Frequently Asked Questions

Living with sight loss (10)

Where can I buy a talking watch or a white cane?

I need assistive devices like a talking watch, a white cane or a magnifier. Where can I buy these devices?

You can buy them from our Resource Centre. We have the largest Resource Centre in Africa. Click here to see our catalogue.

How does a visually impaired diabetic’s care for his feet ?

Black and white photo of the soles of two feet

Diabetics who develop foot infections have a 154-fold higher risk of losing the affected foot. According to the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons, 86 000 amputations are performed annually in the United States as a direct result of diabetes and half of those who have a foot or leg amputated will lose the other within five years.

Taking care of one’s feet can be easy. However, the job becomes quite difficult when one’s vision is impaired. Vision impairment makes it difficult to detect the early signs of foot problems. So how does one do foot care while coping with diminished vision?

Hands-on foot care. After washing and drying the feet, lift one foot to a comfortable resting position and use the balls of your fingertips and thumb to feel the entire surface. Fingertips are especially sensitive to changes in texture. Through hands-on foot care, one can find any breaks in the skin, new corns, calluses, blisters, swollen areas, small objects imbedded in the foot or anything that was not there the day before.
Back hand check. Run the back of the hand, which is especially sensitive to temperature, over as much of the surface of each foot. An unusually cool spot may indicate impaired circulation. An unusually warm area which may appear as a reddish spot, is generally the result of inflammation and often indicates the presence of infection.
Use the sense of smell. While feet often do not have a particularly pleasant smell, an unusually bad foot odour can be a sign of a fungal infection. Often, a suddenly offensive odour will be the first indication of an infection.

Successful non-visual foot inspection depends on the sensitivity of the hands. In cases where a diabetic patient’s hands are numb, the patient should get the help of a sighted family member or friend.

Visit http://www.allaboutdiabetes.net/caring-for-vision-impaireds-feet/ for full details.

How does a blind person sign a document?

Picture of two women, one is signing a document

A cardboard or metal template, with a cutout area corresponding to the space where the document or cheque is signed, enables a blind person to 'sign on the dotted line'. This device is called a signature guide. Some blind people prefer to have a stamp made with their signature, while others will ask you to place their index finger on the line where they must sign.

How does a blind person know which clothes go with which?

Photo of a doll sitting on bed with clothes scattered around it

Getting dressed in the morning can be tricky when you don't know which colours you're mixing and matching ... so blind people often sew buttons of various sizes and shapes onto the inside of skirts, shirts and trousers to help them match up outfits.

An electronic, talking colour identifier is also available from our Resource Centre, but this is an expensive option.

How does a blind person thread a needle?

Photo of a blind lady threading a needle

Fortunately, help is at hand with an ingenious invention known as a self-threading needle!
The eye of the needle has a tiny hinge on a spring. When the thread is pressed down firmly, it springs open and, hey presto, the needle is threaded.

One also gets needle threaders to assist you in threading regular and machine needles. This is one of our top sellers in our Resource Centre (definitely not to blind customers only!)

What should you do when you meet a blind person?

Photo of three people in front of a house, one with a white cane

1. Always announce your name, even if they know you. Don't expect them to recognise your voice.
2. If necessary, touch the blind person gently on the elbow to get their attention. Don't grab a cane or pet a guide dog without asking permission first.
3. Offer your help, but don't be offended if the blind person prefers to cope on their own.
4. Address the blind person directly, not through their companion. There's no need to raise your voice; blindness is not deafness.
5. Use words like 'see' and 'look' naturally in conversation.
6. When guiding a blind person, let them take your arm and check if you are moving at a comfortable speed. Warn them when you are approaching steps or the kerb.
7. When helping a blind person to sit down, guide their hand to the back of the chair and let them seat themselves without assistance. Never push them backwards into a chair.
8. If you are driving and you see a blind person waiting to cross the street, proceed normally. Don't hoot, shout instructions, or stop suddenly.

How does a blind person learn Braille?

Sighted people who come into contact with Braille often remark that they don't know how blind people make any sense at all out of the rows of tiny raised dots.

So, how difficult is it to learn Braille? In fact, it's not difficult at all.

Mastering the basic alphabet seldom takes more than a few weeks and then, as with anything else, practice makes perfect!

How does blind people count money?

Photo of the Coin Selector and the Money Template

Believe it or not, a coin has six distinct features by which a blind person can identify it: size, thickness, shape (not all are entirely round) pattern of grooves round the edge, the sound it makes when dropped onto a table and the raised picture on the face.

One, two, three, four or five raised diamond shapes in the middle of the bottom half of the new South African bank notes enable blind people to identify them as R10, R20, R50, R100 and R200 respectively. The notes are also different lengths.

For the benefit of the partially sighted, the Reserve Bank has introduced geometric shapes on the front of the banknotes. The R10 note features a diamond, the R20 a square, the R50 a circle, the R100 a 'flat' hexagon and the R200 a 'honeycomb' hexagon.

For quick and easy reference, plastic coin selectors and money templates (to measure banknotes) are available from Council's Resource Centre.

What should you do when you meet a blind person?

How do I make visual presentations accessible to VIPs?

Photo of Dr Rowland giving a presentation

Follow the link below for the WBU PowerPoint Guidelines on how to make visual presentations accessible to audience members who have a vision impairment.

Council, like the World Blind Union, recognises that visual aids are a standard feature of modern presentations, and often house styles and colours are required to be incorporated into them. The following guidelines are not intended to be prescriptive, but rather suggestions of good practice. They are designed to help presenters include all members of their audience.

Documents:

Tips on preparing a presentation for VIPs

Your eyes (2)

What influence does diabetes have on my eyes?

Picture of a sugar box on a roller coaster

I have diabetes and have heard that I can go blind from uncontrolled blood sugar levels. Is it true and what is the progression of the disease?

Diabetes is a condition characterised by abnormally high levels of glucose (sugar) in the blood. There are two forms of diabetes: type 1 and type 2. In people with type 1 diabetes, mild abnormalities in the retina begin to appear an average of seven years after the diabetes begins, but damage that threatens vision usually does not develop until much later.

In people with type 2 diabetes -- the more common type -- retinopathy may be present at the time of diagnosis or relatively soon afterward. This is because the onset of type 2 diabetes is gradual, and changes in the retina may have already taken place before the diabetes is even diagnosed. Here are the three progressive stages of diabetic retinopathy:....

Read the full story on the John Hopkins Health Alerts

Picture from: precisionnutrition.com

How can I combat computer eye strain?

Photo of a boy pointing at his closed eyes

Do you suffer from headaches, blurred vision, dry or scratchy eyes or even neck or shoulder pain? You could be suffering from eye strain caused by prolonged computer use.

If you spend long hours in front of the computer screen, try these helpful tips to reduce eye strain:
1. Adjust chair height so computer screen is slightly below eye level.
2. Ensure the background lighting is adequate – it should be brighter than the screen.
3. Contact lens wearers may be more comfortable wearing glasses when working at the computer.
4. Position yourself so that you face into open space beyond the screen, not facing a wall.
5. Computer screens attract dust - clean yours regularly
6. Take a ten minute break every couple of hours.
7. Glance away from the screen from time to time, focus on distant objects or look out of the window.
8. Adjust the size of too small text so you don't have to squint. In Internet Explorer, go to View > Text Zoom on the menu bar.
9. Use an eye lubricant if necessary to reduce dryness.
10. Combat glare and reflections with curtains, blinds or a special anti-glare screen.

Support us (3)

What do you do with my money?

We have so many services where we can utilise your donation. We can use it to provide training to students at our Optima College in either computer literacy, call centre or braille literate.

Or we can use it to subsidise essential equipment for visually impaired persons, like a white cane or a braille machine.

Or we can use it to restore sight to people who are needlessly blind. Imagine the difference you can make in the life of an individual if you help transform him from blind to sighted!

See our 2010/2011 Biennial Review document below to see what we have done with the money we have received from generous donors.

Documents:

Bienal Report_2011.pdf

How can I help you?

Photo of a blind child being toiught to use a Perkins Brailler

We can give you an 18A certificate because we are a registered NGO - this means you can claim back some money from SARS.

You can:

Support a specific project
Get a MySchool card
Give in Celebration: Request donations instead of gifts and use a celebration to help blind people. For weddings, christenings, anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas, and so forth.
Leave a gift in your will: make a bequest to us in your Will - so that the good you do can carry on.
Fundraise for us
Employ a blind person
Volunteer your skills and time to us
Spread our message on social networks
Spread the word to family and friends
Give gifts in kind