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The difficult economic situation which is
currently affecting our country in various ways has partially
changed the requirements and needs of users who find in our
Institute's Low Vision and Technology Help Centre a reference
point in order to overcome the difficulties associated with their
visual impairment. To adapt to new demands, at a time when even
the structure has to deal with a reduced availability of
resources, and in order to continue ensuring adequate services
and support to those who, “because of an eye disease”,
are no longer independent, the Institute has reacted in the only
way possible: research and development.
The experimentation
conducted in our labs in synergy with the work of our engineers
has led to the development of aids and rehabilitation systems
distributed today not only in Italy but also abroad.
The
evolution of information technology with the advent of tablets
has allowed us to design an innovative method for visual
rehabilitation at home that leverages the iPad. Tablets along
with smartphones are now increasingly widespread among the
population, thanks to their characteristics that make them easy
to use.
Some eye diseases, in particular age-related macular
degeneration which is the leading cause of visual impairment in
the Western world, can reap substantial benefit from visual
rehabilitation.
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Until
now it was only possible to treat these patients on an outpatient
basis with obvious sacrifices especially related to the necessity
of having to make numerous trips from home to the clinic.
Moreover, visual rehabilitation, which acts on brain plasticity
and perceptual learning, is carried out as part of training
programs that involve several sessions.
This software for home
training of the visual system on iPad is called Vision Pad Ht. We
are therefore able to extend part of the rehabilitation treatment
in the home of the visually impaired patient. Under the
supervision of the orthoptist, it is possible to follow programs
at home that integrate overall traditional clinical
interventions, thus allowing more intensive treatment, extended
even to those to whom treatment would have been difficult to
offer for various reasons, such as excessive distance from the
Low Vision and Technology Help Centre.
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Now that the experimentation is over,
with
encouraging results which were presented and discussed within the
national and international scientific community, the research
continues on both the rehabilitation technology front as well as
that of the applied technology to optical and electronic aids.
These are systems that allow the processing of images to make
them more easily recognizable to people with reduced visual
acuity. In our Low Vision and Technology Help Centre, we keep
discovering how one can overcome the various difficulties that
those living with low vision encounter in their everyday life.
This will make it possible for many people to recuperate habits
they had given up, such as reading a newspaper, sewing or moving
about freely using public transport.
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