Misfitting With AI: How Blind People Verify and Contest AI Errors

The National Eye Institute’s low vision education program:: Improving quality of life

Andrew Leland's The Country of the Blind: A Memoir at the End of Sight is a personal narrative of the writer's decades-long transition from sightedness to blindness triggered by retinitis pigmentosa (RP), an eye condition that first affects one's peripheral vision and gradually results in total loss of sight. It is also an inquiry into the history, culture, and the sociopolitical discourse surrounding blindness. This combination makes the book a part of the tradition of American lifewriting that approaches blindness both as a lived experience and a subject of historical inquiry.

This research was designed for analyse and compare patterns of EEG signals while blinded and normal people performing touching-leaning. The pattern analysis focuses on important EEG wavebands during touching, such as delta, theta, alpha and gamma waveband. The EEG waveband-datasets were detected and recorded with inexpensive device, the NeuroSky Mindwave, where it is connected to a computer for data analysis through Bluetooth communication and had electric noise reduction chipset inside. The analysis for the EEG waveband pattern-comparisons is performed by utilizing waveband power spectrum and statistical technique based on FFT algorithm, Area Under Curve (AUC), mean, S.D., T-score, and P-value testing. The experiment shown that dominant EEG signal wavebands of blinded people when touching-learning are delta, theta, alpha and gamma. These wavebands were higher than normal people. Moreover, by using statistical analysis T-score and P-values testing, analyzed results illustrate that normal and blinded people EEG wave patterns are significantly different on gamma waveband where blinded people have significantly higher gramma wave during touching-learning activities. The objects used for touching-leaning in the experiments are square, triangle, circle, and hexagon shape of tactile pictures. The observation also shown that blinded people use their muscle in movement more than normal people which also strongly related to gramma wave. In addition, another wave did not relate to statistic significant. This result illustrated to normal and blinded people thinking and imagination with the same pattern.

Quality of life associated with no light perception vision

Previous pilot experience has shown the ability of visually impaired and blind people (BP) to learn basic life support (BLS), but no studies have compared their abilities with blindfolded people (BFP) after participating in the same instructor-led, real-time feedback training. Twenty-nine BP and 30 BFP participated in this quasi-experimental trial. Training consisted of a 1 h theoretical and practical training session with an additional 30 min afterwards, led by nurses with prior experience in BLS training of various collectives. Quantitative quality of chest compressions (CC), AED use and BLS sequence were evaluated by means of a simulation scenario. BP’s median time to start CC was less than 35 s. Global and specific components of CC quality were similar between groups, except for compression rate (BFP: 123.4 + 15.2 vs. BP: 110.8 + 15.3 CC/min; p = 0.002). Mean compression depth was below the recommended target in both groups, and optimal CC depth was achieved by 27.6% of blind and 23.3% of blindfolded people (p = 0.288). Time to discharge was significantly longer in BFP than BP (86.0 + 24.9 vs. 66.0 + 27.0 s; p = 0.004). Thus, after an adapted and short training program, blind people were revealed to have abilities comparable to those of blindfolded people in learning and performing the BLS sequence and CC.

A person with low vision is someone who has an impairment of visual functioning despite treatment or standard refractive correction. By definition (World Health Organization, 1993), this impairment includes a visual acuity of less than 6/18 (20/60) to light perception or a visual field of less than 10 degrees from the point of fixation in people who are using or are potentially able to use vision for planning or implementing tasks. Globally, of about 314 million people who are visually impaired, 45 million are blind; however, refractive error as a cause of visual impairment is not included in that number, which implies that the actual global magnitude of visual impairment is greater (Siddiqui, Backman, & Awan, 1997). Worldwide, for each person who is blind, an average of 3.4 people have low vision, with country and regional variations ranging from 2.4 to 5.5 (Brilliant et al., 1985). Although low vision does not fall into the category of blindness per se, it has enormous social and economic consequences in terms of productivity losses and dependence. Nearly 87% of the world's people who are blind live in the developing world. More than half live in Asia, and the vast majority of them live in rural communities (Siddiqui et al., 1997). The statistics for Nepal are similar to those of the rest of the developing world: The prevalence of blindness is 0.84 per 100 inhabitants, 92% of the people who are blind live in rural areas, and 80% of the blindness is avoidable (curable or preventable) (Brilliant et al., 1985). In Nepal, the prevalence of low vision is 1% (Nepal Netra Jyoti Sangha, NNJS, 2009). Many reasons have been identified for the rising tide of blindness and low vision. Prominent among them is the increase in the world's elderly population, particularly in developing countries. It is estimated that by 2025, there will be about 1.2 billion older people, almost three-quarters of whom will be living in developing countries (Shamanna, Dandona, & Rao, 1998). Although no nationwide study has been conducted on low vision in Nepal, a report from Lumbini, in the western part of the country, showed that lens-related causes like aphakia, pseudophakia, and cataract are the main causes of low vision (35.55%), followed by refractive errors or amblyopia (19.23%). In addition, retinitis pigmentosa accounted for 7.24%, retinal causes for 6.64%, and other causes (albinism, nystagmus, different syndromes, and so forth) for 10.25% (KC et al., 2007). In a report from Kathmandu, in the central region of the country, Paudel, Khadka, and Sharma (2005) noted that the major cause of low vision was diabetic retinopathy (15.8%), followed by macular diseases (13.2%), age-related macular degeneration (10.5%), retinitis pigmentosa (9.6%), and amblyopia (8.8%). Hence, the distribution of the causes of low vision in Nepal varies significantly from place to place. ACCESS TO LOW VISION SERVICES Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a per capita income of US$219. It has a low literacy rate of 69.7% for men and 55.9% for women, and this rate is worse in rural communities, where more than 80% of the people live (United Nations Development Programme, 2000). Despite the presence of significant low vision, only 1% of people with low vision in Nepal had access to low vision services before 2005, and such services were available only in Kathmandu, the capital city. The lack of education, high cost of the optical devices, and poor access to the tertiary hospital from rural communities were identified as the major barriers to the receipt of such services. The program Vision 2020: The Right to Sight has recognized that low vision and refraction are important strategic themes for the control of avoidable blindness and recommended good-quality low vision services as an integral part of comprehensive eye care. The leading nongovernmental organization in eye care, NNJS (2009), which was given the mandate by Vision 2020 to develop low vision services as an integral part of comprehensive eye care services, has been implementing a national low vision program since 2005 with financial support from Dark & Light Blind Care of the Netherlands. …

The primary goal of this study is to aid blind people who do not require human assistance. People who cannot see the world have difficulty perceiving the obstacles in front of them, putting their lives in jeopardy. Using an intelligent and multipurpose bright blind stick will allow them to recognize their environment. In this study, we presented a low-cost, innovative, and versatile stick for blind individuals in our community adopting IoT to better their lives. A person can walk more confidently with the help of this brilliant blind stick. This stick can identify impediments in the route of blind people thanks to an Arduino UNO, ultrasonic sensor, IR sensor, water sensor, GPS and GSM modules, four-channel wireless remote control, and Buzzer. This stick identifies any object or barrier in front of the user, such as water, holes, stairs, or cars, and if any are detected, the system will inform the blind person via a buzzer. Our system’s processing unit, the Arduino UNO, processes all input and delivers outputs. The walking stick has an ultrasonic sensor and an infrared sensor to identify obstructions in front of blind or disabled people. The water sensor can detect the presence of water and emit an alarm to inform people who are blind. Friends and family members of blind people may easily monitor them using our technology, and blind people can also use GPS and GSM to locate the stick by pressing a button on the remote, which will cause the Buzzer to ring continuously for 5 seconds, indicating its location. We also researched and compared various current systems in this study, which led us to build a cost-effective, quick-responding, portable, intelligent, and bright multipurpose stick for blind persons utilizing IoT.

This article presents various aspects of my doctoral thesis “Zwischen Integration,Kooperation und Vernichtung – Blinde Menschen unter dem NS-Regime in der ,Ostmark“. Thisdoctoral thesis presents various aspects of the circumstances of blind people’s lives inthe “Ostmark” under the Nazi regime, such as the economic and social situation.Legal, medical and gender aspects are also taken into consideration. The aim was togain detailed insight into the living conditions of blind people of that time. Under theNazi regime blind people were separated into three main groups: the civilian blind, thewar blinded and blind people of Jewish origin. Even since the time of the First WorldWar there had been a two-class system of the civilian blind and blinded ex-serviceman.Due to the Nazi regime’s anti-Jewish policy, the civilian blind and blinded veterans ofJewish origin were persecuted. In addition to that there was a strong segregationamong blind people under the Nazi regime. This article deals with some mainproblems concerning the research about the life of blind people.

Navigation in outdoor and indoor is certainly an challenging task for visually impaired, blind and deaf-mute people, indoor navigation itself is certainly becoming an harder task for blind, visually impaired people and dead-mute people. As far as observed for the non-visually impaired, it is even worse for the visually impaired. People with visual disabilities or blinds are often depending up on external assistance like trained dogs, humans, or special devices as support systems for making decisions. Hence blind people need an assistive device that will allow blind user to navigate freely and this requirement has become crucial. Here the interfacing of different sensors and actuators along with Braille keypad which is user friendly application to these peoples is done with ARM LPC-2148 and it helps in minimizing the problems faced by blind people by maximizing the use of technology. The walking stick used by the blind people has multiple sensors incorporated in it, with the help of which it is possible to enhance more features and technology to the walking stick. The main features are to detect the obstacle for collision avoidance, along with certain other sensors for pit whole detection, fire detection, and water detection. Panic switch is the emergency button that sends an SMS from the GSM module to the caretaker with the present particular location (GPS coordinates) of the blind, visually impaired and deaf mute person. The work goes for giving the safest route to blind persons, visually impaired person or deaf-mute person, by designing a more flexible assistance system and cost effective system that helps them in improving their navigating skills in outdoor and indoor application and also not to depend on none during walking in even unknown areas.

Perspectives on low vision service in Canada: A pilot study

Most patient-reported outcome measures used in ophthalmology show floor effects in a very low vision population, which limits their use in vision restoration trials. The Impact of Vision Impairment-Very Low Vision scale (IVI-VLV) was developed to specifically target a very low vision population, but its test-retest reliability has not been investigated yet. The German version of the IVI-VLV was administered twice to patients with stable disease of a low vision clinic. Test and retest person measures of the IVI-VLV subscales were obtained from Rasch analysis. Test-retest reliability was investigated by intraclass correlation coefficients and Bland-Altman plots. We included 134 patients (72 women, 62 men) at a mean age of 62 ± 15 years. The intraclass correlation coefficients were 0.920 (95% confidence interval, 0.888-0.944) for the activities of daily living and mobility subscale of the IVI-VLV and 0.929 (95% confidence interval, 0.899-0.949) for the emotional well-being subscale. Bland-Altman plots did not indicate any systematic bias. In linear regression analysis, test-retest differences were not significantly associated with visual acuity or administration interval. Both subscales of the IVI-VLV showed excellent repeatability independent of visual acuity and length of repeat interval. Further validation steps including an assessment of the patient-reported outcome measure's responsiveness are required for use in vision restoration trials. The results support repeated use of the IVI-VLV as a patient-reported end point in future studies in very low and ultralow vision populations.

Reviewed by: Blind in Early Modern Japan: Disability, Medicine, and Identity by Wei Yu Wayne Tan Gerald Groemer Blind in Early Modern Japan: Disability, Medicine, and Identity. By Wei Yu Wayne Tan. University of Michigan Press, 2022. 266 pages. ISBN: 9780472075485 (hardcover; also available as softcover and e-book). It will surprise few readers of this journal to hear that men and women with visual disabilities played a major role in the development of early modern Japanese culture. Visually impaired men recited Tale of the Heike and other narratives (as they had since medieval times); composed the bulk of the koto repertory; created countless songs with shamisen accompaniment; served as acupuncturists, masseurs, moneylenders, and scholars; and engaged in innumerable other professions. Especially in western and southern provinces, visually disabled biwa-playing priests or monks (mōsō) cultivated and performed their own genres of narrative and song. Visually disabled women worked as musicians (goze), folk-religious healers, and shamans and created and performed a variety of sung and narrative genres that they diffused to every region of the land. Excellent Japanese-language studies of the blind men's guild (tōdō), of goze and mōsō organizations, and of the arts and activities of visually disabled individuals have been available for decades. In Western languages, scholars including Susan Matisoff, Ingrid Fritsch, Hugh de Ferranti, Alison Tokita, Maren Ehlers, and myself have published many papers, book chapters, and monographs on the subject. In the study under review, based on a 2015 dissertation submitted to Harvard University, Wei Yu Wayne Tan sets out to present a more complete picture of visual disability in early modern Japan. This is a laudable effort, and several chapters of the book shed welcome light on regions that have not yet been adequately illuminated in Western-language research. [End Page 334] But first, who is to count as the subject of a book titled Blind in Early Modern Japan? Who in Edo-period Japan was considered blind? This cannot be determined outside of its specific historical and cultural context and requires examining the society within which the language and criteria for identification and categorization are situated. Tan is of course aware of this and assures the reader that his use of the term "blind people" foregrounds "the experience and identity of blind people and also reflects the references in historical sources" (p. xiv). Yet since Edo-period Japanese did not use English, the notion that certain persons considered themselves "blind people" thanks to their experience and self-identification as "blind people" is either false or tautological. Early modern Japanese with visual disabilities did not, in truth, identify or experience themselves as "blind people" at all. Rather, they described themselves as zatō, kengyō, goze, oyakata, zamoto, or the like when they spoke of their attributed social status or their position in an occupational collective; as mekura (dark-eyed—today a discriminatory term), me ga warui (eyes are bad), me ga mienai (eyes cannot see), or the like when explaining their impairment or disability; as "masseur" or "biwa player" when referring to their occupation; as "father" or "son" when relating their family situation; or as "poor" or "wealthy" when considering their economic position in society. This clutter of categories and self-identifications obviously presents a problem for a writer wishing to represent what being blind in early modern Japan was all about, and Tan wisely recognizes that "blind people," however defined, constitutes a crowd far too large and heterogeneous to be adequately covered in one monograph. Instead of seeking to include anyone and everyone who could be counted as somehow visually impaired, Tan focuses on the largely subjective claim of "disabled identity" (p. 5) and on the notion of "status identity," which seeks to combine the objectivity of social status—something Tan too simplistically maintains was "defined by occupation" (p. 7)—with a notion of identity that hovers between a social attribution and an individual choice. The two concepts are interrelated because Tan defines blind status identity as a "disabled identity tied to membership in the Kyoto guild" (p. 9). "Blind people" in early modern Japan cannot, however, be defined on the basis of guild membership, because such membership was...

There is an increasing awareness about the needs of students with low vision, particularly in developing countries where programs of integrated education are being developed. However, the appropriate low vision services are usually neither available, nor affordable. To study the profile of students with low vision in Lumbini Zone of Nepal. A cross-sectional study included students with low vision from 8 integrated schools. The reading performance was measured using their own text-books with optical low vision devices prescribed for near reading. The reading rates were measured on a range of print sizes. The Standard Clinical Low Vision Assessment Form and the National Low Vision Program protocol were used. SPSS software was used in data analysis. Of 46 students enrolled, 23 had a mild visual impairment, 18 had severe visual impairment and 5 were blind. Spectacles were needed for 29 (63 %) students. Of the 11 students who had been wearing glasses, the visual acuity improved in 4 with a change in prescription. 91 % of the students had near vision better or equal to 1.5 M with optical low vision services for near reading. The reading rate was 24 WPM at the age of 5 years, whereas at the age of 21 years, it was 55 WPM. The majority of the students with low vision need optical low vision services. Accurate refraction is important in these students. The reading rate increases significantly with improved near visual acuity.

Context:In India, where the heavy burden of visual impairment exists, low vision services are scarce and under-utilized.Aims:Our study was designed to survey the effectiveness of low vision exams and visual aids in improving patient quality of life in southern rural India.Subjects and Methods:The low vision quality of life (LVQOL) questionnaire measures vision-related quality of life through 25 questions on a Likert scale of 0–5 that pertain to (1) mobility, distance vision, and lighting; (2) psychological adjustment; (3) reading and fine work; and (4) activities of daily living. This tool was translated into Tamil and verbally administered to 55 new low vision referral patients before their first visit at the low vision clinic at Aravind Eye Hospital. Low vision aids (LVAs) were prescribed at the discretion of the low vision specialist. 1-month later, the same questionnaire was administered over the phone.Results:About 44 of 55 low vision patients completed baseline and follow-up LVQOL surveys, and 30 normal vision controls matched for age, gender, and education were also surveyed (average 117.34 points). After the low vision clinic visit, the low vision group demonstrated a 4.55-point improvement in quality of life (from 77.77 to 82.33 points, P = 0.001). Adjusting for age, gender, and education, the low vision patients who also received LVAs (n = 24) experienced an even larger increase than those who did not (n = 20) (8.89 points, P < 0.001).Conclusion:Low vision services and visual aids can improve the quality of life in South Indian rural population regardless of age, gender, and education level. Thus, all low vision patients who meet the criteria should be referred for evaluation.

BackgroundAn eye injury that causes no light perception (NLP) typically carries an unfavorable prognosis, and NLP because of trauma is a common indication for enucleation. With advances in vitreoretinal surgical techniques, however, the indication for enucleation is no longer determined by posttrauma NLP vision alone. There are limited studies in the literature to analyse the outcome of NLP eyes following open globe injury. The current study was aimed to evaluate the outcome of surgical repair of severely traumatized eyes with no light perception vision as preoperative visual acuity. Secondary objective was to possibly predict the factors affecting the final vision outcome in this eyes.MethodsRetrospective case analysis of patients with surgical repair of open globe injury over last ten years at a tertiary referral eye care centre in Singapore.ResultsOut of one hundred and seventy two eyes with open globe injury 27 (15.7%) eyes had no light perception (NLP). After surgical repair, final visual acuity remained NLP in 18 (66.7%) eyes. Final vision improved to Light perception/ Hand movement (LP/HM) in 2(7.4%) eyes, 1/200 to 19/200(11.1%) in 3 eyes and 20/50-20/200(14.8%) in 4 eyes. The median follow up was 18.9 months (range: 4–60 months). The factors contributing to poor postoperative outcome were presence of RAPD (p = 0.014), wound extending into zone III (p = 0.023) and associated vitreoretinal trauma (p = 0.008).ConclusionsOne third of eyes had ambulatory vision or better though two third of eyes still remained NLP. Pre-operative visual acuity of NLP should not be an indication for primary enucleation or evisceration for severely traumatized eyes. Presence of afferent papillary defect, wound extending posterior to rectus insertion and associated vitreoretinal trauma can adversely affect the outcome in severely traumatized eyes with NLP. Timely intervention and state of art surgery may restore useful vision in severely traumatized eyes.