Table of contents
1 Ask the expert
2 Business commentary
3 From the soap box
4 The reader’s choice
5 News and views
6 Helpful tips
7 Accessibility news
8 Editorial
9 Comments to the editor
10 Notes
Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the following contributors to this month’s STAE issue.
The Sterling Creations accessibility team, the Sterling Creations business team, the Sterling Creations research team, Scott Savoy our managing editor, Christian Robicheau our assistant editor, our readers, and Donna J Jodhan our president.
Donna J Jodhan is the founder and president of Sterling Creations which was founded in 1994. As a blind woman she has had to overcome mountainous challenges in order to get where she is today. She is a very successful business woman, consultant, and author and she continues to help produce daily blogs that contain weekly features on topics of interest and relevance. She is never tired, always willing to help others, and never gives up when it comes to helping others to voice their opinions. As she puts it: "My undying commitment is to ensure that the kids of tomorrow have a more level playing field when it comes to such things as employment opportunities, equal access to the Internet and technology. I think that if I can do my little part to help someone else succeed then in turn they will help others."
We are all very proud to be part of the Sterling Creations team but above all, we are pleased and delighted to have Donna J Jodhan as our leader.
Message from the president
Hello there and a very warm welcome to this month’s issue of STAE. I would like to personally thank all of our readers out there for their continuing loyalty and support. Your feed back means the world to us because without it we would be lost. I would also like to express my gratitude to the hardworking team at Sterling Creations for their A1 effort in helping to make this magazine possible.
All of our teams work extremely hard to bring you tidbits and articles each month that are interesting, newsworthy, and exciting. We strive to keep you informed of the latest news and breakthroughs in the fields of business, health, and technology as they pertain to persons with special needs and we always appreciate your feedback because it is only through you that we can hope to get better.
I hope that you continue to enjoy our magazine and invite you to read our latest newsletter. To obtain a free electronic copy please email us at info@sterlingcreations.ca.
Finally, I’d like to invite you to visit our newest sister website, www.onestopbookcafe.com and there you’ll find oodles of tips on a wide range of topics, a wide selection of books that will enable you to spend less and save more, and coming soon will be a collection of e books written by me. These books are designed to help you gather info that will enable you to enrich your daily lives. At www.onestopbookcafe.com, the goal is to motivate you to follow your dreams.
You will also be able to make your own contribution free of charge to our Café Talk page. I hope you enjoy this month’s magazine.
Ask the expert
GPS gadget designed to foil child snatchers "could also be used as a mobile guide dog"
April 2008
By the Sterling Creations accessibility team
Hello! We often get asked the question: Is it possible to develop products that can be used or that can benefit special needs persons as well as mainstream persons? We think so and the following article backs up our opinion.
I C Newcastle (UK)
GPS gadget designed to foil child snatchers "could also be used as a mobile guide dog"
By Phil Doherty, Sunday Sun
A GADGET that a scientist claimed helped him beat a speeding fine can also be used to keep youngsters safe from child snatchers, the Sunday Sun can reveal.
Inventor Doctor Phillip Tann said his device is so accurate it could be used to keep tabs on toddlers playing in a garden and track teenagers to their exact location.
Because of its higher accuracy than conventional global positional systems Dr Tann, claims it could also be used as a mobile "guide dog" to help blind people navigate around towns.
He said: "It is designed to make road travel more safe and help ease congestion, but it has myriad uses including child tracking.
"If you map out your house and garden boundary into the system it will tell you if your child leaves the boundary. If the child is moving faster than 10mph you'd know instantly that someone has taken them in a car and you could quickly raise the alarm.
"Older teenagers who borrow your car could be tracked from home if it was installed in the vehicle. But it can also be placed in a mobile phone and parents could also use it to make sure youngsters are where they claim to be."
Dr Tann claimed his device helped him escape a speeding fine after he was clocked by a police hand-held laser speed gun in Sunderland while driving through the city using the gadget to collect road data. According to Northumbria Police, he was travelling at 42mph in a 30mph zone.
However, he claims that his device shows he was only travelling at 29.177196mph.
He presented his evidence at a recent court hearing in Sunderland and pleaded not guilty.
The Crown Prosecution Service then dramatically dropped the case because, they said, the officer who had operated the speed gun had retired and refused to attend court.
Dr Tann, whose company Autopoietic Systems (Tann Ltd) is based in Birtley, Gateshead, got the idea for the device while working with BT to improve broadband connections.
He said that the internet acts like a superhighway and that the information moves through this network in packages much the same as cars travel along roads. It works by taking exact maps of roads and comparing that data to existing global positioning technology, which is only accurate within a 10 metre radius. The two sets of information are brought together to produce a more exact location finder.
The device records its location every half a metre and time taken between the two points and derives the speed from that.
That is then sent to a computer database which then tells the handset where it is.
Phillip added: "It can also be used by the police and other emergency services to plot routes that avoid heavy traffic and congestion. This works by having a database of all the roads that highlights danger spots such as around schools and where congestion is likely to occur at certain times of the day."
Lawsuit alleges US Airways discriminated against blind passenger
April 2008
By the Sterling Creations business team
Well, when is the travel industry and airlines as a whole going to start listening? How many law suits is it going to take before someone starts to wise up? First it was Ryan Airlines in Britain. Then some hotel in the US. Now it’s US Airways. We just wish that sooner than later, the appropriate authorities start to change their lousy attitudes. The following article has a story to tell.
Philadelphia Inquirer, PA, USA
Lawsuit alleges US Airways discriminated against blind passenger
By John Shiffman
October 11, 2007 5:30 PM
PHILADELPHIA - A blind Philadelphian has sued US Airways for discrimination, alleging that flight attendants ignored him after his plane landed here and that he injured his head when he tried to make it off the plane by himself.
In a lawsuit docketed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, singer-songwriter Wilson Charles, 28, charged that airline employees began treating him rudely in West Palm Beach, Fla., when he arrived for the Oct. 10, 2005, flight.
''It was really outrageous and inexcusable,'' said Charles' lawyer, Nessa B. Math.
Math said that it is obvious that Charles is blind because, among other things, he wears dark glasses and carries a walking stick. ''When someone is disabled, common decency would dictate that you give them what they need to be comfortable on an airplane,'' she said.
Charles said that US Airways personnel in West Palm Beach and Philadelphia ignored him and repeatedly shouted at him. ''Because I'm disabled, they treated me like I'm not even a person,'' he said.
A US Airways spokeswoman, Valerie Wunder, declined to comment.
Charles, who plays piano and write gospel songs, went to West Palm Beach to record a record. A native of Haiti, he was born legally blind. His left eye is useless and he can see only vague images in the other eye, he said.
When he purchased round-trip tickets online, Charles said, he requested and received ''priority customer'' status for boarding and exiting assistance. He said that he called US Airways several times to confirm this, and had no problems on the flight to Florida.
But on the return trip, Charles said, he arrived at the gate an hour early in West Palm Beach, where a gate agent told him he would have to wait until everyone else boarded.
''When I said, 'This is not right, I am disabled,' the US Airways guy started screaming at me. He said, 'Can't you see I'm busy?' I tried to protest and he said, 'If you say another word, I'm going to take you off this flight.'''
Eventually, gate agents put Charles in a seat toward the back of the plane, he said.
When the plane arrived in Philadelphia, Charles said, he was ignored again. When he tried to leave, he said, a US Airways employee screamed at him to sit down. When he decided to leave on his own, he said, his head hit the luggage rack, causing injuries to his eyes and head that required medical attention.
The lawsuit cites a federal law that Math said requires airlines to help disabled passengers board and exit planes. The suit alleges intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment, and negligence.
The suit does not seek a specified monetary claim, but does seek punitive damages. Typically, cases in federal court seek damages in excess of $75,000. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Bruce W. Kauffman.
Visit Philadelphia Online, the Inquirer's World Wide Web site, at http://www.philly.com/
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
Why can't the phone makers build handsets for everybody?
April 2008
By Scott Savoy
Exactly my question! Why can’t the phone makers build hand sets for everyone? With a rapidly aging population, phone makers are going to have to adjust their way of thinking as more and more consumers will be seeking hand sets that cater to their needs. I’ve chosen an article this month that speaks to this topic directly.
The Guardian Unlimited: Technology (UK)
Why can't the phone makers build handsets for everybody?
By Lucy Glennon
Mobile phones are not just for kids, but the elderly and disabled can often find the newer models fiddly to use
For Vali, a partially sighted pensioner, trying to use a mobile phone is a challenge. The 65-year-old gets by using an ordinary mobile, but he only knows how to use it by touch alone.
"My wife has entered all the necessary numbers and I've memorised where they are on the speed dial," he says. "I can feel the number five button, as it has a dot on it, and I can feel the other numbers from there. For blind and partially sighted people, the next best sense is touch, so I know where the other buttons are by feeling from the top of the phone."
The problem of mobile exclusion is widespread. A study at Cambridge University found that 40 million adults in Europe (around 9% of the adult population) experience problems using mobiles, and the number of people who encounter difficulty increased with age. This has a massive social effect. While teenagers may feel left out without a phone, adults who could benefit greatly from mobile services can really suffer.
Special handsets
With the technology we have today, buying or upgrading a mobile phone that can cope with such needs ought to be simple. Yet for people with a disability that affects dexterity, vision or hearing - or who are simply getting old, with its associated toll on those skills - it can be a big problem.
For mobile users with hearing or sight problems, there are a couple of specially made handsets that are much easier to use, such as the Emporia Life phone. With large text and a high contrast screen that can be read even in bright light conditions, and with large well-spaced buttons, it is good for partially sighted people who want to use their phone for text messaging.
The Easy5 mobile is a much more basic handset that has five main buttons for pre-programmed numbers only, with no screen for texting or other features. For people with hearing problems, there are many accessories that can aid mobile usage, such as induction loops or hooks which can increase the volume and block out any noise interference.
Even some ordinary handsets have features that make them easier to use for people who may have sight or hearing difficulties, such as a voice that tells you where you are in the menu or phonebook, or which numbers you have dialled.
The mobile operator Orange is planning a service where the stores will offer third-party software for customers who need it. "We'll hopefully be able to work with the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) in adding software which will help users with sight problems, and our staff are being trained in dealing with such customers to help their needs," says Chris Smith, diversity advisor at Orange.
The network has a disabled user panel which tests handsets, rates them on a range of factors and forwards its conclusions onto mobile manufacturers. They can also give each phone a score based on how easy it is to use, to help people with limited dexterity choose the right handset.
Nokia phones use the Symbian operating system. Its open nature means programs can be added to increase the ringing volume to highs that ordinarily would be deafening, and make the screen and keypad lights flash to aid hearing-impaired users. A program that reads phone numbers aloud can also be installed to help those with sight problems.
However, if you don't have great dexterity, the best advice is still to try before you buy. It is all a matter of personal preference: what works for one person may not necessarily work for another, and while pictures of phones at online shops may seem fine, you can never judge exactly how easy they will be to use: buttons may be flat and hard, joysticks may be fiddly and stiff, and the flip design may snap shut harder than you think.
Changing designs
Unfortunately, as the features of mobiles are changing to meet the demands of a younger, tech-savvy market, the designs have changed too. In 2005, Vodafone launched an easy-to-use phone called Simply, which was the standard candybar shape and had large buttons. It was discontinued due to poor sales. No other mobile phone manufacturer has made a similar device. Instead they have ploughed on, apparently bent on making mobile phones for Batman or James Bond.
The only other option seems to be to try older handsets, which usually have bigger, easier buttons and are less fiddly and slippery than the latest models. But this can be a bit disappointing if you want to keep up with the latest technology.
The surest way to avoid the problem of exclusion would be to make phones accessible in as many ways as possible, so they could be used by lots of people with a wide range of abilities. The number of people using mobiles is only going to increase, and as the current adult users get older they will be left out as they cannot keep up with the constantly changing technology that meets the demands of younger customers. Because handsets are advancing, it doesn't mean the design of the phones should be complicated to meet with these changes too.
While it seems there may never be a phone especially made for such a small target group of customers as the disabled, phone manufacturers will just continue to do ranges that fit into certain criteria, such as ultra, business, sport, music, photographic, or the girly range which basically means phones with a hot pink fascia and a horoscope application.
The only solution is to shop around, and try whatever is best for you from the huge range of phones available and any accessories you may require.
Recommended phones
Samsung E590 One of the few candybar handsets in the Samsung range, it has a simple design and defined, easy-to-feel buttons. Available on Orange.
Nokia 1112 A simple to use phone, with raised easy-to-feel keys and a high contrast monochrome screen. Available on Virgin.
Nokia 2633 Has two speakers, and is one of the loudest phones on the market; a hearing induction loop is available. Available on O2.
Motorola RAZR2 V8 May not be suitable for everyone, but has a built-in voice which can read out where you are in the menu, and text messages. Available now.
All-in-one gizmo for blind people
April 2008
Contributed by Mark Christoff of London England
Hey there! I’m very excited this month. I recently found an article that talks about something that I’ve been dreaming of for years now and that is: Why can’t someone build an all in one gismo for blind people? Wouldn’t that be just fantastic! Please read my selection and share my excitement.
BBC News, Technology (UK)
All-in-one gizmo for blind people
By Geoff Adams-Spink
Age & disability correspondent, BBC News website
Caption: The TellMate can read a thousand labels using radio frequencies
A multi-purpose gadget for blind people that will enable them to listen to music and identify household items is under development.
The TellMate, designed by Singapore company, GaiShan Technology could soon be available in the UK.
It has a one gigabyte memory and can be used as a music player, radio, clock, talking book player, voice recorder and label reader.
The Mark 2 version of the TellMate will also be able to read SD cards.
Sound guide
The device is being imported into the UK by a Basingstoke-based fundraiser, Dave Chatten-Smith, but he is looking for another company to distribute it.
The TellMate is about the same size as a television remote control but with fewer buttons.
Mr Chatten-Smith believes that it will be of particular use as a scanner and label reader to help vision-impaired people identify items in the house or at work.
"You could label up your CDs, your DVDs, paperwork - there are even washable, waterproof labels so that you can identify your clothes," he told the BBC News website.
The TellMate uses RFID tags that can be attached to, for example, different food items in a kitchen cupboard.
Each label transmits a low-powered signal to the device which then plays the audio clip that has been recorded and associated with it.
The labels can be re-used by recording a new audio clip.
Up to a thousand labels can be read by the TellMate.
"As the labels are unpowered, you have to be in close proximity to them - about five or six centimetres away," explained Mr Chatten-Smith.
One of the partners of GaiShan Technology - the Singapore based company that developed the TellMate - has a vision impairment himself.
The new product has been extensively tested for the past 18 months.
Mr Chatten-Smith says that it will sell for around £250, and the SD card version should be available by the end of the year.
Although none of the functions of the TellMate is new, it is the first time that everything has been brought together in a single unit.
Fighting for sight in the developing world
April 2008
By Christian Robicheau
Dear readers, I am going to share an article with you this month that really touched me. I’m fully sighted but I wear glasses and if I don’t wear them I’m as good as blind. We take our sight for granted but what about those poor persons in the developing world who are fighting to save their sight? Maybe we should take a minute to ponder this.
SciDev.Net
Fighting for sight in the developing world
By T. V. Padma
T. V. Padma takes a look at methods that are helping the developing world's blind people see again, and helping them live more easily.
The magnitude of blindness-related problems in developing countries is often missed among reports on epidemics or other public health problems.
Yet in 2002 the WHO estimated that there were around 37 million blind people worldwide and an additional 124 million with very low vision. Ninety per cent of the visually impaired are in developing countries.
South and South-East Asia account for the highest percentage of avoidable blindness (28 per cent), followed by the western Pacific (26 per cent), Africa (16.6 per cent) and the eastern Mediterranean (10 per cent).
In the United Kingdom and the United States fewer than 3 out of 10,000 children are blind at birth, whereas in India - home to the largest number of blind children in the world - there are more than eight.
But new technology is being employed to treat blindness and make life easier for the blind in developing countries. From satellites to new software, sophisticated cornea transplants and experimental stem cell transplants, things are looking up.
The roots of blindness
In 2000 the UK-based International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) estimated the global cost of blindness and low vision at US$42 billion, a cost they said could rise to US$110 billion by 2020 if there is no decline.
The WHO notes that in spite of improvements in eye surgery over the last ten years, cataract - where the clear lens of the eye turns cloudy - remains the leading cause of visual impairment in developing countries, accounting for 47 per cent of cases.
A major cause of cataract is exposure to ultraviolet radiation, a consequence of the tropical environment of many developing countries.
Other major causes are glaucoma - in which excess pressure damages the optic nerve - (12.3 per cent), age-related degeneration (8.7 per cent), the cornea turning opaque (5.1 per cent), retina damage due to diabetes (4.8 per cent) and childhood blindness (3.9 per cent).
Trachoma - a contagious inflammation of the eye by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis - and eye injuries are also common.
In most cases, blindness results from lack of access to eye healthcare and vision-correcting aids. The IAPB notes that perhaps one of the "saddest examples" is in Africa, where hundreds of thousands of children are treated for blindness caused by a lack of skilled eye care services to detect and correct faulty vision, or their families being too poor to buy prescribed spectacles.
In Bangladesh and India thousands suffer severe eye damage every year due to chemical injuries in the workplace, or from the lime paste that is added to betelnut leaves, a popular stimulant. Lime paste is rubbed onto leaves that are then chewed, and people often accidentally touch their eyes afterwards.
A study in 2003 by the L. V. Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) - a WHO collaborating centre for blindness in Hyderabad, India - and the University of Melbourne in Australia found that in the state of Andhra Pradesh in southern India, one in 150 Indians suffer from blindness in the cornea, the outer layer that covers the iris and the pupil.
Ninety-five per cent of the cases were avoidable and caused by injury from thorns, branches, plant secretions and chemicals.
And a 2001 study by the Tribhuvan Institute of Medicine and Teaching Hospital in Nepal, in collaboration with the US-based University of California, found that Nepal has seven times more corneal ulcers than southern India, and 70 times more than the United States.
Eye injuries and corneal ulcers are "serious public health problems that are occurring in epidemic proportions in Nepal," it concluded.
Vision 2020
In 1999 the WHO and the IAPB launched the 'Vision 2020: Right to Sight' programme, aiming to decrease the number of blind people worldwide by 2020 from the projected 75 million to 24 million.
Health agencies are also trying to spread awareness about early detection and prevention of the conditions that lead to blindness. This has led to impressive results in the Gambia, India, Morocco, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and other countries that have organised early detection camps for cataract, eye ulcers and cancers, low-cost cataract operations and vitamin A supplementation programmes, says the IAPB.
One such success story is Nepali eye surgeon Sanduk Ruit, who won the Ramon Magsaysay award - Asia's equivalent of the Nobel Prize - in 2006 for his efforts to bring sutureless cataract surgery to Nepal.
Ruit is medical director of the Tilganga Eye Centre in Kathmadu, which operates an eye bank that collects donated corneas for transplantation and makes high-quality lenses for implantation into cataract patients. These lenses are an affordable US$5 apiece and are available in over 50 countries. But a lot needs to be done. "Cataract blindness continues to pile-up, particularly in developing nations and unprivileged societies," says Ruit.
Ruit also runs mobile 'eye camps' in remote areas, as far afield as Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India and North Korea.
Eye operations are becoming increasingly affordable in developing countries. Cataract surgery - in which the clouded opaque lens of the eye is replaced with a clear one - is now routine.
And corneal transplants - replacing the damaged cornea with a donated one - are now increasing. LVPEI performs 900-1000 transplants each year on patients from south and west Asia, some of which are free for those who cannot afford to pay.
In cases where new corneas fail to graft properly, artificial corneas made of biocompatible plastics are used.
However, in some cases corneal transplants are of no help because of damage to the corneal limbus, an area at the edge of the cornea which gives rise to corneal cells.
LVPEI scientists are studying the potential of stem cells - unspecialised cells in the body that can become specific cells such as heart, muscle and nerve cells - to regenerate the limbus.
Under a project funded by India's Department of Biotechnology in 2001, LVPEI scientists cultured adult stem cells taken from a patient's limbus in a special medium and then transplanted them back into the patient's eye.
The project began with 20 patients but expanded to over 500 stem cell transplantations, says Geeta Vemuganti, head of the stem cell laboratory at LVPEI.
A follow-up of the first 200 patients showed that in 40 per cent of cases, the transplanted limbal cells helped re-grow the cornea. The remaining needed an additional corneal transplant.
Research and rehabilitation
Dorairajan Balasubramaian, LVPEI director, says stem cells are one of two "whiffs of hope" for new treatments.
Stem cells derived from a patient's bone marrow are being used to grow retina cells, and another option is the use of gene therapy to correct blindness caused by a defective retinal gene.
Scientists in the US are also testing artificial silicon retinas in blind patients with damaged retinas to see if they can stimulate vision. The solar-powered chips convert light into electrical pulses that stimulate damaged retinal cells, allowing them to send visual signals to the brain.
The US-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology has launched 'Project Prakash' - prakash means 'light' in Sanskrit - to develop computational models for face detection skills.
They are working with a group of Indian children whose sight has been restored after treatment to understand how the brain sees and recognises objects and faces, and hope the model can be used in rehabilitation programmes once sight is restored.
Making life easier
But it's not just about surgical correction. Other projects are helping the developing world's blind make the best of life with their condition.
The Blind People's Association in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, in India, promotes education, training, employment and community-based rehabilitation services for the blind. In a recent innovative project, they've turned to India's education satellite EDUSAT for help.
EDUSAT, launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in September 2004, beams long-distance primary education programmes to 10,000 classrooms in remote areas across India and provides connectivity to schools, colleges and higher institutes, along with supporting home schooling and distance learning.
The Blind People's Association approached ISRO to help set up a special network for blind students.
"The satellite network has proved to be an economical and viable alternative in areas where teachers for blind students come only twice a week and most schools do not have experts to teach such children," says Bharat Darji, deputy project director at ISRO's Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad.
Using EDUSAT, ISRO relays both educational audio programmes and data that can be read with Braille to over 800 blind children in ten remote sites in Gujarat.
Darji told SciDev.Net there is scope to expand the network to 40 blind schools in Gujarat and implement it in other Indian states.
Similar advances in software and medicine are helping rehabilitate people with impaired eyesight, who find it difficult to read or see clearly.
Information technology offers a tremendous opportunity to improve education and employment for the visually challenged, say scientists at LVPEI.
Examples include software that magnifies text and icons on the computer screen up to 16 times; allows a speech synthesiser to 'speak' the text displayed on the screen; prints Braille output from a computer by punching dots on to paper; and edits letters, emails and text written in Braille.
For people with low vision, the Low Vision Resource Centre at the Hong Kong Society for the Blind has an inventory of over 120 low-vision devices under US$7, including binocular telescopes, magnifiers and 'glare control' lenses fitted with special filters.
They also have a range of non-optical devices to help those with poor vision live independently, such as high-contrast watches, magnifying mirrors, needle threaders and large print books.
But experts point out that any life-enhancing measures need to be complemented with robust eye health awareness programmes to prevent and treat blindness if the developing world is to slow its spiralling blindness levels.
"Sight restoration has to be of first class quality, always and everywhere," says Ruit, emphasising that no-one should receive second-class treatment.
April 2008
By the Sterling Creations research team
Greetings! Here are our helpful tips for April.
Helpful tips for April:
Want to know some interesting things about dates for Easter holidays?
This year, Easter was celebrated on a day that was the earliest in almost a century.
It will not be celebrated as early as this again till the year 2164.
Next year, Easter Sunday will fall on April 12.
What's this about the benefits of eating sweet potatoes?
According to the health experts, eating sweet potatoes will give you lots of beta carotene.
Beta carotene is good for your eyes.
Best way to cook sweet potatoes is by baking them.
If you're wondering why your grocery bill is suddenly starting to skyrocket?
It all has to do with the skyrocketing prices for wheat.
There has recently been a drought in Australia and this has sparked a wheat shortage worldwide but that's not all.
More and more farmers are now growing more corn and less wheat and it all has to do with them meeting the demand for bio fuels.
They're switching from growing wheat to growing corn.
What is Agflation?
Agflation refers to a shortage of certain foods in the world today.
All you ever wanted to know about potatoes?
Red skin and new potatoes are best for boiling and they contain the most moisture.
They are great for making potato salads.
They have much less starch than baking potatoes.
Baking potatoes also have less moisture and crumble more easily when cooked.
What you should know about smoke detectors?
They normally have a life of about 10 years.
You should change their batteries at least once yearly.
Best to change them when the time changes I.E when the clocks go forward at springtime or backward during the fall.
Is it really true that you can prolong the life of unused batteries by leaving them in the fridge?
Some say yes, and some say no.
In general, it's probably best to leave them in a cool place.
Accessibility news
India has largest blind population
April 2008
By the Sterling Creations research team
Hey again! We’re back and for our second contribution we’ve chosen a news item from India.
The Times of India
India has largest blind population
By Kounteya Sinha,TNN
NEW DELHI: India is now home to the world's largest number of blind people. Of the 37 million people across the globe who are blind, over 15 million are from India.
What's worse, 75% of these are cases of avoidable blindness, thanks to the country's acute shortage of optometrists and donated eyes for the treatment of corneal blindness. While India needs 40,000 optometrists, it has only 8,000.
On the other hand, while India needs 2.5 lakh donated eyes every year, the country's 109 eye banks (five in Delhi) manage to collect a maximum of just 25,000 eyes, 30% of which can't be used.
According to Ajeet Bhardwaj, outgoing president of the Asia Pacific Optometrists Organisation, India has 12,000 ophthalmologists who have no time to conduct blindness-preventing surgeries because they are flooded with general eye check-up of patients.
"For India, it is vital that ophthalmologists focus on surgeries and optometrists take charge of primary eye care refractive errors like presbyopia, contact lenses, low-vision aids and vision therapies. This is how most developed countries managed to control and eliminate avoidable blindness," Bhardwaj says.
Bhardwaj says 153 million people in the country require reading glasses but do not have access to them. Optometrists are eye physicians concerned with vision care, eye diseases and prescribe eyeglasses, contact lenses and medications to treat eye disorders.
An ophthalmologist specialises in surgical care of the eyes. India has just 20 optometry schools which produce just 1,000 optometrists annually as against the 17 million people being added to the population during the same period.
There is a shortage of faculty as well. There are also no regulatory laws to control the practice of optometry even though refractive error is one of the leading causes of blindness.
There is, therefore, no recognition, making Indian optometrists migrate to foreign shores. Optometry is among one of the best 10 professions in US and UK. Ophthalmologist Dr J S Titiyal, specialising in cornea and refractive surgery at AIIMS, agrees.
"More well trained professional optometrists will immensely help India as it will give us time to concentrate on surgery, our primary specialisation. Anyway India has just one eye surgeon per 100,000 people. At present, patients come to us even for eye power check-up. The government also needs to standardise optometric education to maintain quality," he says.
Meanwhile, shortage of donated eyes is becoming a huge problem. Of the 15 million blind people in India, three million, 26% of whom are children, suffer due to corneal disorders. But only 10,000 corneal transplants are being done every year due to the shortage of donated eyes. The Union health ministry has already launched a national programme to control blindness and expects to reach its blindness elimination target of 0.3% by 2015, five years before the WHO deadline of 2020.
Don’t let anyone stomp on your dreams
April 2008
By Donna J Jodhan
Some people say that dreams are just dreams. Nothing more or nothing less. When we sleep at night we dream and some times we forget what we dream about. Sometimes however, we remember our dreams and often time we are at a loss to understand how our dreams relate to reality and our daily lives.
Robert F Kennedy once said: "Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say why not." This quote has had a very profound effect on me throughout my life and it's the quote that I often use to get me motivated.
For the purpose of this editorial, I'm not referring to the dreams that take place at night while we sleep. I'm referring to the dreams that we have as kids. The ones that we have when we imagine what we would like to grow up to be. The ones that we have when we attend college or university. The ones we have when we start our very first job. The ones we have when we retire. The ones we have for our kids.
These are all dreams. If we hope and wish for something then it's a dream. If we say that we'd like to have enough income to live on when we retire, it's a dream. If we say that we'd like to travel to Europe or the Far East, then it's definitely a dream. If we say that when we grow up we'd like to be a pilot, then that too is a dream. Dreams, dreams! The one thing about them is that they are ours and no one can take them away from us unless we let them. No one can stop us from dreaming and no one can tell us what to dream about.
Dreams are precious and whether or not we like to admit it, they play a very important part in our lives. For what would our lives be like if we did not hope, wish, or dream? That good old birthday cake with the candles just waiting for the birthday girl or boy to blow them out after making a wish, that is a dream. Dreams have been with us for longer than a day and they are precious. Believe it or not, almost all of us use them to get where we want to go. We must therefore keep them safe and treasure them. Keep them always close to our hearts and never let anyone stomp on them. For if we do, we would have a very difficult time living our lives the way we want.
Comments to the editor
April 2008
From the desk of the editor
Hi! Here are this month’s submissions.
From Kirk Schnyder of Austria:
I enjoy reading this magazine and in particular Donna Jodhan's editorials. I hope that she continues to bring us those wonderful comments.
From Ray Fernandez of New York:
I'm sighted and I enjoy reading all of the medical articles. it's time that we pay more attention to the issues surround loss of vision.
From Marie Hart of Boston:
Hey! I have parents that are blind and each month I read them some of the articles from this magazine. They enjoy it but I'm wondering if there is not more that can be put into the magazine. More for older folks like my parents?
From Sarah Gregory of New Jersey:
I think that this magazine is a bit of a waste of time. Too many articles that are similar in content and not enough comments from the staff.
From Joseph Marcus of Manchester England:
Well done lads and lasses! This editorial tam is great but I really like the research team the best for their contributions on the helpful tips section.
If you'd like to send us your comments then please do so by sending your emails to info@sterlingcreations.ca. All submissions are screened to ensure appropriate language.
Notes
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