‘There’s still life after blindness’

Life goes on even if you become blind or visually impaired.

This is the assertion of President of the Senate, Her Honour Kerryann Ifill, who is testament of this having lost her sight as a child.

“A lot of people think visual impairment is the end, but it isn’t, and so we want to share with them how life can be for those individuals,” Senator Ifill told The Barbados Advocate yesterday, on the side-lines of the National Disabilities Unit (NDU) outreach at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) Eye Clinic.

As part of the activities to celebrate the Month of the Disabled during March, President of the National United Society of the Blind (NUSB), Rudyard Welch, along with members, informed patients to the Eye Clinic about the work of NDU, specifically highlighting the Assistive Technology Services Programme.

The aim was to improve the level of awareness on assistive technology and how it can improve the quality of life for persons who are blind and visually impaired. Such technologies on display included- the Penfriend Labeller for the Blind, Braille terminal and the Job Access with Speech (JAWS) software.

“All of these are accessible by the blind and visually impaired. So it means that persons working in offices, or those in school don’t need to go home having lost their vision. They just need to be re-trained to use these tools,” she said.
Acknowledging that Barbados has a high incidence of glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy, Senator Ifill further indicated, “While we have an excellent health programme, which includes an excellent eye care programme where we work to restore and preserve sight, there are some persons whose sight cannot be improved and for those persons that is why we are having this outreach at QEH.” (TL)