Comments on: Sudden blindness http://alexfoster.me.uk/2010/03/23/sudden-blindness/ Just another WordPress.com weblog Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:38:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: niles http://alexfoster.me.uk/2010/03/23/sudden-blindness/#comment-1381 Tue, 23 Mar 2010 20:00:29 +0000 http://www.alexfoster.me.uk/?p=2833#comment-1381 That article is fascinating – thank you so much for your comment.

Alex

]]> By: Donna W. Hill http://alexfoster.me.uk/2010/03/23/sudden-blindness/#comment-1380 Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:32:43 +0000 http://www.alexfoster.me.uk/?p=2833#comment-1380 This is an interesting question. As a person who has lost vision gradually and a musician who loves to read, I’m glad I have my hearing. There are new electronic devices called Refreshable Braille Displays, which are blowing the door off the availability issue. Files are downloaded to a tiny device which displays one line of Braille at a time. As for the speed of audio text … The new digital book players allow you to increase the speed without changing the pitch, so it is possible to read quite fast. Personally, I can’t handle the really rapid speech. As for driving … when I was younger, I went all over the US with my guide dog, using public transportation, occasional rides and my feet. Nowadays, there’s a joint project between Virginia Tech and the National Federation of the Blind to develop a car blind people can drive. The first version was driven by 20 blind people — mostly teens — last summer. If you’re interested in knowing more, I did an article for Suite 101 about it:
The Blind Driver Challenge: How Will Virginia Tech’s Car for Blind People Affect Society?

Feb. 18
http://engineering.suite101.com/article.cfm/the-blind-driver-challenge

Virginia Tech is developing a car blind people can drive. Some, including blind teens, have already taken the prototype for a spin. Can blind drivers advance science?

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