Visual Impairments
Glaucoma is a disease that causes visual impairment. In the United States it is estimated to affect 3 million Americans, with 120,000 becoming blind due to the condition. Elsewhere in the world where treatment is less available, glaucoma is ranks as one of the leading causes to blindness. Even if people with glaucoma do not become blind, vision can be impaired. I have personally seen the effects of the disease for my grandmother was afflicted with it. She had several surgical procedures with no success. She was declared legally blind.
Part A
Glaucoma is defined as a disease of the optic nerve, in which the nerve fibers are injured; usually abnormally increased intraocular pressure. The two primary forms of glaucoma are open-angle and closed-angle glaucoma. In open-angle glaucoma there are no apparent symptoms or signs until it has done irreversible damage. At first, people may notice visual problems only when light is dim. Sometime there is sensitivity to glare and problems differentiating between varying shades and brightness. In closed-angle glaucoma, the pressure inside the eyes increases. Intense pain in the eyebrow area and blurred vision develop usually in one eye and the person often feel like their eye will burst. The eye is red and the person will feel nausea or vomiting will occur. The condition can either be diagnosis by a physician or an eye examiner. A physician can use a tonometry which measures the pressure in the eye. They can use an ophthalmoscope to check the optic nerve. The causes of glaucoma includes the aging process, a deficiency in nitric oxide, genetic factors, nutritional deficiency, toxics, abnormalities in chemicals in the brain, and stress. Once the optic nerve has been damaged, no treatment or procedure can be performed to restore his or her vision. Early diagnosis helps individuals maintain their current vision. The treatments provided todays are drugs and surgery can lessen the severity of the condition only when diagnosis has been made early. Exercise, a healthy diet, and non-traditional treatment have also been known to lessen the condition. The aging process contribute to the pressure in open-angle glaucoma by decreasing the number of activity of the cells in the trabecular mesh, impairing their ability to drain the aqueous fluid effectively.
They say that the eyes are the windows into the soul. When damage to the eyes occur it is usually irreversible, meaning that if this does occur, it is definitely best to find a respected ophthalmologist to fix the problem. Meet Karen D. Todd, my aunt and opthamologist at the Florida Eye Institute in Vero Beach, Florida. Dr. Todd practices general ophthalmology with an emphasis on the latest treatments and diagnostic testing for glaucoma.
Saxena, Rohit, Diguijay Singh, and Praveen Vashist. “Glaucoma: An Emerging Peril.” Indian Journal of Community Medicine 38.3 (2013): 135-7: Proquest. Web. 7 Jan 2014.
There are all different types of medical and disable human beings out in this world. There are also different types of disabilities such as a physical or mental condition that limits a person 's movements, senses, or activities. I choose a sensory impairment, Diabetic Retinopathy which is one of the types of visual impairments that people may happen to get. You also have four other types of visual impairments, cataracts, glaucoma, retinitis pigmentosa, and retrolental fibroplasia that you can also get. Diabetic Retinopathy is a complication of diabetes that affect the eyes.
Processing capacity is a very broad and flexible category according to many researchers. In fact, the quote above mentioned suggests that we often fail to notice things that happen just in front of us (unexpected events that are often salient) either because we were completely absorbed by something else or because we had so many things to do at the same time that we couldn’t pay attention to it. We have all at least once failed to see a friend who was waving at us while eating in the cafeteria or walking in a crowded street. The primary question that we should ask ourselves is: how many things can we attend at the same time? The truth is that we didn’t perceive this friend because of a phenomenon called “inattentional blindness”. The problem is that the richness of our visual experience leads us to believe that our visual representation will include and preserve the same amount of detail (Levin et al 2000). In this paper we’ll see the different theories of inattentional blindness, and the classical theories demonstrating this paradigm.
Retinitis pigmentosa is caused by damage to the retina of the eye. The retina is the light sensitive layer of tissue at the back of the eye. The retina focuses images in the brain and then sends them via electrical signals up to the brain. The retina is a very important part of the eye to help a person see. What is affected in the retina from this disorder are the rods in the eye. The rods allow a person to see in the dark. Retinitis pigmentosa slowly causes the rods in the eye to deteriorate over time. Retinitis pigmentosa also can cause the cones in people’s eyes to deteriorate. If a person’s cones deteriorate first, then the person first develops blindness in the center of their eye and they lose some of their color vision. This form of retinitis pigmentosa is much rarer than the form that deteriorates the rods in the eyes.
There are 3 main areas of difficulty which people who have autism and these can sometimes know as the “Triad of Impairments”. Social communication is difficult, as severe autism may never to develop any speech whilst those with Asperger syndrome may speak fluently. People who are on the autism spectrum have the ability to use their communication skills that are impaired. These difficulties are processing language and interpreting facial expressions, body language or tone of voice. Understanding figures of speech or metaphors. Struggle to follow long or complicated sentences, and only be able to follow one simple instruction at a time. Social interaction as a person with classic autism may appear withdrawn, aloof or uninterested in the people
An Orthopedic Impairment is the most common of physical disabilities. A physical disability is any condition that interferes with how a child uses their body. An Orthopedic Impairment is defined as, “A bodily impairment that is severe enough to negatively affect a child’s educational performance” (education). Orthopedic Impairments are often separated into three main categories. These categories are neuromotor impairments, musculoskeletal disorders, and degenerative diseases. Although neuromotor impairments typically involves the brain and spinal cord, they can also affect a child’s ability to move, use, feel, or control certain parts of their body. Musculoskeletal disorders include diseases of the bones and muscles, such as limb deficiency or club-foot. Degenerative diseases affect a child’s motor skills such as muscular dystrophy. This is a group of genetic diseases in which muscle fibers are very vulnerable to damage. Some causes of orthopedic impairments can be genetics, injury, birth defects, disease, burns, fractures, cerebral palsy, and many other circumstances. Some examples of orthopedic impairments that may be caused by a birth defect are clubfoot, spina bifida, and absence of or malformation of one for more limbs. Some examples that may be caused by a disease consist of muscular dystrophy, arthritis, and childhood obesity. Other causes of orthopedic impairment may contain fractures, which cause stiff and/or immobile joints called contractures.
Some diseases that affect the retina and posterior segment of the eye include diabetic retinopathy, retinal cancer (melanoma), glaucoma, age macular degeneration, and uveitis. Diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma fall under diabetic eye disease. Diabetic retinopathy is the most common diabetic eye disease. It is the damage to the blood vessels in the retina. Gl...
Myopia, or nearsightedness, is the most common ocular disorder in the world and affects people of all ages. Nearly 30 percent of the US population is currently affected by myopia and based on the National Eye Institute’s latest projections, 39 million Americans will be affected by 2030 and over 44 million by 2050.
Many signs include a "white pupil," also known as leukocoria. Retinoblastoma can occur in either one or two eyes (Paul T. Finger, Pg. 1). This abnormal white pupillary reflex is sometimes referred to as a cat's eye reflex. Another sign of retinoblastoma is a crossed eye (Ambramson, Ch3). Leukocoria doesn't always end up as being retinoblastoma, it can even result in: congenital cataract, Toxocara canis, Coat's disease, and persistent hypertrophic primary vitreous (PHPV) (Finger, Pg.2). Retinoblastoma occurs when there's a mutation or deletion of the q14 band of chromosome 13 (Finger, Pg. 1). Symptoms can be painful if not treated quickly. Some include a red, painful eye, swelling of the surrounding eye, poor vision, dilated pupil, even extra fingers or toes, and retardation (Ambramson, Ch3).
Glaucoma is a group of eye disorders that cause blindness by hurting the optic nerve, which is the large nerve that is responsible for vision. In glaucoma, the optic nerve damage is related to a change in the fluid pressure that circulates around the eyeball. In many cases, Glaucoma occurs when the eye's fluid pressure is high, but it can also occur when the pressure is measured as normal.
Macular degeneration also known as late, aged-related maculopathy is an eye disorder which causes a decrease in the visual field known as the retinal macula (Medical Encyclopedia, 2000). The majority of people who are affected are people over the age of 65, but occasionally it develops earlier in people 40-50 years old (Philippi, 2000). The majority of the visual loss is located in the central part of the visual field, while the peripheral vision is unharmed. There are also two types of macular degeneration, the "wet" and "dry" forms. The "dry" form of this disease is the most popular, affecting 90% of the cases (American Academy of Ophthalmology, 1997).
Often within classroom environments, as well as at home, children learn through visual and auditory perception. Visual and auditory processing are key ways to learn; they are used for recognizing and interpreting information taken from the two senses of sound as well as sight. So clearly it is understood that having this disorder can make it a bit more difficult and troublesome to learn through vision and hearing, but definitely not impossible.
Blindness can be so much more than the state of being unable to see (Dictionary.com). Both the 2008 movie Blindness, directed by Fernando Meirelles and based on a novel by José Saramago, and the short story The Country of the Blind written by H. G. Wells in 1904, put blindness at the center of the plot. What can blindness mean in our society? And what can blindness mean regarding my future profession in design? In the movie Blindness, to be blind leads to losing all that’s civilized; in H. G. Wells’ The Country of the Blind, blindness can be interpreted as a symbol for ignorance; finally, in graphic design, blindness could be to only focus on the aesthetic part of designing and forgetting the practical aspect of the design.