LOW VISION NEWS Issue 2 International Society for Low-vision Research and Rehabilitation INSIDE THIS ISSUE 2 Current Status of Low Vision-The Reference (and a request for help!) Publications 3 4 Events Help Wanted 4 President's Message LINKOPING, SWEDEN A year ago we met in New York at the wonderfully organized Vision '99. The preparation for Vision 2002 in Gothenburg, Sweden, is in full swing, and you should receive the First Announcement within short. I think we can look forward to an exciting meeting, covering our entire field and with new achievements in science and development being presented. Some important scientists are now being contacted to secure their attendance as presenters. So far, we have acceptance from Gordon Legge, Alan Bird and Trauzettel- Klosinski. We have an attractive offer from Japan to arrange Vision 2005 in Kobe. We will discuss this offer further with the Organizers at a site visit in September of 2001. So far, this is the only offer we received. From 1999,our membership increased by about 40% to 140 paid members. We encourage all of you to recruit new members. If you do not have any Application forms, please contact the ISLRR office at Lighthouse International for help. This is extremely important for the impact of our Society. The ISLRR Board of Trustees decided to invite certain Institutions within the field of low vision and blindness to become Institutional Members of ISLRR. So far, we have three such members, Lighthouse International, New York, USA, the Royal National Institute for the Blind, London, Great Britain, and Christoffel Blindenmission, Bensheim, Germany. Together, they contribute US $25,000 yearly for 2000-2002 to support ISLRR, e. g. for Sandra Garabello to assist our Secretary, Aries Arditi in running our Society, for mailings etc. We are very grateful for this generous support. We also want to acknowledge Dr. Barbara Silverstone at Lighthouse International for being most helpful in this recruitment procedure. The second issue of our journal Visual Impairment Research is just coming out, which is very satisfying. I wish you all a happy and prosperous continuation of the year 2000. Sven Erik G. Nilsson Award for Lifetime Contributions to Low Vision SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Since his retirement from active clinical work in Low Vision, Dr. August Colenbrander has been very productive. Last year, as chair of an international working group, he produced a "Guide for Evaluation of Visual Performance" for Vision '99, the tri-annual conference of the International Society for Low Vision Research and Rehabilitation. The publication was supported by a grant from the Pacific Vision Foundation. Subsequently, at the request of the AMA, he prepared a major revision of the Vision chapter in the AMA's "Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment", which was still based on scales developed in 1925. The new edition is expected in the fall. Simultaneously, the editors of Duane's Clinical Ophthalmology invited him to write a chapter on "Measuring Vision and Vision Loss". The new chapter has been accepted and will appear in the 2001 edition. It will contain interesting details about the historical development of visual acuity measurement, as well as the latest insights regarding scales for use in Vision Rehabilitation. He was also asked to update his chapter on the "Optics of Ophthalmoscopy". This July, the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER) honored him by inviting him to their conference in Denver to receive their highest award in the Low Vision section (Division 7): a "Meritorious Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contributions in Low Vision". Please join us in congratulating Dr. August Colenbrander. Current Status of Low Vision - The Reference (and a request for help!) PALO ALTO, CA - You've probably noticed that each issue of ISLRR's journal, Visual Impairment Research, contains an update on the low vision literature as contained in Low Vision - The Reference. This is intended to be a readily available means for ISLRR members to become more readily learn about the international low vision literature. Volume 1, Number 2 contained the 1996 literature, and each subsequent issue of VIR will contain a new year's worth of citations until we "catch" up with the current year. At that point we'll need to decide whether we want to do an annual update, do more frequent (but smaller) updates in each issue, or discontinue the bibliographic listing. One reason we may discontinue the listing is that plans are well along to have the entire contents of Low Vision - The Reference available on-line. Low Vision - The Reference currently contains over 8,000 citations and the on-line version would allow readers to search this database by author, year, keyword, journal, or by words occurring in the title of any article(s). If all goes as planned this will be a free service, with updates occurring at regular intervals. One complaint currently heard about Low Vision - The Reference is that it misses some interesting articles. This is unfortunate, but perhaps inevitable. In the last decade the low vision literature has grown by over 3,200 citations published in dozens of journals, reports, and books. This rate of growth makes it difficult to keep the bibliography comprehensive. Some helpful colleagues routinely send me a listing of their latest publications. This is very useful as they often send citations I have not found through other means. I would like to extend an invitation to all of you to send me citations that you think I might overlook. I believe I cover the American rehabilitation, special education, ophthalmology, optometry literature and most of the major ophthalmic journals well. I also have complimentary subscriptions to journals such and Integracion and British Journal of Visual Impairment which greatly facilitates the task of keeping the bibliography current. Still, I'd rather receive several notices of the same article rather than not learn of it at all. If you'd like to assist in this effort please send a copy of the article or complete citation information (author(s), year of publication, title, journal, issue, number, and pages for a journal citation or author(s), year of publication, title, city of publication, publisher, and pages for a book or book chapter) to me at the mailing or e-mail addresses listed below. I'd also appreciate an e-mail notice if you think you would use an on-line, searchable edition of Low Vision - The Reference. A good response will help ensure that LV-TR goes on-line! Contact information as follows: Gregory L. Goodrich, Ph.D. Research Psychologist WBRC (124) VAPAHCS 3801 Miranda Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94304 USA E-mail: goodrich@roses.stanford.edu LOW-VISION NEWS ISLRR Executive Committee Sandra Garabello - Editor Sven Erik G. Nilsson - President Alan W. Johnston - Vice President Aries Arditi - Secretary Gregory L. Goodrich - Treasurer Arne Valberg - Deputy Secretary Low Vision News is published by ISLRR - The International Society of Low-vision Research and Rehabilitation C/o Lighthouse International 111 East 59 Street, New York, New York 10022, USA The opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of ISLRR or the Low-vision News. ISLRR Lowvision News reserves the right to edit letters submitted for publication. Announcing The Publication Of Two Indispensable Resources For Low Vision Professionals. New York - - The Lighthouse Handbook on Vision Impairment and Vision Rehabilitation is a monumental two-volume work that presents for the first time a comprehensive, interdisciplinary guide to the scientific, clinical, social, educational, and policy issues related to the full scope of vision impairment and vision rehabilitation, including low vision services. 1,371 pages. 200 illustrations. Available from Oxford University Press for $275. Call (800) 451-7556 for more information; be sure to ask about current discounts. Vision Rehabilitation: Assessment, Intervention and Outcomes is a distinguished selection of papers gleaned from more than 750 presentations at Vision '99, the international conference on low vision. Global perspectives on age-related vision loss, low vision care, vision rehabilitation service models, design, technology, accessibility and more. 950 pages. Available from Lighthouse International for $100. Call +01-212- 821-9482 (Spanish or, from within the U.S. (800) 829-0500 to place your order or for more information. Order Form Available: http://www.lighthouse.org/vision99_proceedings.htm Events August 27 - 31, 2000 Groningen, The Netherlands E.C.V.P. 2000 September 3-6, 2000 Eurosight2000 - The 4th European Low Vision Conference Veldhoven, The Netherlands. Eurosight2000 http://www.eurosight.org/ 2001 August 3-5, 2001 DoubleTree Hotel, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Seeking state-of-the-art half-hour and hour presentations addressing topics related to training in the use of assistive technology for blind or visually impaired people. Topics include but are not limited to: -Best practice; -Standards of training; -Instructor qualifications and certification; -Policy issues; -Future of access technology. Submit a presentation abstract of no more than 300 words by February 1, 2001. The abstract should concisely describe the presentation and the objectives to be met, and should include presentation title. Also state the length of the presentation (half-hour or hour), equipment requirements, and your name, title, employer, and contact information. Submit to: Mark Uslan, AFB, 11 Penn Plaza, Ste 300, NY, NY 10001, or email to muslan@afb.net or fax to Mark Uslan at +01-212-502-7773. September 2-3, 2000 Salerno, Italy Meeting-State of the art on Achromatopsia The Italian Association of Achromats is organizing a two days meeting on the state of the art on achromatopsia next September 2nd- 3rd in Salerno, Italy. The Association was founded in June 1998 as a league of families in order to meet needs and demands of people affected by this rare, genetic, congenital retinal disfunction. An affiliation has been established with Prof. T.L. Sharpe, geneticist, University of Tubingen and Dr. Knut Nordby, expert in psychophysics and achromat himself. Both of them will be lecturing at the meeting in order to spread information to the parents, teachers and professionals involved in the care, education and rehabilitation of the achromats at various levels. For more information, contact the Organizing Committee at +39- 089-333548 or +39-0347-7217969. Inquiries in English, e-mail Dr. Anna Piccioni: annaecorrado@melink.it New York - - Lighthouse International offers the most extensive selection of practical courses, seminars and workshops in low vision care and vision rehabilitation for professionals from around the globe. Throughout the year, these educational programs provide classroom and hands-on experience, and are led by a renowned faculty of experts. For a complete catalog of courses for the 2000-2001 season contact: education@lighthouse.org, or see their website at www.lighthouse.org/continuing_ed.htm Membership Desk The following member questions have been received and may be of general interest: Q. I am waiting notice about the publication of "Vision 99" proceedings. A. Available from Lighthouse International for $100. Call +01-212-821-9482 or from within the US 1-800-829-0500 to place your order or for more information. You may also order your copy online! www.lighthouse.org Go to the Products/Publications icon. Q. What was the first issue of Low Vision News? A. Issued in May 1999. Contained mostly pre Vision '99 information. Copies of the first issue are available by request sgarabello@ lighthouse.org. Q. Please would you give me the deadline date for submissions to the next edition of the Low Vision News, the ISLRR newsletter. A. Low-vision News will be issued as we receive newsworthy information. We are relying on you, ISLRR members, to contribute information so that Low-vision News can be a newsletter of more than local interest, one that can serve as examples for other groups. Send letters to: Sandra Garabello Low-vision News % ISLRR 111 East 59 Street New York, New York 10022 USA Send short (500 words or less), informal reports of research results, queries on research methodology or equipment, innovative solutions to problems encountered. Copyright © by the International Society for Low-vision Research and Rehabilitation. Printed in the USA. Low-vision News is provided to members of the Society JOB POSTING Department of Optometry and Neuroscience, The University of Science and Technology in Manchester, UK, PhD Studentships. The following externally-funded 3-year studentships are available from September 2000: - Spatial Localisation in Visual Impairment Candidates will be qualified (need not be UK registered) optometrist, preferably with 2-3 years experience (although not necessarily in Low Vision). Stipend starting at £15000 - A Randomised Controlled Trial of the Effectiveness of Prism Spectacles in Age-related Macular Degeneration. This project is to be carried out jointly with Manchester Royal Eye Hospital Candidates will be a graduate in Neuroscience or Psychology (with an interest or experience in psychophysical testing of vision) or Optometry. Stipend starting at £12000. Further details available from: Dr Chris Dickinson - Telephone +0161 200 3874 E-mail: mjccmd@fs1.op.umist.ac.uk www.umist.ac.uk Written applications, including a full cv and the names of two academic referees to: Dr C Dickinson Department of Optometry and Neuroscience, UMIST PO Box 88 Manchester, M60 1QD, United Kingdom