StemCell Therapy

Photo: Ochieng during his graduation.

Samuel Ochieng, 37, lost his sight as an infant. However, he has lived his life to the fullest, winning an award while at it

Samuel Ochieng Odawo is the perfect embodiment of the maxim that lack of sight is not lack of vision. He swam against the tide at a time his parents could hardly educate him and his siblings. Now, he is the only child from in home to set foot in a university lecture hall. His mission, to empower persons with disabilities.

He has been vocal in the formulation of disability streaming policies and advocated for the rights of refugees at Daadab. It is what keeps him going; the hope that one day, the blind will lead more useful lives. Things like crossing roads, reading and using technology will be friendlier.

Well, six months after Samuel was born, he developed measles. My late mother told me when I was nine months, my eyes became completely swollen and the doctors said I had lost my sight completely, he narrates. Samuel, the ninenth in a family of 10 says by the time his dad came back from Nakuru, where he worked, it was too late to save his sight.

Challenges

I was bred in Siaya County, Alego and I grew up blind. I didnt know I was blind, I thought that was how life is, until I overheard my mother chatting with her friends about taking me to a special school. However, it did not bother me as much since I was used to my life and didnt know how it is to see, recalls the 37-year-old. He then went on to St Order Primary School for the blind at the age of seven, performed well and later joined Thika School for The Blind. My condition helped me a great deal. My siblings education was cut short whenever they got to class seven, but I had to be kept in school and I excelled, he says.

Also read: My married baby daddy accuses me of trapping him

Despite the lack of fees, hustle to get fare, upkeep and attending school a month to closing day, he passed. After high school in 2000, he was admitted to Kenyatta University in 2002 to pursue a bachelors degree in Special Education and French. I had to find a way to pay my fee. My parents could not raise it at all and so, I looked for well-wishers and donors and that is how I sailed the four years. Being blind in campus was tough, an emotional Samuel says.

He had to sweet talk people into reading for him so that he could catch up with school work. Never in the four years did I present my fee structure to my parents, their position could not even help raise the amount he says.

Breakthrough

With a huge fee arrears after the four years, he failed to graduate and moved to Nakuru. While there, I taught French at a primary and a secondary school. It was tough because most people who see blind people assume they are out to beg. I outgrew Nakuru and decided to relocate to Mombasa in 2007, he says.

Also read: Dennis Mukundi is only at the beginning of his career

While at Nakuru, he was robbed of all of his belongings. The fact that the school needed him to teach more subjects only fanned his desire to relocate. I remember arriving in Mombasa and as I waited for my friend to come and pick me, people were giving me money. They thought I was begging and that just went to show how much people think of the blind in Kenya, says the father of one.

In 2014, he was given the Care Humanitarian Award from Care Canada for his works. The most memorable part of his work was when he was teaching at the Daadab Refugee Camp and his learners with visual impairments got their first classroom.

In 2015, he was helping a friend register for a scholarship and he too applied. I submitted my application on the last day. I was accepted and I attended Birmingham University in the United Kingdom to study a Masters in Management of Special Education in Developing Countries, he beams.

Samuel works as a consultant for special needs education and disability issues at his private firm. I am passionate about empowering persons with disability. Theres a lot of discrimination against peoples with disability in Kenya. A lot needs to be done, Samuel says.

Read more:
Overlooking blindness - K24 TV

Why do animals that live in caves become blind?This question has long intrigued scientists and been the subject of hot debate.

Clearly, across the animal kingdom, blindness has evolved repeatedly. There are thousands of underground and cave-dwelling species, from naked mole rats to bats, and many have lost their

sense of sight. A well-studied blind cavefish (bottom), the Mexican tetra (Astyanax mexicanus), is a small, docile, pink-hued fish just a few centimeters long that could easily make its home in an aquarium. ASU evolutionary biologist Reed Cartwright chose this Mexican tetra because there is also a surface-dwelling form (top) that has retained its sight. Download Full Image

Charles Darwin originally suggested that eyes could be lost by disuse over time. ButReed Cartwright, an ASU evolutionary biologist in the School of Life Sciences and researcher at the Biodesign Institute,may be proving Darwin wrongin a recent publication in the journal BMC Evolutionary Biology.

We think that blindness in cavefish is indeed Darwinian, but ultimately this disproves Darwins original hypothesis of disuse, Cartwright said. In new research, he explains that eyes are not lost by disuse, but rather a demonstration of Darwins fundamental theory of natural selection at work with blindness selected as favorable and the fittest for living in a cave.

For their work, his research team choose to model a well-studied blind cavefish, the Mexican tetra (Astyanax mexicanus), a small, docile, pink-hued fish just a few centimeters long that could easily make its home in an aquarium.

Its inhabited caves for 2 million to 3 million years, giving it 5 million generations worth of time to evolve blindness. Cartwrights group chose this Mexican tetra because there is also a surface-dwelling form that has retained its sight. And for scientists, this built-in comparative power makes it a good choice for further exploration. They have two populations to study that can interbreed and are polar opposites for physical traits.

So Cartwrights group decided to use computational power to investigate how multiple evolutionary mechanisms interact to shape the fish that live in caves.

The problem we have in these caves is that they are connected to the surface, and fish that can see immigrate into the cave and bring genes for sight with them, Cartwright said. Under these conditions, we dont typically expect to find such a difference in traits between surface and cave populations. Unless selection was really, really strong.

How strong? In their model, the selection for blindness would need to be about 48 times strongerthan the immigration rate for Mexican tetras to evolve blindness in caves. Cartwrights groupestimates that a measure of fitness for blindness, called the selection coefficient, in the tetra is between 0.5 percent and 50 percent.

These coefficients are high enough that laboratory experiments should have detected a difference between surface and cave forms of the fish; however, none have to date.

Cartwrights team turned to a hypothesis going all the way back to a letter to the editor of Nature in 1925 by E. Ray Lankester, that essentially stated that the reason you have blindness in caves is because the fish that can see simply leave.

If sighted fish swim towards the light, the only fish that stay in the cave are blind fish. They arent trying to get to the light anymore because they cant see it. Which actually is a form of selection, and thus, Darwinian evolution in action, Cartwright said.

According to Cartwright, explaining a fitness difference as big as 10 percent between sighted and blind fish may be difficult, Iosing eyes might not give you 10 percent more offspring. However, if 10 percent of your seeing-eye fish leave the cave, the migration rate is reasonably low, and that could be enough.

If over time, enough of the seeing-eye fish are systematically being removed, they will also be removed from the gene pool, and that could be enough to drive the evolutionary process.

It could be this sort of habitat preference that maintains the local blind fish population, and the fish that can see are preferentially moving out of the cave. We found that even a low level of preferential emigration, e.g. 2 percent, would provide a significant boost to local adaptation and the evolution of blindness in caves.

Cartwrights team hopes that field biologists begin to consider Lankesters 90-year old hypothesis when studying cavefish. It would be great if someone could develop a study to test Lankesters hypothesis and whether it is driving the evolution of blindness in caves. That would really help answer one of the questions that have intrigued biologists for over a century.

Cartwrights research was supported by National Science Foundation Advances in Bioinformatics program and Arizona State Universitys School of Life Sciences and Barrett, The Honors College.

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Answer for why cave animals go blind? - ScienceBlog.com (blog)

FDA approves Genentechs Lucentis (ranibizumab injection) for diabetic retinopathy, the leading cause of blindness among working age adults in the United States.

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Lucentis(ranibizumab injection) 0.3 mg for the monthly treatment of all forms of diabetic retinopathy. The most common cause of vision loss in people with diabetes, diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of blindness among adults aged 20 to 741and affects nearly 7.7 million people in the U.S.2

With this approval, Lucentis becomes the first and only FDA-approved medicine to treat diabetic retinopathy in people who have been diagnosed either with or without diabetic macular edema (DME), a complication of diabetic retinopathy that causes swelling in the back of the eye. In February 2015, Lucentis received FDA approval for the treatment of diabetic retinopathy in people with DME based on data from the pivotal RIDE and RISE Phase III clinical trials.

The FDA granted Lucentis Priority Review for the treatment of diabetic retinopathy without DME based on an analysis of the Diabetic Retinopathy Clinical Research Networks (DRCR.net) Protocol S study. This NIH-funded study compared Lucentis treatment to panretinal laser treatment in diabetic retinopathy patients both with and without DME.

In the analysis that supported this approval, patients with and without DME in the Lucentis group experienced improvements in the severity of their retinopathy. Adverse events were consistent with those seen in previous studies.

Diabetic retinopathy is the leading cause of vision loss among working-aged adults in the U.S. between the ages of 20 and 74. We are very pleased that Lucentis is now FDA-approved to treat retinopathy in people with and without DME, said Sandra Horning, M.D., chief medical officer and head of Global Product Development. In multiple clinical studies, Lucentis demonstrated a significant improvement of patients diabetic retinopathy, and it is the first and only anti-VEGF therapy approved to treat all forms of diabetic retinopathy.

Priority Review Designation is granted to medicines that the FDA has determined to have the potential to provide significant improvements in the safety and effectiveness of the treatment of a serious disease.

The FDA previously granted Lucentis Breakthrough Therapy Designation for diabetic retinopathy in 2014 based on the pivotal RIDE and RISE phase III clinical trials. Breakthrough designation is intended to expedite the development and review of medicines with early evidence of potential clinical benefit in serious diseases and to help ensure that patients receive access to medicines as soon as possible.

Diabetes affects more than 29 million people in the U.S.3The longer a person has diabetes, especially if it is poorly controlled, the higher the risk of developing diabetic retinopathy and vision loss. Diabetic retinopathy occurs when blood vessels in the retina become damaged. This can cause vision loss or distortion when the abnormal vessels leak blood or fluid into the eye.1 ___________________________________________________

References:

1U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Common Eye Disorders: Diabetic Retinopathy. Available athttps://www.cdc.gov/visionhealth/basics/ced/index.html. Accessed March 7, 2017.

2Prevent Blindness America. Diabetic Retinopathy. Available athttp://www.visionproblemsus.org/diabetic-retinopathy/diabetic-retinopathy-definition.html. Accessed March 7, 2017.

3American Diabetes Association. Statistics About Diabetes. Available athttp://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/statistics/. Accessed March 7, 2017.

(Source: Business Wire)

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Genentech's Lucentis Approved for Blindness-Causing Diabetic Retinopathy - Pharmaceutical Processing

If you are a sighted person and wonder what it might be like to lose the visual world, the gripping Notes On Blindness will challenge your preconceptions about the condition and leave you reeling at the complexities of a life deprived of sight.

Writing movingly of how he finally came to identify as a blind person and relinquish those things every sighted person takes for granted, the academic Hull who died in 2015 has a flair for evoking the sensations, ironies and even moral quandaries of the blind (how to escape tedious conversations at parties when you cant see a friend to head for?).

First published in 1990 under the title Touching The Rock, this edition ties in with its BAFTA-nominated cinematic namesake, and contains an introduction by Cathy Rentzenbrink.

As an account of dealing with disability, it remains as visceral and lucid as it did when first published.

Read more:
Book Review: Notes On Blindness: A Journey Through The Dark by John Hull - Press and Journal

60 Minutes followed the Himalayan Cataract Project in their fight against preventable blindness to Burma.

Eric Kerchner

Blindness and partial blindness are not epidemic here in the U.S. but they are in certain parts of the world. Our story is about two doctors who decided to do something about it. And incredibly, to date, theyve restored sight to more than 150,000 people. Doctors theyve trained have restored sight to four million more. Their partnership seems improbable. One is a hard-charging, Ivy-League, American, adrenaline-junkie; the other a serene, Buddhist surgeon from the remote mountains of Nepal. We joined them on one of their most challenging missions -- in the isolated country of Burma. Their goal: to lead Burma out of darkness one patient at a time.

One by one the patches are peeled away and the world comes back into focus youre witnessing the moment when the people in this room realize they can see for the first time in years.

Bill Whitaker: Can you see my fingers?

60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker watches Dr. Geoff Tabin perform eye surgery.

Eric Kerchner

Their eyes and their faces begin to light up with a quiet sort of joy and wonder at the gift of sight. As they look around, they see who changed their world, with an operation the day before that took just minutes. Doctors Geoff Tabin and Sanduk Ruit are eye surgeons. And now, they are life savers. To hear Doctors Ruit and Tabin speak, they are the beneficiaries.

Bill Whitaker: Whats it like when that bandage is taken off and that person sees for the first time, sees you?

Sanduk Ruit: I may have seen it thousands of times, but every time, theres a new tickle there. And I feel like my batterys been recharged.

Geoffrey Tabin: I still get such a thrill when people dont expect or realize theyre gonna have their sight restored. And then a transformation when they see, and the sort of moment of hesitation, what are they seeing, and then the smile.

Burma, also known as Myanmar, is one of the poorest countries in Asia.

CBS News

U Myint Oo hadnt seen for two years, until this moment. Others here had been blind for decades. They all had cataracts a milky, white build-up of protein that clouds the lens of the eye. In the U.S. they mainly afflict the elderly; removing them a routine operation. But here in Burma, also known as Myanmar, cataracts go untreated and blindness is a way of life.

Geoffrey Tabin: Its a Buddhist population, theyre very fatalistic. Theyre very accepting. And theres almost an acceptance that you get old, your hair turns white, your eye turns white and then you die. And the idea that you can actually have your sight restored has not really permeated all levels of Myanmar society.

Bill Whitaker: What does that tell you about the state of eye care here?

Geoffrey Tabin: Well, its a place we can make a difference.

Burma is one of the poorest countries in Asia, slowly emerging from the darkness of decades of dictatorship. After years of trying, Tabin and Ruit finally were permitted to bring their treatment here. We met them in Taunggyi in central Burma, where the lack of care has led to some of the highest rates of cataracts in the world. Through radio and pamphlets and conversation, word of the doctors visit spread.

After hearing of the doctors visit, hundreds of Burmese came to Taunggyis hospital in central Burma.

Eric Kerchner

Hundreds of Burmese whod lost their sight found their way to Taunggyis hospital with the help of care givers many trekking for days. Here, cataracts are not just a malady of old age; they take the sight of the very young too, caused by infections and malnutrition.

By the time the doctors scrubbed in, the corridors were choked with people hoping to have their sight restored.

Bill Whitaker: Is it ever daunting? I mean, you look out there and you see that line of people, all who need this surgery.

Geoffrey Tabin: Its daunting on a worldwide basis. It may be a long line but this individual person Im gonna give the very best care I can.

Dr. Ruit set a rapid pace. He repaired an eye; the patient got up; the next patient was ready on an adjoining table. Just minutes an eye, then onto the next. Dr. Tabin performed the delicate surgery just feet away.

Geoffrey Tabin: Want to take a look. See how nice and clear that is. I dont know what that was - maybe 4-5 minutes. And its going from total blindness to great vision.

They kept up this pace until 7:00 in the evening.

Bill Whitaker: Its almost like an assembly line. But assembly line sounds too mechanical. I mean, this is peoples eyes.

Geoffrey Tabin: Its peoples lives. You know, once someone goes blind in a developing world, their life expectancy is about one-third that of age and health matched peers. And for a blind child, the life expectancy is five years. And also in the developing world, it takes, often, a person out of the work force, or a child out of school, to care for the blind person. So when we restore sight to a blind person, were freeing up their family and restoring their life.

Among the throng waiting to have their lives restored we found Kancchi. Her son, a farmer, had been her eyes and devoted caretaker since cataracts took her sight. 15-year old Yawnu had been blind since age seven. He was overwhelmed, but grateful.

In four days in Taunggyi, Dr. Ruit and Dr. Tabin -- with the help of local doctors -- performed 503 cataract surgeries.

Eric Kerchner

Thank you, he said. Doctors Ruit and Tabin heard that a lot. In four days in Taunggyi, with the help of local doctors they were training, they performed 503 cataract surgeries. Her eyes now bandaged, Kancchi waited with her son.

Bill Whitaker: You are going to be performing as many cataract surgeries as the hospital does normally in a year.

Sanduk Ruit: we are basically here to ignite fire. Ignite fire of the possibility of doing high quality, high volume cataract surgery. It is still possible.

Bill Whitaker: You want to ignite a fire here.

Sanduk Ruit: Ignite a fire here.

As long as he can remember, Sanduk Ruit has been burning to change the world around him. He grew up desperately poor, in this village with no electricity or running water, high in the Himalayas of Nepal.

The nearest school was a 15-day walk away. Ruits illiterate parents saw education as the way out for their children, but the grip of poverty and poor health was too strong to escape. His younger sister, with whom he was very close, died of tuberculosis.

Sanduk Ruit: I saw her pass away in front of me. And then it was a very strong determination from inside that maybe this is the profession that I should take and make healthcare available for my countrymen.

Eye surgeons Sanduk Ruit, left, and Geoff Tabin have restored eyesight to more than 150,000 patients in 24 countries.

CBS News

That determination took him to medical school in India. He came back to Nepal an eye doctor, committed to bringing modern care to remote mountain villages. The documentary Out of the Darkness showed them carrying equipment on their backs. His team hiked for days. His goal as revolutionary as it was simple: to cure blindness in the Third World with a quick, cheap technique to remove cataracts. Soon the medical world took notice and so did a young Geoff Tabin.

Geoffrey Tabin: I imposed myself on Sanduk and came to work in Nepal.

Bill Whitaker: What did you think of him when he first showed up?

Sanduk Ruit: You know, I was a bit scared in the beginning, you know. He had tremendous energy. He would never get tired. Energy in working, energy in eating, energy in drinking. Energy in talking, you know?

It was like being hit by a human avalanche fitting since Geoff Tabins passion was mountaineering more than medicine. Hed raced through Yale, Oxford and Harvard medical school. But he had made his name as one of the first people to climb the highest peak on every continent. He met Dr. Ruit and thought hed found his next challenge. Ruit was skeptical this frenetic young man had the same dedication to ophthalmology he had to adventure.

Sanduk Ruit: I sent him to an-- to a hospital in eastern part of Nepal in the middle of summer. And I said, Hes not gonna survive there.

Geoffrey Tabin: During the summer, in the monsoon, its quite oppressive. Its sort of 100, 105, with a 99 percent humidity, and lots of mosquitoes.

Bill Whitaker: Wait a minute. You sent him to-- a difficult place on purpose--

Sanduk Ruit: Difficult place. Difficult-- definitely. Yeah.

Bill Whitaker: Did you know thathe was testing you?

Geoffrey Tabin: No. I thought he sent me there because there was so much need. I scratched my mosquito bites and was excited to go to work that there were all of these blind people that, you know, I could make a difference in their life.

Bill Whitaker: He won you over?

Sanduk Ruit: Yes, yes, definitely.

Their relationship has grown from teacher student to collaborators and friends. Like yin and yang, these opposites complement each other. They created the Himalayan Cataract Project, started here at Tilganga, Ruits hospital in Kathmandu. They perfected the procedure called small incision cataract surgery: just one small splice the cataract comes out, a new man-made lens goes in, no stitches required. Its quick and costs about $20.

Bill Whitaker: How does the quality of care youre providing here, compare to the quality of care youd be able to provide in the U.S.?

Geoffrey Tabin: For these advanced cataracts, Im performing the same quality of surgery that I would be doing in America.

A Burmese woman celebrates her restored eyesight.

Eric Kerchner

Dr. Tabin spends most of his year at the University of Utah where cataract surgery costs a couple thousand dollars an eye. He might do four or five a day. Here, he does that many in a half hour, removing cataracts hed never see in the U.S., because theyd never go untreated so long.

Their project is funded by donations and grants. Theyre able to keep costs down because they dont use expensive equipment and they make their own lenses at their factory in Nepal. The lenses are crucial to the process theyre a permanent implant. Each costs about four dollars. In the U.S., because of strict, safety requirements, they can cost 50-times more.

Bill Whitaker: Comparable quality?

Sanduk Ruit: Very comparable. Id put that in my mothers eyes.

So far theyve operated in two dozen countries, including North Korea, Ethiopia and now Burma. Theyve brought hundreds of doctors, including the Burmese doctors working with them, to Tilganga for training. And everywhere they go, they train other doctors to carry on their work once theyve moved on.

Sanduk Ruit: How many fingers?

We saw the immediate benefit the morning after surgery.

The patients gathered in a Buddhist monastery. As the bandages came off, first wonder; then smiles and celebration. Remember U Myint Oo, blind for two years? His family sent us this picture. He can read again, his favorite pastime.

Fifteen-year-old Yawnu, blind half his life, seemed somewhat bewildered by this new world of sight.

For Kancchi the wait was over. Her son was overcome when she saw his face for the first time in years.

Then there was this woman.

Bill Whitaker: Is this the first time shes been able to see in months?

Man: Yes.

She called Doctors Ruit And Tabin gods. They assured her they are not. But in this room it certainly seemed they had performed miracles.

Hallelujah!

The doctors recently got more good news. The Himalayan Cataract Project is one of eight semifinalists for a $100 million grant from the MacArthur Foundation.

For more information on The Himalyan Cataract Project, visit their website or call888-287-8530.

Produced by Henry Schuster and Rachael Morehouse.

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Restoring eyesight with a simple, inexpensive surgery - CBS News

American Action Fund (AAF) for Blind Children and Adults

Baltimore, MD 410-659-9315 actionfund@actionfund.org

A service agency that specializes in providing to blind people help that is not readily available to them. The Tarzana office houses a postage-free national lending library of braille and Twin Vision(R) books for blind children. They also publish and distribute a braille weekly newspaper and calendars.

American Council of the Blind (ACB)

Arlington, VA 800-424-8666 info@acb.org

National consumer organization with local, state, and special interest affiliates; providing support, information, referral, and advocacy.

American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

New York, NY 800-232-5463 afbinfo@afb.net

Provides comprehensive information on every aspect of blindness and visual impairment and a searchable database of nationwide services.

American Printing House for the Blind, Inc. (APH)

Louisville, KY 800-223-1839 info@aph.org Shopping site

Worlds largest company devoted solely to researching, developing, and manufacturing products for people who are blind and visually impaired. Founded in 1858, it is the oldest organization of its kind in the United States.

Babies Count

Alamogordo, NM

Babies Count is a national registry of young children aged birth to 36 months of age with visual impairments that works in conjunction with public and private agencies to collect standardized epidemiological and demographic data regarding children, their visual conditions, and the systems created to support them and their families.

Blinded Veterans Association (BVA)

Alexandria, VA 800-669-7079 bva@bva.org

An organization of blinded veterans helping blinded veterans. All legally blinded veterans are eligible for BVAs assistance whether they become blind during or after active duty military service.

Bookshare

Palo Alto, CA 650-352-0198 info@bookshare.org

An initiative of Benetech, a nonprofit organization, a person with print disabilities can read a newspaper the same day it hits the newsstand or a best-selling book online as soon as it is released.

Books Aloud

San Jose, CA 408-808-2613 info@booksaloud.net

The Books Aloud "Reading by Listening" Program provides a wide variety of recorded reading literature to eligible individuals of all ages. This is a FREE service.

Canadian National Institute for the Blind

Toronto, ON 1-800-563-2642

CNIB is a registered charity, passionately providing community-based support, knowledge and a national voice to ensure blind and partially sighted Canadians have the confidence, skills and opportunities to fully participate in life.

Dialogue Magazine

Salem, OR 800-860-4224 info@blindskills.com

Each quarterly issue of DIALOGUE Magazine, from the non-profit Blinds Skills, Inc., contains a wide range of subject matter and comes in four formats: cassette, 18-point print, braille and on computer e-mail.

Family Connect

familyconnect@afb.net

FamilyConnect is an online, multimedia community created by the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) and the National Association for Parents of Children with Visual Impairments (NAPVI). This site gives parents of visually impaired children a place to support each other, share stories and concerns, and link to local resources.

Hadley School for the Blind

Winnetka, IL 800-323-4238 info@hadley.edu

Provides academic, personal enrichment, and compensatory, or rehabilitation education through free home study courses for parents, family members, professionals, and paraprofessionals.

Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults (HKNC)

Sands Point, NY 516-944-8900 hkncinfo@hknc.org

The Center is a national vocational and rehabilitation program exclusively serving youths and adults who are deaf-blind. Their mission is to enable each person who is deaf-blind to live and work in the community of their choice.

Learning Ally (formerly Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic)

Princeton, NJ 800-221-4792 custserv@LearningAlly.org

Founded in 1948 as Recording for the Blind, Learning Ally creates and maintains over 80,000 audio recordings of textbooks, reference, and professional materials that are not available on tape or disc from other sources. There is a registration fee for this service.

Lighthouse Guild

New York, NY 800-829-0500 info@lighthouseguild.org

A worldwide organization dedicated to preserving vision and to helping people of all ages overcome the challenges of vision loss. Provides vision rehabilitation services, and partners with organizations to ensure that all individuals suffering vision loss have access to the services they require.

Lions Club International

Oak Brook, IL 630-571-5466

By conducting vision screenings, equipping hospitals and clinics, distributing medicine and raising awareness of eye disease, Lions work toward their mission of providing vision for all. They have extended their commitment to sight conservation through countless local efforts and through their international SightFirst Program, which works to eradicate blindness.

Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind

New York, NY 212-242-0263 editor@matildaziegler.com

Editors at the Ziegler magazine scan four national newspapers a day and over 30 magazines a month selecting a broad selection of articles to be reprinted in the Ziegler. The magazine is free-of-charge to legally blind subscribers and is published in a variety of formats including: contracted braille, four track cassette, on-line and by e-mail.

National Braille Association

Rochester, NY 585-427-8260

National Braille Association (NBA) is the only national organization solely dedicated to the professional development of individuals who prepare and produce braille materials.

National Braille Press (NBP)

Boston, MA 888-965-8965 contact@nbp.org

The National Braille Press focuses on practical information to enable persons who are blind and visually impaired to be responsible and productive individuals. Categories include childrens braille literacy, computer access, and self-help books.

National Camps for Blind ChildrenChristian Record Services

Lincoln, NE 402-488-0981 info@christianrecord.org

An international organization serving blind and visually impaired individuals in approximately 80 countries worldwide that operates summer camps throughout North America for children and adults who are blind and visually impaired.

National Federation of the Blind (NFB)

Baltimore, MD 410-659-9314 pmaurer@nfb.org

National consumer organization, with local and state chapters and special-interest divisions that provide information, advocacy, and employment programs.

National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC)

Baltimore, MD 410-659-9314 parentoutreach@nfb.org

(part of National Federation of the Blind/click on Info about Vision Loss for Parents and Teachers)

Focuses on the needs of parents and families. Find resources to help children thrive at home, school, and in the community.

National Prison Braille Network

Supports and promotes braille production facilities in prisons across the U.S. and helps ensure that inmate transcribers are well prepared for successful careers as braille transcribers upon release.

Newsreel Magazine

Columbus, OH 888-723-8737

Newsreel Magazine by and for the Blind is a unique monthly interactive audio magazine produced in the voices of its blind or visually impaired subscribers.

Perkins School for the Blind

Watertown, MA 617-924-3434 info@perkins.org

Conducts training activities for programs and staff serving children who are multiply disabled with blindness or deafblind and provides support services for parents.

Seedlings Braille Books for Children

Livonia, MI 800-777-8552 info@seedlings.org

Seedlings Braille Books for Children provides high quality, low cost braille books for children at every level of development, from toddler board books to classic literature for older children.

U.S. Association of Blind Athletes

Colorado Springs, CO 719-866-3224

This Association enhances the lives of blind and visually impaired people by providing the opportunity for participation in sports and physical activity. Offers training camps and competitions in swimming, track and field, wrestling, gymnastics, goal ball, skiing, skating, power lifting, judo, and tandem cycling.

WonderBaby.org

Watertown, MA email hidden; JavaScript is required

WonderBaby.org, a project funded by Perkins School for the Blind, is dedicated to helping parents of young children with visual impairments as well as children with multiple disabilities. Here youll find a database of articles written by parents who want to share with others what theyve learned about playing with and teaching a blind child, as well as links to meaningful resources and ways to connect with other families.

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More Resources About Blindness and Visual Impairment

Drs. Sanduk Ruit and Geoff Tabin on 60 Minutes (CBS video)

The 60 Minutes segment Out of Darkness features two eye surgeons, Dr. Sanduk Ruit and Dr. Geoff Tabin, who are giving sight to people who have been blind for years due to cataracts. CBS correspondent Bill Whitaker travels to Burma (also known as Myanmar) to see the doctors in action in the operating room. With the doctors theyve trained in Nepal to perform the simple operation, Ruit and Tabin claim to have reversed blindness in more than 4 million people.

[Left: Buy thebookSecond Suns: Two Trailblazing Doctors and Their Quest to Cure Blindness on Amazon and the publisher will donate to the Himalayan CataractProject]

Ruit and Tabin have formed the non-profit organization CureBlindness to provide more surgeries to more people in the developing world. If you donate $100 or more directly to the project, you will receive a free copy of the inspirational book Second Suns:Two Trailblazing Doctors and Their Quest to Cure Blindness, One Pair of Eyes at a Time.60 Minutes airs Sundays at 7pm on CBS.

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60 Minutes Eye Doctors Curing Blindness Giving Away Books - 2paragraphs.com

Prevent Blindness Wisconsin received a legacy gift of over $59,000 from local private donor, William Hoffman, the nonprofit and volunteer-based organization announced this week.

We are incredibly grateful for this gift which will support Prevent Blindness Wisconsins mission to improve the lives of children, adults, and families through early detection of eye conditions to prevent blindness and preserve sight, Tami Radwill, Prevent Blindness Wisconsin executive director said.

The gift will be used to strengthen the organizations endowment and support its visual screening program a free service that tests adults for vision impairments and refers patients to eye doctors.

Julie Cordero, Prevent Blindness Wisconsins development director, said the organization has not received a legacy gift of this amount for two or three years and that memorial donations are more common than legacy gifts.

Hoffman received the organizations free screening 25 years ago, which led him to seek early treatment for glaucoma and prevent severe vision loss. He made the legacy gift because he believed the organizations services saved his eyesight.

Prevent Blindness Wisconsin received a legacy gift of over $59,000 from local private donor, William Hoffman, the nonprofit and volunteer-based organization announced this week.

We are incredibly grateful for this gift which will support Prevent Blindness Wisconsins mission to improve the lives of children, adults, and families through early detection of eye conditions to prevent blindness and preserve sight, Tami Radwill, Prevent Blindness Wisconsin executive director said.

The gift will be used to strengthen the organizations endowment and support its visual screening program a free service that tests adults for vision impairments and refers patients to eye doctors.

Julie Cordero, Prevent Blindness Wisconsins development director, said the organization has not received a legacy gift of this amount for two or three years and that memorial donations are more common than legacy gifts.

Hoffman received the organizations free screening 25 years ago, which led him to seek early treatment for glaucoma and prevent severe vision loss. He made the legacy gift because he believed the organizations services saved his eyesight.

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Prevent Blindness Wisconsin receives legacy donation - BizTimes.com (Milwaukee)

Organisers of the Life After Blindness organisation at the launch event.

Community members with visual impairment have launched an organisation for the blind, named Life After Blindness.

Tembisa residents came out in numbers to Thafeni Park to be part of launch, on April 7.

Life After Blindness organisations founder, Mrs Mpho Matjie, said she started the organisation because there was no other organisation looking out for the needs of people with visual impairment.

Our aim is to empower people who are visually impaired by offering skills development programmes.

We will help be more independent and also offer moral support through peer counselling. Blind people should be able to do things by themselves and be independent, said Matjie.

She said people with visual impairment should be active community members, not locked up in their houses.

Matjie said at Life After Blindness, blind people will be taught, among other things, braille, bead work and computer skills.

When somebody loses their vision they feel like it is the end of the world and yet it is only the beginning.

Organisations like Life After Blindness are here to give them courage to move on with their lives and find new possibilities and excitement.

They shouldnt allow their disability to stop their dreams, said optometrist Ms Ntibeleng Masile.

Mr Nape Mashiane, from the SA Guide Dog Association (SAGDA), said Life After Blindness will have a positive impact on the community of Tembisa.

Mpho is visually impaired herself and for her to start the organisation will inspire people with the same condition, said Mashiane.

He said SAGDA will assist Life After Blindness by training members and running workshops.

Life After Blindness is situated at 871 Thami Mnyele Drive, in Mqantsa section.

Matjie said affiliation is free and interested people can call 011 042 3086 or 071 027 9319.

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Now there is Life After Blindness - Tembisan

I particularly remember a conversation that I had with a college advisor about race during my senior year of high school. Specifically, it was an incident of overt racism that involved the conscious exclusion of a student of color from an event. My college advisor, a white woman, reacted in what appeared to be a blend of horror and shame. At one point during the conversation, in what I imagine to be an attempt to distance herself from the event, she pronounced her color blindness. I cant believe some people are like that. I personally dont see color, I treat everyone the same. Initially, I remember being appreciative of her unbiased racial outlook. After all, race is a social construct; its conception is therefore contingent upon our social selves.

Later that evening, however, I grew concerned with my reactionor lack thereof. Race is something that is so present in the U.S. but its discussion is something that elicits discomfort in everyone. Was her insistence on color blindness merely a refusal to engage with the overt racism of the incident?

I realized that her words, I personally dont see color [race], had struck me: What does it mean to be color blind in a society colored by racism?

I would like to clarify: race refers to skin color, whereas ethnicity is more aligned with culture. There exists a tendency to conflate race and ethnicity. Thus, when we talk about racism we are referring to the marginalization and oppression of various groups of people on the basis of skin color.

Color blindness is the racial ideology that posits the best way to end discrimination is by treating individuals as equally as possible, without regard to race.

This adoption of racial color blindness is not uncommon: topics involving race are often difficult to discuss. The notion of color blindness is, then, used as a device to disengage from conversations of race and racism entirely. This tendency is most prominent as it relates to campus discussions of race. The subtext of certain campus talks about race appears to be directed towards individuals who harbor negative sentiments about race. Those who insist on color blindness thus avoid these conversations, thinking, Why would I need to attend this campus talk? Im not racist. These events, however, are designed to generate productive conversations about race.

While many of these discussions are directed towards the predominately white Bowdoin population, people of color often disproportionately outnumber white people in attendance.

Racial color blindness encourages people to look past race entirely and it encourages avoidance of acknowledging race in interactions and discussions.

Conversations about race, however, are necessary for everyone.

In a color blind society, white people, who are unlikely to experience disadvantages due to race, can effectively ignore racism in American life, justify the current social order and feel more comfortable with their relatively privileged standing in society. Many people of color, however, who are regularly hindered by race, experience color blind ideologies quite differently. Color blindness constructs a society that denies negative racial experiences, undermines cultural heritage and invalidates unique perspectives.

The notion that someone in the U.S. can lead a completely color blind life is not plausible. The awareness of race is woven into our nations history and its implications thus cannot be completely erased.

It is for this reason that I encourage campus discussions about race, as they simultaneously bring us away from a colorblind society and bring us towards a more racially conscious society.

I realize that there is no such thing as color blindness in our society. We cannot simply stop talking about race because skin color undeniably affects the way people experience the world. We all must actively engage with discussions of race.

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Debunking the myth of color blindness in a racist society - The Bowdoin Orient

Blindness due to a bacterial infection that causes trachoma is a serious problem worldwide. The currently recommended number of rounds of mass drug administration may not be enough to ensure elimination of the disease.

Christina Faust 14 Apr 2017

Blindness caused by repeated infection with Chlamydia trachomatis

Trachoma is a disease of the eye and is the most important infectious cause of blindness worldwide. The bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis is responsible for the pathology- which includes eyelid scarring. After repeated exposure, the eyelid can become so scarred that it turns inwards and causes eyelashes to rub against the eyelid. This can scar the cornea and results in pain and light intolerance. If left untreated, infections can lead to vision impairment and even blindness.

Trachoma is spread either through direct contact with eye or nose discharge from infected people or through indirect contact, facilitated by flies that have contacted the eyes and noses of infected individuals.

Map of endemic countries endemic for trachoma

The bacterium is endemic in many countries across the globe, but in 1996 the WHO Alliance for Global Elimination of Trachoma (GET2020) set a goal to eradicate blindness caused by repeated infection by 2020. Elimination of trachoma depends on the SAFE strategy, which covers four types of interventions: surgery (S), antibiotics (A), facial cleanliness (F) and environmental improvement (E).

While all of these interventions are essential for elimination, mass drug administration (MDA) with azithromycin is the cornerstone of control. Drugs are administered at a community level in conjunction with national control programs. Dosage is determined by a dose pole and length of treatment in a given community is determined by the baseline prevalence in the district.

Currently, the WHO recommends annual treatment of all individuals within an affected community for at least 3 years if the prevalence of clinical signs (trachomatous inflammation-follicular) is between 10-30% or 5 years if the prevalence of clinical signs is >30% in individuals under 10 years of age. MDA programmes often target children, as they are easier to treat en masse.

Mass drug administration of azithromycin for trachoma control in Ethiopia

Fortunately, modelling results show that treatment of children only is an effective strategy to reduce, and even eliminate, trachoma at the population level. Although termed elimination, the goal of the control strategy is to reduce prevalence to less than 5% among 1-9 year olds, thereby reducing the force of infection. It is estimated that 100 repeated exposures are required before an individual becomes blind, so reducing transmission will greatly reduce probability of becoming blind.

Although 2020 is the target for elimination globally, 182 million people live in trachoma endemic regions. Only three countries have been confirmed to have eliminated trachoma by WHO, with another seven claiming elimination. With so few countries meeting elimination targets, how effective have MDA programmes been and is there a risk of stopping them too early?

Azithromycin is effective at clearing individual infections, but mounting evidence suggests there are barriers to its effectiveness at a population level. In areas that are considered to have moderate endemicity (~20%), three annual MDAs do not seem to be enough for local elimination. Three MDA rounds did not provide sustained elimination three years after treatment stopped in an area where baseline was 30% prevalence. In hyperendemic areas (>50% baseline),seven toten rounds of MDAs may be needed before conducting a follow-up survey.

These findings point to a reevaluation of the current recommendation for length of MDAs. Current policy for MDA treatment rounds doesnt seem sufficient, especially in high endemicity areas. In concert with MDA, addressing hygiene and environmental risk factors in communities is essential for trachoma control. In regions where the endemic equilibrium is high, it is likely even more important to employ multiple strategies for reducing transmission. Controlling trachoma requires improving facial hygiene, awareness of the disease and improved sanitation. In addition, insecticide control of flies can be more effective in reducing trachoma than simply providing latrines, emphasizing the role of vectors in the spread of this pathogen.

Moving forward, it will be important to monitor areas where MDA has ceased, to ensure that there is no resurgence of cases. In districts where MDA is ongoing, control programs can integrate with other MDAs to reduce costs and treatment fatigue in communities. In settings where trachoma was above 20%, even 30%, it will be essential to extend MDA programs and integrate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions into control programs.

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Is 3 to 5 years of treatment enough to eliminate preventable blindness? Mounting evidence for more integrated ... - BMC Blogs Network (blog)

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Color blindness is a visual impairment that restricts color vision. Thus, colors arent entirely clear for color blind software users. There isnt much in the way of color blindness software for Windows that can assist users. However, these are a few Windows programs that color blind users can modify VDU display colors with as required.

Visolve is one freeware program for Windows, Mac OS X and iPhone platforms that transforms VDU display colors to enhance color perception. This software enables users to open a Visolve Deflector window frame that captures a portion of the desktop behind it. Then you can apply color Red-Green, Blue-Yellow or Increase saturation color transformations to the region captured within the frame. In addition, it comes with a toolbar that enables you to make color adjustments while browsing with Internet Explorer. The software also adds that toolbar to the taskbar so you can apply color configurations to the full desktop. This page on the publishers website shows you how the software adjusts display colors.

WhatColor is freeware software for Windows 10, 8 and 7 that enables users to identify colors by selecting pixels. Click wcol482e.exeon this web page to save the softwares setup wizard. The program magnifies an area around your cursor from which you can select some pixels to identify. The program will then tell you what the color of the pixel selected is and provide an RGB value for it. As such, this can come in handy if color blind users need to refer to colors in a document; or if another document or page refers to specific colors that might otherwise not be clear.

Sensible Colors is just one of the eight tools included with MantaDB Utilities for Internet Explorer, which is a freeware package you can add to Windows from this page. This enables users to remove all background images from website pages and converts text color to black on white background to enhance clarity. As Sensible Colors removes background images, it can also speed up browsing.

Color Enhancer is not exactly Windows software, but its a Chrome extension you can add to that browser from this web page. The extension adds a color filter to Google Chrome with which you can adjust page colors as required. To configure the colors, press the Color Enhancer button on the browsers toolbar and select Set-up to open the filter shown in the snapshot directly below. Then you can select one of the rows and drag the bar slider to configure page colors.

Those are a few programs and tools that can assist color blind software users. They enable users to adjust VDU display colors as required to enhance software window and web page clarity.

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Color blindness software for Windows PCs - Windows Report

In the next installment of the Lyceum Lecture Series Fulfilling America's Promise: Racial Equity and Justice, Assistant Professor of Philosophy Ashley Atkins lectures on the issue of Black Lives Matter and All Lives Matter, with an emphasis on color blindness and interpretive injustice.

Atkins has always been interested in issues of racial and social injustice, but it was after reading the work of a couple philosophers on the issue of Black Lives Matter and All Lives matter, that she began to study the issue deeper and form her own interpretations.

When I read about the issue of Black Lives Matter and All Lives Matter, there always seem to be some kind of reference to color blindness. However, I looked at the issue a little bit differently. It wasnt until I read the work of philosophers like Judith Butler, that I began to study the issue differently and form my own interpretations on it, Atkins said.

Black Lives Matter is a movement that began in 2013 after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of African American teenager Trayvon Martin. Since then, the group has been widely recognized for their protests and demonstrations following the shooting deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Gardner. All Lives Matter began as a slogan in opposition to the Black Lives Matter Movement.

Atkins analyzes these two phrases and the negative criticisms that are associated with them. She cites the works Judith Butler and other philosophers to point out some issues with the phrase, All Lives Matter and Black Lives Matter.

For Butler, the problem with those who say all lives matter is to make a mistake of thinking that we can approach the question of which lives matter in a color-blind way. A more common view is that black lives matter marks an exclusion, but in an inclusive way. What it really means is that black lives matter, too, or All Lives Matter including black the black ones. The problem with this view is that objectors have an exclusionary interpretation, taking the phrase to mean something like only black lives matter, Atkins said.

She proceeds to talk about the issue of color blindness and whether it is at the root of the conflict over black lives matter and all lives matter. She argues that attempt to pin issues such as black lives matter having an exclusionary interpretation on things like color blindness or hope for a post racial society is unconvincing.

Atkins talks about the importance of justice and how the need to listen to others, specifically marginalized groups of people is how we began resolving the conflicts behind these racial justice issues. She proposes a suggestion by philosopher, Miranda Fricker on effective ways people can start listening to marginalized groups who also desire included in our social world.

Fricker recommends that we try to make sense of what speakers are saying, given what we, given what we would take them to be saying, in a setting which they do not face the prejudice of being members of a socially venerable group, Atkins said.

She concludes by reiterating the issue with the phrase All Lives Matter and how she interprets the meaning of the phrase.

We are struggling with questions of value. We need to pay attention not to whether, criminal, illegal, threatening and black lives among others are lives, we need to pay attention to whether their lives are regarded by us as having diminished value, Atkins said.

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The Lyceum Lecture Series emphasizes color blindness and interpretive injustice - Western Herald

"We are excited to name the Foundation Fighting Blindness as an official charity in our 2017 corporate giving program," said Andrew Reiser, CEO of Strategic Funding. "With a close family friend who is affected by retinal disease, I have seen first-hand the amazing work that the FFB has done for her.The entire Strategic Funding team is excited to be sponsoring such a worthy cause."

Since its inception in 1971, the Foundation Fighting Blindness has raised more than $700 million for retinal disease research. With these funds, it has funded 134 research studies, identified over 250 retinal degeneration causing genes, and has supported clinical trials that, in some cases, have resulted in significant vision improvement for trial participants.

ABOUT STRATEGIC FUNDINGFounded in 2006 and headquartered in NYC, Strategic Funding has been recognized by customers and the industry as one of the most reliable and respected names in small business financing. With flexible financing options, we provide small businesses with the working capital they need to take advantage of opportunities and grow. To learn more, visit http://www.sfscapital.com

ABOUT FOUNDATION FIGHTING BLINDNESSSince the Foundation Fighting Blindness was established in 1971 it has raised more than $700 million for research on preventing, treating and curing blindness caused by inherited retinal diseases. In excess of 10 million Americans, and millions more worldwide, experience vision loss due to retinal degenerations. Through its support of focused and innovative science, and by teaming with industry, the Foundation drives the research that has and will continue to provide treatments and cures for people affected by retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, Usher syndrome and other inherited retinal diseases. Our goal is to advance the most promising retinal disease research in the world and across the spectrum of retinal degenerative diseases. You can help. Every donation moves us closer to a cure.

CONTACT: Bernadette Abel Strategic Funding Source babel@sfscapital.com (646) 722-1484

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/strategic-funding-names-the-foundation-fighting-blindness-as-official-2017-charity-300438060.html

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Strategic Funding Names The Foundation Fighting Blindness As Official 2017 Charity - PR Newswire (press release)

Dr. William C. Campbell discussed the drug Ivermectin, which helps combat the River blindness epidemic. The 2015 winner of a Nobel Prize in the category of Physiology or Medicine spoke at the event presented by the Health Studies Institute in coordination with the global studies and health care policy programs on April 7.

By James Shepherd

Nobel Prize winner William C. Campbell visited Rider University to speak about the therapy he discovered that combats infections caused by roundworms. Specifically, he discussed the drug Ivermectin and how it combats Onchocerciasis, or, as it its more commonly known, River blindness. Campbell won a Nobel Prize in 2015 in the Physiology or Medicine category.

The root cause of River blindness is the bite of the Black Fly. When it bites the person the infected larvae penetrate the bite wound and get under the skin before growing into adult worms, Campbell said. After the larvae mature, they begin to breed on their own. It is their progeny which migrate through the skin, some of which eventually end up in the eye.

A telltale sign of infection is what Campbell refers to as a tennis ball full of spaghetti. Small nodules appear on the skin of the infected, within which lie the baby worms which eventually migrate through the skin to various points in the body.

The therapy was eventually discovered through the efforts of research on a single mouse that had been exposed to the worms and larvae. All of our microbial drugs have been discovered empirically, Campbell said. So in this case it was different because we tested substances in this new mouse [test], and the essence of the assay was that we gave a mouse an unknown amount of an unknown substance that might not be there.

The drug that had originally been found had been titled Avermectin but was later improved by chemists. But it is in my experience that our chemistry friends seem to believe that no matter how good something is, the chemists will make it better. Avermectin was improved by chemists by hydrogenating it, therefore improving its potency and resulted in the name change to Ivermectin.

Campbell brought the drug to the attention of the board of the Merck Institute for Therapeutic Research to use the drug on human subjects instead of animals. Early community testing took place in West Africa and all results pointed towards a success of the drug, which in its final form killed the larvae in the skin.

When it came to the debate of how to distribute the drug, the Merck Institute decided to give the drug away for free to those who needed it for as long as they needed it in a program they called the MDP (Mectizan Donation Program.)

The drug is administered yearly in pill form.

Since 2010, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Guatemala River blindness has been eliminated. Campbell believes that by 2025, River Blindness will be eliminated in Brazil and Venezuela.

Campbell was gifted a crystal vase by Rider University as a token of gratitude.

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Scientist makes strides to treat River blindness - The Rider News

An Aberdeen man whose wife was diagnosed with a condition that caused problems with her vision is raising money for a charity that helps blind people.

Martyn Orchard will take on the London Marathon to raise funds for the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB).

The 36-year-old decided to join Team RNIB for the event as a result of his wife Karen having health problems with her eyesight.

In 2010 she was diagnosed with idiopathic intracranial hypertension a neurological condition which meant the pressure around her brain was too high.

The increased pressure caused swelling of the optic disc and Karen began to lose her peripheral sight and had double vision.

She had to have numerous lumbar punctures and medication.

The 32-year-old also had a lumbar peritoneal shunt fitted which constantly drains cerebrospinal fluid into her stomach to keep the pressure low.

She was also diagnosed with panuveitis a serious inflammation of the uvea that affects all parts of the eye causing reduced vision and blindness.

Martyn said: Im delighted to be raising money for RNIB.

My wife is fortunate that she still has her eyesight intact, by and large, but not everybody is so lucky.

RNIB do some fantastic work so I wanted to try and give something back.

To prepare for the marathon Martyn has been running locally, as well as taking part in parkruns, and he recently completed the Garioch Half Marathon as part of his training programme.

Martyn, of Bridge of Don, added: The Virgin Money London Marathon is such an iconic event; Ive watched it on TV for many years but have always wanted to take part.

I took up running two years ago and ran the Edinburgh Marathon in May 2016, but the London Marathon will be extra special.

Ive heard so much about the atmosphere on race day and I cant wait to get on that start line.

Martyn hopes to cross the finish line in under five hours and aims to raise at least 3,000 for RNIB.

To help Martyn reach his fundraising target, please donate by visiting his Virgin Money Giving page at uk.virginmoneygiving.com/martyn-orchard

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Husband to take on London Marathon in support of blindness charity after partner almost lost vision - Aberdeen Evening Express

PUBLISHED: 16:34 11 April 2017 | UPDATED: 17:26 11 April 2017

Bianca Wild

Sir Hugh Duberly, Addenbrookes consultant paediatric ophthalmologist Louise Allen and Fight Against Blindness' chief executive Clive Fisher.

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Fight Against Blindness aim is to help children and their families affected by sight loss cope with the difficulties of their condition and to fund research into curing eye disease.

Chief executive Clive Fisher, who founded the charity in 2008, told the Crow: We started at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge and the work we fund is primarily based there, but programmes that are successful are rolled out and we how have programmes at Southampton General, Bristol Eye Hospital, and one based within the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

This is an exciting time for the charity, as we are on the cusp of big things.

The launch of their new Childrens Sight-Line appeal at Anglia Ruskin Universitys Cambridge campus was hosted by the charitys Patron Sir Hugh Duberly who has just stepped down from his post of 14-years as the Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire and Mr Fisher hopes it will raise 30,000 to develop a pioneering method of assessing visual function in children with eye and brain conditions.

Funds raised by the appeal will enable the technique to be implemented in iPad technology, which is easily portable for use in wards and community settings throughout Cambs and then nationally and internationally.

FAB is also the only charity to fund paediatric cognitive behavioural therapy and gene testing for children with sight loss, something Mr Fisher who worked in science and engineering before his retirement is extremely passionate about.

It is so important to me, and the reason is really straight forward because children are the future and the funding needs to go to the right place, he said.

CBT will help children suffering sight loss around the home, help the go to school and to hospital appointments, which can be extremely difficult.

Our main limitation is funding.

Consultant paediatric ophthalmologist Louise Allen gave a presentation on the launch evening to an invited audience, showing that clinical trials of the revolutionary but large and static prototype has already shown its superior performance over currently available methods.

Mr Fisher said the result will be an effective and accurate visual acuity and field loss test to measure childrens visual pathway, which is vital in giving early recognition of diseases such as retinal dystrophy and brain tumours to start therapies to prevent further sight loss.

To find out more about Fight Against Blindness and the Childrens Sight-Line appeal, or for more information on how to donate, go to http://www.fabrp.co.uk.

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Childhood blindness charity based in Thriplow launches new fundraising appeal for pioneering treatment programme ... - Royston Crow

Chance Hoenerchoener@morningsun.net

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. Many people cant imagine what life would be like without sight or hearing, but Ellen Foshag isnt letting the loss of either slow her down.

Foshag has lived with her husband in Pittsburg for the last 34 years, and has been diagnosed with Usher Syndrome Type II, which is characterized by progressive loss of vision and hearing. But she is fighting back. Currently, Foshage is taking part in intensive training at the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults in New York.

She began classes at HKNC March 7, and will be there for a total of eight weeks for assessments, followed by a training session. But Foshag hopes to be there longer.

My being here is federally-funded, and then the money is funneled through the states, she said. If I am approved by the state to continue training, I could be here nine months or longer.

She hopes to know more about how long shell be staying after a meeting with state officials April 18.

For her time at HKNC so far, Foshag said it is fast-paced.

It feels like being in college all over again, Foshag said. I take classes, have homework and a room on campus.

HKNC is a one-of-a-kind facility for folks living with deaf-blindness. All classes and training are done one-on-one with individual instructors and focus on orientation and mobility, communication, technology and even organizing money and writing checks.

Im leaning to identify and categorize different money, write checks and do things I could before when I had better vision, Foshag said. We work on cooking skills, how to identify clothing and how to clean.

Her training also includes assessments with audiologists, eye specialists and independent living experts. She is also taking part in vocational training to find her job strengths so she can work once she is finished.

A lot of us are learning we can be very high-functioning in our daily lives as long as we have the correct teacher, Foshag said. Kansas does not have many in-state services for the deaf-blind.

Foshag tried home study courses in the past, but said they were unsuccessful, which is why it is so important for her to stay on at HKNC.

Now I have actual teachers, she said. Someone to show me and coach me on how to do things better.

Foshag retired seven years ago, after a career in social work and nurseing. She and her husband have remained active. They are members of Sunflower Kiwanis and enjoy walking at the Robert W. Plaster Center at Pittsburg State University.

But Foshag said being at HKNC has helped her with more than just reclaiming her daily life.

If you are deaf-blind, there are very few people like you I have not met anyone dealing with dual-sensory loss in Pittsburg, she said. You come to the Helen Keller Center and you are not odd anymore because everyone is like you.

And while youre training you think if they can do it, so can I.

Chance Hoener is a staff writer for the Morning Sun. He can be emailed at choener@morningsun.net or follow him on Twitter @ReporterChance.

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Taking control Ellen Foshag currently improving her life with deaf-blindness at the Helen Keller Center - Pittsburg Morning Sun

The Cleveland International Film Festival completed its annual FilmSlam program today with a documentary about Gordon Gund. And as WKSUs Kabir Bhatia reports, students from area schools even got to ask Gund questions about his life with retinitis pigmentosa.

Gordon and Lulie Gund at FlimSlam

The documentary The Illumination touches on Gunds blindness, his ownership of the Cleveland Cavaliers and his philanthropy, but its main focus is his foundations efforts to cure blindness in a Belgian boy.

One of the showings was part of FilmSlam, in which high school students from around Northeast Ohio are invited to view movies and then participate in a Q&A with filmmakers. Cameron Olin is a junior at Medina High School and says what resonated for her was the relationship between Gund and his wife, Lulie.

They were walking down the stairs and his wife put his hand on the rocks so he could feel what it felt like, because he couldn't see it. Their love is what really hit me.

The Gunds said they were pleased that students asked not just about the Cavs, but mostly about how they dealt with the blindness, which hit Gordon in the late 1960s.

"We're all going to face adversity; in one form or another, everybody does. And it's how you deal with it and how you think about it that really matters. And if this has been helpful in that way, all the better."

Since the experimental treatment began in 2008, Gund says about 100 people have had their sight restored through his foundation. His entire Film-Slam question-and-answer session is available here.

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Students Quiz Gordon Gund About Blindness During the Cleveland International Film Festival - WKSU News

A scandal of historic and monumental proportions began with a tweet just over one month ago.

"Terrible, President Trump wrote on March 4. Just found out that Obama had (ph) 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!"

That tweet sent the mainstream, alt-left, hate-Trump media into an all- out frenzy. For the next several days, instead of investigating the president's serious claim, they mocked, ridiculed and bashed the president.

Here are some examples of propaganda masquerading as journalism:

Our conspiracy theory president is at it again, CNNs Brian Stelter said the day of the tweet. And whenever something like this happens, I wonder what are the president's sources of information? Where is he getting these ideas?

The next day, over at ABC, Martha Raddatz pretended to interview White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

The president of the United States is accusing the former president of wiretapping him, said Raddatz, who you will remember cried on election night when Hillary Clinton lost.

I think that this is again something that if this happened, Martha -- , Sanders began.

If, if, if, if! Raddatz snapped.

It went on and on.

CNNs Anderson Cooper threw objectivity aside and determined the president was a liar.

We know the president of the United States has no facts, no facts to back up his startling allegation that the former president of the United States, President Obama, wiretapped him at Trump Tower during the campaign, Cooper said on March 16.

It's amazing to watch the White House continue to argue that the Earth is flat, Coopers colleague, Jake Tapper, said.

When the fact-challenged, destroy-Trump media finally got bored scolding President Trump over his tweet, they went right back to the same old, tired conspiracy. The one that claims Trump colluded with the Russians to win the election, a baseless assertion the mainstream media has hung onto for months without one single shred of evidence.

This Russian connection just keeps building, and every time it builds and expands, you have to wonder if Trump himself isn't worried about what's swirling around under the covers, said MSNBCs Chris Matthews.

Cooper and his pals agreed. The evil Russians and the evil Team Trump worked together to steal the election!

Then, on March 22, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes announced that he had credible evidence that President Trump and members of his transition team had been caught up in "incidental surveillance," after which their names were unmasked. Nunes also revealed this intelligence had nothing to do with Russia and was shared among high-level Obama administration officials, apparently for political purposes.

The media swung into action to investigate the serious claim and accurately reported these shocking new revelations. Oh, wait! No they didnt. They decided to destroy Nunes.

Who decided that Devin Nunes was qualified to be the House Intel chair? Because from everybody that I've spoken to who have worked with him, Republicans, Democrats, they say he is not up to that task, said MSNBCs Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman who now earns a bigger paycheck as a member of the alt-left media.

Nunes, who stepped aside in the committees investigation Thursday amid a barrage of bogus claims from the media and fellow House members, put his reputation on the line to try to get to the truth.

While the alt-left, destroy-Trump-propaganda-media was busy smearing anyone and everyone who didn't echo their biased agenda, real journalists from Fox News, Circa News and Bloomberg were actually doing their jobs. And they reported that it was President Obamas national security adviser, Susan Rice, who called for the unmasking of members of the Trump transition team.

Rice didn't even deny it. But the CNN wants us to think these developments are all just a big distraction. They're back to the Russia conspiracy.

You think that this is a diversion from this Russia story? Don Lemon asked earlier this week. Because so far, we've seen no evidence that she's done anything improper, and it seems like an effort to tar and feather her to try to make a lie the truth, the original tweet by the president.

Listen, Susan Rice is being tarred, feathered and burned alive for doing her job in a good way, Van Jones replied.

Unmasking Americans just because they are her political opponents was not her job. Over at MSNBC, Chris Matthews, who once gushed that Obama sent a thrill up my leg, accused Republicans of being racist and sexist for targeting Susan Rice.

If they don't like the facts, they just claim racism and sexism. But President Trump is not letting the media define this narrative.

"It's such an important story for our country and the world. It's one of the big stories of our time," Trump said of the Obama administrations apparent use of national intelligence agencies for political opposition research.

ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and all of their friends in the print media especially The New York Times and Washington Post need to realize their partisanship and hatred for the president has clouded their judgment in what is now one of the biggest scandals in American history.

Admit your bias. Do your job. And apologize to America for taking so long.

Adapted from Sean Hannity's monologue on "Hannity," April 4, 2017

Sean Hannity currently serves as host of FOX News Channel's (FNC) Hannity (weekdays 10-11PM/ET). He joined the network in 1996 and is based in New York. Click here for more information on Sean Hannity.

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Sean Hannity: Media's blindness to Obama spy scandal shameful - Fox News