I know, I bellyache about my lost eyesight. I really was counting on two eyes, though—it takes a while to get used to being one short. (Today I read glaucoma may be a brain thing like Parkinson’s—not that I have glaucoma.)
Anyhow, in the June issue of the Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource, they talk about tools for people with low vision.
You should see me with my drugstore specs, magnifying glass, seeing-eye kid (“Honey, how much does this tag say?”), and so on. The other nite, I asked her was a new thing across the street a camera. “Scarecrow, Mom,” she replied disdainfully.
So what are these tools?
First, magnifying eyeglasses. Those drugstore cheaters are “timesies..” 3.00 means three times normal, etc.
Miniature telescopes are available, handheld or mounted on eyeglasses.
Video magnifiers…You point and see something on a screen.
“Talking” tools—these are things like clocks, watches, timers, scales, prescription bottles and others that “speak.”
Computer software can also magnify text enormously. I can still squint stuff into being.
Closed circuit TV in your home can also project a big image onto a screen.
Have I mentioned that I learned to LOVE audiobooks? The kind read by professional actors? A very fun medium.
Still, I wouldn’t mind reading a novel again—though it won’t happen.
