the frequency of cataract among registered blind population. .Material and methods We used data stored in the Regional Association of Blind Persons from municipalities of Eastern Herzegovina (Trebinje, Kileca, Foca) and Eastern Sarajevo. In this population-based study data were analyzed using standard statistical methods. We have investigated sex and age distribution, visual acuity and type of cataract in the registered population. Results Among 298 registered blind persons and persons with visual disability, 17% are persons with cataract Males are more frequent than women. Most people with cataract are older than on and are with age-related cataract. Discussion and conclusion Literature data show that cataract is one of the leading causes of blindness and visual disability in the world. Cataract is the second leading cause of visual disability and blindness in the registered population of Eastern Herzegovina. The total number of people with visual disability caused by cataract would decrease by increasing the number of surgeries, which correlates with improving the quality and training of ophthalmologists.

Reading of text and understanding images by touch is an important alternative and additional source of information when sight is absent or lost. Tactile graphics and models such as edge maps, binary output, etc., are the solution for simple access to images for blind persons. This paper introduces an approach to model the human tactile system based on the responses produced by stimuli on microcapsule paper. This system is utilized for the purpose of generating optimum halftone patterns on microcapsule paper that can be utilized for the effective generation of tactile graphics.

Ocular light exposure patterns are the primary stimuli for entraining the human circadian system to the local 24-h day. Many totally blind persons cannot use these stimuli and, therefore, have circadian rhythms that are not entrained. However, a few otherwise totally blind persons retain the ability to suppress plasma melatonin concentrations after ocular light exposure, probably using a neural pathway that includes the site of the human circadian pacemaker, suggesting that light information is reaching this site. To test definitively whether ocular light exposure could affect the circadian pacemaker of some blind persons and whether melatonin suppression in response to bright light correlates with light-induced phase shifts of the circadian system, the authors performed experiments with 5 totally blind volunteers using a protocol known to induce phase shifts of the circadian pacemaker in sighted individuals. In the 2 blind individuals who maintained light-induced melatonin suppression, the circadian system was shifted by appropriately timed bright-light stimuli. These data demonstrate that light can affect the circadian pacemaker of some totally blind individuals— either by altering the phase of the circadian pacemaker or by affecting its amplitude. They are consistent with data from animal studies demonstrating that there are different neural pathways and retinal cells that relay photic information to the brain: one for conscious light perception and the other for non-image-forming functions.

The ‘visual’ acuity of blind persons perceiving information through a newly developed human–machine interface, with an array of electrical stimulators on the tongue, has been quantified using a standard Ophthalmological test (Snellen Tumbling E). Acuity without training averaged 20/860. This doubled with 9 h of training. The interface may lead to practical devices for persons with sensory loss such as blindness, and offers a means of exploring late brain plasticity.

Item does not contain fulltext This paper describes an experiment in which the performance of cane walkers with the traditional straight long cane and a redesigned cane, the curved cane, was compared. The curved cane has a curve where the tip touches the ground. Participants were 18 experienced cane walkers who were totally blind. The aspects of cane walking that were investigated included obstacle detection, drop-off (slope) detection and walking speed. The performance with both canes was investigated in two different ways: (1) by means of constructed courses in which objective measures of cane walking were derived; and (2) by means of more qualitative measures based on the participants' experiences with the curved cane during a 3-week try-out period. Results showed that obstacle-detection was significantly better with the curved cane, whereas drop-off detection and walking speed were comparable for the two canes. The participants' experiences mirrored these results.

The research aims of the present study were: (a) to assess the hand preference of blind persons in everyday activities on the basis of gender, type of blindness, and age; and (b) to conduct the above analysis at both the item level and the latent trait level, after concluding the optimum factor structure of the instrument. Participants were 82 individuals with visual impairments and blindness. Their mean age was 29.99 years. Handedness was evaluated using a modified version of the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory (Oldfield, 1971). When comparing handedness preferences across age of sight loss, gender, and age groups results indicated that there were significant differences in preference for several everyday tasks across age of sight loss and age groups but not gender. These results were also confirmed at the latent-trait mean level. The present findings add to the extant literature that highlighted hand preferences for individuals with visual impairments and blindness.

Tests of blind pedestrians’ need for detectable warning surfaces at curb ramps found that curb ramps were involved in half the cases in which there were barriers to successful crossings. In the absence of cues, some experienced travelers entered intersections at perpendicular curb ramps or were misdirected by diagonal curb ramps into parallel streets. Detectable warning surfaces provide a cue that alleviates the first problem but can exacerbate the second. Equally effective surfaces may be found that provide sufficient cues but are less expensive and easier to maintain.

The study presented here explored theories that account for echolocation and established an audiometric test battery for blind persons that is designed to predict success in echolocation. Statistical analyses revealed significant positive correlations between particular auditory measures and echolocation performance. No relationships were found between high-frequency hearing sensitivity and echolocation performance.

This article reports on an evaluation of two technologies—Verbal Landmark and Talking Signs—that provide speech messages to handheld receivers. On all measures, the Talking Signs system proved superior to the Verbal Landmark system.

An acoustic orientation system was devised to promote independent indoor travel in blind persons with mental retardation. The system was assessed with four blind adolescents, all affected by severe mental retardation. Data showed that the system was very useful in helping those adolescents orient and move independently in their daily environment and in a new (generalization) setting. The findings are discussed in relation to the characteristics of the system.

Angle-closure glaucoma is probably the first entity historically related with the Glaucomas. A large portion of global blindness is caused by angle-closure glaucoma, an estimated 3.9 million blind persons for the year 2010 and a projected 5.3 million for 2020. Well over 20 million people are estimated to become affected in the next ten years, with about 70% of the cases being women. (Quigley & Broman, 2006). Angle-closure glaucoma represents the second most common type of glaucoma, but its impact is more critical due to a greater likelihood of blindness than in patients with openangle glaucomas (Johnson & Foster, 2005). An accurate and timely diagnosis is essential, in order to start the appropriate and very specific treatment that may prevent progression to greater, irreversible damage. (Quigley & Broman, 2006).

International audience; When observing blind persons in a situation of mental rotation, it is more usual to emphasize their lack of visual experience than their expertise concerning tactile exploration. Nevertheless, it seems important to verify whether the procedures of tactile exploration developed by young blind persons enable them to recognize a shape whatever its orientation in space.Objective. – The objective of this study was to compare blind adolescents and sighted adolescents in a situation of mental rotation, with raised patterns.Method. – In this perspective, a group of blind adolescents and a group of sighted adolescents – matched for age and sex – have been observed during two task of mental rotation.Results. – The results show that the blind adolescents are always faster, and they perform better when the rotation task concerns simple shapes. A fine analysis of the strategies of tactile exploration deployed by the subjects allows us to identify several procedures that are specific to the blind adolescents. These exploratory procedures allow them to compensate for the lack of visual experience, up to a certain level of complexity in the shapes.Conclusion. – These results suggest that the recognition of 2D shapes after rotation in space is not necessarily problematic for the blind. These results are discussed in relation with recent work on the haptic competence of blind persons.; Lorsque l’on observe des personnes aveugles en situation de rotation mentale, il est plus habituel de souligner le manque d’expérience visuelle que l’expertise en matière d’exploration tactile. Il semble pourtant important de vérifier si les procédures d’exploration tactile développées par les jeunes aveugles permettent de reconnaître une forme quelle que soit son orientation dans l’espace. Dans cette perspective, un groupe d’adolescents aveugles et un groupe d’adolescents voyants – appariés en âge et en genre – ont été observés dans deux tâches de rotation mentale. Les résultats montrent que les adolescents aveugles sont toujours plus rapides et se montrent plus performants lorsque la tâche de rotation concerne des formes simples. L’analyse fine des stratégies d’exploration tactile mises en place par les participants permet de relever des procédures spécifiques chez les adolescents aveugles. Ces procédures d’exploration permettent de suppléer le manque d’expérience visuelle, jusqu’à un certain niveau de complexité des figures. Ces résultats suggèrent que la reconnaissance de figures en 2D après rotation dans l’espace n’est pas systématiquement problématique pour les aveugles. Les résultats sont discutés au regard des travaux récents sur les compétences haptiques des personnes aveugles.

Introduction. To determine the prevalence and identify potentially curable causes of blindness. Material and methods. We analyzed causes of blindness in 808 blind persons, aged from 0 to 75 years. We classified our findings in 13 categories. Results. The least number of blind persons was discovered in children aged from 0 to 15 years (2.4%), as well as in teenagers (3.4%). The number of blind persons in working population, aged from 30 to 60 was (33.1%) and in older population it was (60.7%). Glaucoma was the highest cause of blindness (15.9%). Complications of myopia (14.6%) took the second place. Conclusion. We think that our community needs more screening projects for glaucoma, refraction anomalies in children and diabetic retinopathy, through which the causes of blindness would be discovered and treated on time and people would be much more educated about risks and consequences of untreated eye diseases and conditions.

ALMOST every one is familiar with the case of Helen Keller and her remarkable mastery of the handicap she suffered so early in life. Hers was a normal life until the age of 19 months, when she had a severe illness, of sudden onset and short duration, which left her totally blind and deaf. Berger 1 and Loomis, Harvey and Hobart 2 reported the presence of alpha rhythm in blind persons. Gibbs and Gibbs 3 reviewed the literature and studied the effects of auditory, visual and tactile stimuli on the occurrence and amplitude of alpha waves. Visual and auditory stimuli are automatically ruled out in the case of Helen Keller because of her total blindness and deafness, and tactile stimuli, to have any effect on the alpha waves, must attract the subject's attention. Hence, tactile stimulation was the only external stimulation it was necessary to control in this study. Adrian

This article compares two procedures for the externalization of spatial representation. Blind children and adolescents had to learn two unknown environments and to externalize the spatial representation by building a model and estimating distances. High correlations were found between the two externalization methods and between those methods and two systems of measuring mobility.

The present study employed two multihandicapped blind persons as peer caregivers to promote mobility and activity in a deaf-blind companion (trainee) who required frequent physical prompting. Each peer caregiver worked separately with the trainee. A robot was used to facilitate orientation and mobility. A supply device was used to present “object-means” for the activities. The trainee was also exposed to treatment individually. The results showed that each peer caregiver succeeded in promoting mobility and activity in the trainee. Moreover, each peer caregiver was capable of combining the supervision of the trainee with personal constructive occupation. The trainee showed no improvement during individual treatment. General implications of the findings are discussed.

Benign visual hallucinations in adventitiously blind and sight-impaired persons occur frequently and are a normal response to this type of sensory loss. They correspond to aspects of the phantom-limb experience of amputees and thus may be conceptualized as instances of “phantom vision.” Data from the authors’ research on the visual experiences of 443 blinded veterans illustrate their typical features as well as their diversity.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) categories of visual impairment, the available data suggest that there are currently approximately 50 million people in the world who are blind, i.e. visual acuity in the better eye of less than 3/60 (WHO, 1998). Approximately 8-10 million people become blind each year and it is estimated that approximately 6-8 million people who are blind die each year. The result is a net increase of 1-2 million blind persons per year. The increase in blindness is due to an increasing world population and increased life expectancy, with more people in the world living beyond the age of 60 years. The current estimates also suggest that there are an additional 135 million people with visual impairment, and an even larger number with significant uncorrected refractive errors, including presbyopia.

In early blind mammals, the deprived visual cortex undergoes anatomical and functional alterations. Its functional role was investigated in the early human blind by using patterns of cortical activation as measured by scalp-recorded event-related slow negative DC potential shifts. The blind showed higher occipital negativity than did sighted persons both during a tactile reading task and a non-reading tactile control task. Results point to a possible role for the blind's visual cortex in tactile processes.

In France, early psychological studies on touch belong to two domains which developed quite independently in the 18th, 19th and the first part of the 20th century. The first one concerned speculative (philosophical) and/or informal considerations made by practitioners and observers on the functioning of touch in early blind people, and more incidentally in cognitively impaired children. In the middle of the 19th century, studies on blindness led to the major invention by Louis Braille (1829 and 1837) of the raised-dot alphabet, universally used today, which allows early blind persons to have tactually access to written culture. The second trend is scientific and experimental. In the 19th century, this research concerned mainly the anatomy and physiology of somesthetic sensory receptors, neural pathways and cortical projections. Simultaneously, the methodological bases for experimental sciences were established.

This paper discusses age pattern of blindness in Nigerian. The ultimate objective is to provide information on which strategies for prevention and treatment of blindness, as well as the rehabilitation on which strategies for prevention and treatment of blindness, as well as the rehabilitation and integration of blind persons into social life could be based. This follows from the fact that most causes, preventive measures and treatment of blindness have been found to be associated with age. Secondary data drawn from the 1994 census of the Federal Republic of Nigeria was analysed using the methods of categorical data and regression analyses. Results show that the quality of data on age and sex on the blind population is very poor. From the census data the level of prevalence of blindness in Nigerian was shown to be grossly under-reported. It was also found that third degree polynomial appears to describe the age-pattern of blindness in Nigeria, though not adequately. The inadequacies were attributed to the distortions in the age reporting. Until further research proves otherwise, estimates of the age-specific prevalence of blindness based on the third degree polynomial has been recommended for use in developing strategies for addressing problems of blindness in Nigeria among others. JONAMP Vol. 11 2007: pp. 641-656

Análise da percepção de três duplas compostas por estudantes de Enfermagem videntes e por cegos sobre comunicação em interação livre filmada. Fundamentou-se na Análise de Discurso com dispositivo analítico constituído por entrevista após momento de comunicação e por conceitos próprios do referencial. O processo de análise trouxe à tona formações discursivas sobre comunicação, deficiência visual e inclusão social. Momento de comunicação avaliado positivamente, construindo paráfrases em seus discursos. Filmagem é fator de mudança emocional no início da interação dos estudantes de Enfermagem e indiferente para cegos. Provocou sentido no discurso de dois cegos e de uma estudante mediante silêncio fundador. Abre-se discussão sobre o tema e sobre a incorporação de novas tecnologias para a pesquisa em Enfermagem. Analysis of how three duos of sighted Nursing students and blind people perceived communication in free recorded interaction. It was based on Discourse Analysis with an analytic tool constituted by an interview after the communication moment and by concepts characteristic of the reference framework. The analysis process revealed discourse formations about communication, visual impairment and social inclusion. The communication moment was assessed positively, constructing paraphrases in their discourse. Recording is a factor of emotional change at the start of the interaction for the Nursing students and blind people alike. It provoked meaning in the discourse of two blind persons and one student through founding silence. A discussion is started about the theme and about the incorporation of new technologies for Nursing research. Análisis de la percepción de tres dúos compuestos por estudiantes de Enfermería videntes y por ciegos sobre comunicación en libre interacción grabada. Se basó en el Análisis de Discurso con dispositivo analítico constituido por entrevista tras el momento de comunicación y por conceptos propios del referencial. El proceso de análisis reveló formaciones discursivas sobre comunicación, deficiencia visual e inclusión social. Momento de comunicación evaluado positivamente, construyendo paráfrasis en sus discursos. Filmación es factor de cambio emocional al inicio de la interacción de los estudiantes de Enfermería e indiferente para ciegos. Provocó sentido en el discurso de dos ciegos y de una estudiante mediante silencio fundador. Se abre discusión sobre el tema y sobre la incorporación de nuevas tecnologías para la investigación en Enfermería.

This article reports on a study that examined whether blind persons could learn the spatial layout of landmarks in a new large-scale space more accurately utilizing a microcomputer simulation of the environment versus a tactile graphic aid of a similar environment. The four congenitally blind subjects each explored a simulation of a 5 x 5-block residential neighborhood daily for 27 days, learning the spatial layout of the 9 landmarks in each simulation. Although they learned the spatial locations of the landmarks faster using the tactile graphic aid, the accuracy of their spatial knowledge was equal for both conditions.

Blind and visually impaired people in rural Asia are largely unreached by modern rehabilitative information, nor are their indigenous skills and experience adequately formulated and shared. The use of many media in communication strategies has led to the reconceptualization of rehabilitation in information terms which offers better prospects of self-help for several million blind people.

The purpose of this study was to identify the job roles in which practicing rehabilitation teachers are engaged and to determine how these job roles differ across settings. Factor analysis was performed on the ratings given by 209 respondents to 115 job task items to identify job role constructs. Three factors were identified: Teaching Activities, Case Management Activities, and Professional and Administrative Activities. To determine whether job roles differed across instructional settings, a MANOVA. was performed. It was found that although the Teaching Activities job role did not differ between the instructional settings, both the Case Management Activities and Professional and Administrative Activities job roles did.

We compared the abilities of blind and sighted humans to distinguish grooved from smooth surfaces pressed against the stationary index fingertip. Ranging in age from 20 to 72 years, 37 blind and 47 sighted subjects participated in an automated two-alternative forced-choice tactile grating detection task. The tactile acuity of blind and sighted subjects declined with age at equivalent rates (0.011-mm threshold increase per year), but the blind subjects were able to perceive significantly thinner grooves than were their sighted peers (the average difference between blind and sighted subjects of the same age and gender was 0.267 mm). The blind Braille readers performed no better than the blind nonreaders, and the congenitally blind subjects performed equivalently to those with adult-onset blindness. The superior tactile acuity of blind persons may result from the involvement of normally visually responsive cerebrocortical areas in tactile processing, as shown by functional-imaging studies.

Although reasoning seems to be inextricably linked to seeing in the “mind's eye”, the evidence is equivocal. In three experiments, sighted, blindfolded sighted, and congenitally totally blind persons solved deductive inferences based on three sorts of relation: (a) visuo-spatial relations that are easy to envisage either visually or spatially, (b) visual relations that are easy to envisage visually but hard to envisage spatially, and (c) control relations that are hard to envisage both visually and spatially. In absolute terms, congenitally totally blind persons performed less accurately and more slowly than the sighted on all such tasks. In relative terms, however, the visual relations in comparison with control relations impeded the reasoning of sighted and blindfolded participants, whereas congenitally totally blind participants performed the same with the different sorts of relation. We conclude that mental images containing visual details that are irrelevant to an inference can even impede the process of reasoning. Persons who are blind from birth—and who thus do not tend to construct visual mental images—are immune to this visual-impedance effect.

Educating blind children in schools based on European and North American standards is too expensive for Ethiopia, which has limited means and formidable problems. After a survey of residential schools for the blind and blind secondary students, the Ethiopian National Association of the Blind designed a new educational service delivery model that relies on elements of community-based rehabilitation and the employment of blind high school graduates.

This article traces the experiences of the Malaysian Association for the Blind in the development of rehabilitation services for rural blind persons in Malaysia. It shows how and why a community-based approach to rehabilitation was chosen and why it was later concluded that the center-based and community-based approaches to rehabilitation complement each other in bringing the benefits of services to blind people, particularly in rural areas.

Objective To determine whether tactile receptive communication is possible in both sighted and blind persons through the use of a mechanical device that creates the perception of continuous contact through sequential points of vibration on the skin and whether the ability of these two groups differs. Material and Methods The cohort consisted of 20 sighted and 20 blind subjects who had no prior exposure to a tactile communication device that produces a tactile illusion. Each subject was presented number sequences created by the tactile illusion in the form of single-digit, three-digit, and four-digit sequences, and the number of trials needed for correct identification was recorded. Results On average, the sighted subjects tended to identify the digit sequences sooner than did the blind subjects by almost one trial; however, this difference was not statistically significant. Younger subjects and female subjects also tended to identify the digit sequences sooner. Nevertheless, the overall correlation between age and number of trials across all replications was relatively minor. Conclusion Tactile receptive communication is possible through the use of a mechanical device used to create tactile illusions. The tactile illusion of numbers is equally perceived by blind and sighted persons.

Some researchers of studies of the incidence of early visual experience on spatial abilities have demonstrated profound spatial deficits in early blind participants, whereas others have not found evidence of deleterious effects of early visual deprivation. The aims of this article are to (a) consider the theoretical background of these studies, (b) take stock of the divergent data, and (c) propose new means of investigation. The authors examine the reasons why vision plays a critical role in spatial cognition. They review the literature data. They also review the factors that could account for the discrepant data and the effects of lack of early visual experience on brain functioning. They propose that the study of strategies is a valuable option to obtain insight into early blind persons' spatial impairment. The ability to move about independently in space, to localize places that cannot be directly perceived because they are hidden or remote, and to plan trajectories on the basis of this knowledge is of great importance in everyday human life activities. It is not necessary to refer to sophisticated experimental studies to assert that many of these spatial behaviors depend on to a great extent visual perception. In cases where an object or a place to reach is visible, the movement or trajectory is directly guided by the visual perception of the goal or of conspicuous landmarks associated with it. In many circumstances, however, spatial behavior takes place in larger environments where the goal is not visible. In that case, it is necessary that spatial knowledge takes the form of a representation. The latter may simply consist of remembering a specific route to follow, but this simple means to achieve accurate trajectories lacks adaptive properties (O'Keefe & Nadel, 1978). The most adequate form of spatial representation is that of the topography of the environment beyond perceptual reach. This representation is acquired either by one using symbolic supports (such as reading a map) or progressively constructing one's internal map on the basis of experience (as when one frequently goes shopping in the district in which one resides, e.g.).

It is commonly believed that the human sense of warmth is inferior in spatiotemporal acuity to the tactile senses. However, little or no evidence is available about the active feeling of warmth. We investigated the ability of people to detect in an active way small changes of warmth on very small areas (2-mm × 2-mm resistors). To that end, a new procedure was developed to measure perception of warmth. The results indicate that people who are able to detect the warmth stimuli perceive small incremental changes and that detection performance improves as stimulus intensity increases. Male subjects seem to be less sensitive than female subjects at lower levels of stimulation, but this relationship is reversed at higher levels of stimulation.

A psychology of blindness is proposed that contends that information loss is the most critical trauma of the loss of vision. The magnitude of information loss is emphasized with respect to vision as the primary sensory modality for obtaining information. Further, the vital role of access to information in human development and the tendency to seek information to cope with stressful circumstances are addressed. Implications for rehabilitation of blind persons are discussed.

Twin sisters, legally blind since birth, were provided services through Mississippi Vocational Rehabilitation for the Blind. Their recollections of vocational rehabilitation indicate that their reactions and choices throughout this period were dissimilar, despite their close proximity. This article discusses the role of rehabilitation counselors, how they work with demanding clients, and how funding decisions are made. The results of the joint interview appear to substantiate the importance of variables such as personality, over which the rehabilitation agency has no control, and suggest that the rehabilitation process is an individual experience.