NEW INDEPENDENCE! Craft Adaptations for Adults With Vision Impairments (Revised)

Author: Stephanie Stephens Van
Editor: Maureen A. Duffy
150 pages, available in Acrobat PDF format

Crafting keeps the creative spirit active and energized and is a source of great satisfaction, joy, pride, and accomplishment for many participants. Crafts can be used for therapeutic or social purposes, and can be enjoyed as solo or group experiences.

People who have enjoyed making crafts at different times in their lives prior to vision loss may think they can no longer continue. Also, individuals who would like to begin making crafts for the first time may hesitate because of reduced vision. But we know, from years of teaching experience with individuals who have little or no sight, that it is possible to continue the enjoyable activity of craft-making. This book — with its extensive range of easy adaptations — will show you how it can be done!

The contents have been tried and tested over many years by Vision Rehabilitation Therapist and author Stephanie Stephens Van. Stephanie is a highly qualified, experienced, and respected professional within the field of vision rehabilitation. This updated and expanded version includes five additional crafts, and a new introduction, resource section, and hints list.

See Craft Adaptations for Adults with Vision Impairments to learn more about the book, including a table of contents, two sample crafts, an author biography, and ordering information.

Making Life More Livable: Simple Adaptations for Living at Home After Vision Loss (Paperback)

This is the essential guide for adults experiencing vision loss and is an invaluable resource for their family and friends. Full of practical tips and illustrated by numerous photographs, this easy-to-use resource shows how people who are visually impaired can continue living independent, productive lives at home on their own. Useful general guidelines and room-by-room specifics provide simple and effective solutions for making homes accessible and everyday activities doable for individuals with visual impairments.

 

Macular Degeneration: The Complete Guide to Saving and Maximizing Your Sight

Learn about macular degeneration in easy-to-understand language from the expert, Dr. Lylas Mogk. A must-have resource for people who have macular degeneration, or may develop it, and their friends, family, and doctors.

Patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD)are hungry for information about this eye condition, which is the leading cause of legal blindness in people over age 60. This volume is a wonderful reference book for anyone dealing with AMD. Dr. Mogk not only provides valid medical information, but also dispenses useful tips for day-to-day living.

 

Dealing with Vision Loss

is an inspirational autobiography by Fred Olver, who has been blind since birth. It offers information and resources on social skills for children, coping with vision loss, making the decision to use a white cane or a dog guide, computer adaptations, large print, braille, adapted timepieces, and magnifiers. The book can serve as a training tool for individuals who work with adults and children who are blind, and is an excellent resource for adults and children with vision loss, parents, family members, friends, social workers, teachers, nurses, and related professionals.

The author presents his unique perspective on blindness by blending his life experiences with his work in and out of the field of blindness. He was the first blind student to attend, and graduate from, Wayne Memorial High School in an era when most blind children attended special schools for the blind. He received his B.S. degree in Communications and Secondary Education and his M.A. in Blind Rehabilitation Teaching, both from Western Michigan University.

The large print edition is available at Author House

All other versions, including eBook, 2-track audiocassette or CD, or digital audio file, are available at the Dealing with Vision Loss web site.

The First Year: Age-Related Macular Degeneration

The First Year: Age-Related Macular Degeneration is an essential resource for people who want to be informed, active participants in the management of their condition. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a progressive disease of the retina that develops when the light-sensing cells in the central area of vision (the macula) stop working and eventually die. Thought to be caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors, the disease is the leading cause of blindness in people over 50.

In 1995, Author Daniel L. Roberts, who has macular degeneration, retired from teaching to help others who also have AMD. He has established support networks for AMD patients and provided free presentations about vision impairment at schools, community organizations, and support groups across the country.

 

Planet of the Blind (Paperback)

"I stare at the world through smeared and broken windowpanes" poet and educator Stephen Kuusisto writes in the opening pages of this powerful, literary memoir. Weighing less than five pounds at birth, he was incubated with oxygen, as many premature infants were in the 1950s. His life was saved, but his retinas were severely scarred, leaving him legally blind. With his parents in denial, Kuusisto stumbled through his childhood in regular classrooms, derided by classmates for telescopic glasses and a right eye that continually hopped in its socket. He grew into an angry teen who struggled first with obesity and then with anorexia. Even into adulthood, he was unable to trust or reach out for help until an accident destroyed his residual vision and he finally admitted his need for assistance. In his late 30s he is able to accept his disability and trust a guide dog. Kuusisto's story is about the regeneration of the spirit. "I've taken the slow road to blindness", he writes toward the end of the book, "resisting it like a suspicious skater who fears the river." The author finds solace in both contemporary poetry and classical literature and his journey toward the "planet of the blind" is enlightening for its exploration of the physical and psychological struggles of people with disabilities.

Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening (Hardcover)

Most of us see the layers of space, but author Stephen Kuusisto, who has been legally blind since birth, hears them. In these vivid essays, the poet (Only Bread, Only Light) and memoirist (Planet of the Blind) indulges and investigates the active listening he deploys to navigate the world around him. He is a keen observer. A crowd is not a crowd to him; instead it is a series of sound points, indicating space, pace, rhythm and mood. Through all these sounds and their meaning to him, Kuusisto reveals the nuance of the heard world, transporting the reader as he maps the aural landscape.

 

Foundations of Rehabilitation Teaching With Persons Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired

The first comprehensive manual on the profession of vision rehabilitation therapy/rehabilitation teaching with people who are blind or visually impaired discusses the history and development of the profession and provides practical information and instructional strategies. Authors Paul E. and Susan V. Ponchillia discuss proven techniques are described for working with individuals with adventitious or congenital visual impairments, as well as strategies for teaching basic living skills. Included are chapters on each of the skill areas taught by vision rehabilitation therapists; detailed, step-by-step lesson plans for specific skills in each area; and valuable sample forms for assessing and planning the needs and course of instruction for new clients.

 

Label It! Braille & Audio Strategies for Identifying Items at Home & Work

In Label It!, author Judith M. Dixon sorts through a variety of labeling strategies that she and her friends have used through the years and identifies the very best ideas and tips. Focusing primarily on labeling with braille, Judith covers all the bases: clothing and accessories, medications, food containers, appliances, and a range of other items, from postage stamps to chargers and cables. She also discusses what to do when you can't label something, along with tricks to employ when you're out and about and find items that are not labeled. An extensive resource list provides sources for labeling materials and products.

Available at National Braille Press in the following formats: ASCII Text (CD-ROM), ASCII Text (download), Portabook (CD-ROM), Portabook (download), braille, and print. Price: $10.00 plus shipping and handling (if applicable).

Independence Without Sight or Sound: Suggestions for Practitioners Working with Deaf-Blind Adults

This book by Dona Sauerburger, M.A., COMS covers the essential aspects of communicating and working with deaf-blind persons. Full of valuable information on subjects such as how to talk with deaf-blind people, adapt orientation and mobility techniques for deaf-blind travelers, and interact with deaf-blind individuals socially, this manual also contains a resource section detailing sources of information and adapted equipment. Also available from the American Foundation for the Blind Online Bookstore. Paperback format.

This book received the 1994 C. Warren Bledsoe Award for literature by the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER). The Volta Review said ""...a must for all those who serve, or will be serving, persons who are both visually and auditorially disadvantaged. A classic."

 

Clean to the Touch

Housekeeping for Teenagers and Young Adults with Visual Impairments

Published by Perkins School for the Blind

Authors: Kathy Bull, Susan Lind-Sinanian, Eleanor Martin.

Clean to the Touch is a manual designed to present easy-to-use, step-by-step techniques that enable people with visual impairments to undertake housecleaning tasks with ease and effectiveness. This systematic approach designed specifically for students who are blind and visually impaired ensures success in these very important independent living skills.

Areas of the home included are: the bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and floors along with information on room arrangement, cleaner safety and storage and other useful tips. Though designed for adolescents, these techniques are helpful for people of all ages, including adults experiencing vision loss. Purchase it online from Perkins School for the Blind.

Read our interview with the authors and see an excerpt from this book.

Words in My Hands

A Teacher, a Deaf-Blind Man, an Unforgettable Journey (Paperback)

Words in My Hands: A Teacher, a Deaf-Blind Man, an Unforgettable Journey

Bert Riedel, an eighty-six year-old deaf-blind pianist, cut off from the world since age forty-five, discovers a new life through tactile sign language. This is a heartwarming narrative about the life changing power of american sign language communication told by Diane Chambers, Bert's sign language teacher. Diane finds her world transformed as well by her relationship with her unique student. Words in My Hands is the true story of their unforgettable journey.

This story about Diane and Burt will resonate with anyone who has ever been misunderstood or worked with those that are challenged in their ability to express themselves.

This book won the National League of American Pen Women Letters Contest, Marjorie Davis Roller - Non-Fiction Award in April 2002. It is also available from the publisher on CD for use with Screen Reading software!

Art Beyond Sight: A Resource Guideto Art, Creativit, and Visual Impairment

Art Beyond Sight Book Cover	American Foundation for the Blind Bookstore Art Beyond Sight: A Resource Guide to Art, Creativity, and Visual Impairment explores all aspects of art and creativity by people who are blind or visually impaired. Developed by Art Education for the Blind, this fully illustrated manual is the result of a decade-long international collaboration among researchers, art educators, teachers, psychologists, museum professionals, and blind and sighted art enthusiasts. Paperback, ASCII on CD-ROM, ASCII on floppy disk, $79.95.
Seeing Beyond Sight
Seeing Beyond Sight Book Cover	Chronicle Books Seeing Beyond Sight is a book of photographs taken by teenagers who are blind or have low vision, and documents how educator Tony Deifell taught his blind students to take pictures as an innovative, multi-sensory means of self-expression. Hardcover, $24.95.
All Children Have Different Eyes
All Children Have Different Eyes Book Cover	Vidi Press All Children Have Different Eyes is an illustrated story book that empowers children with low vision to take on the social challenges of daily life, such as how to deal with bullies, explain their condition confidently, enter play groups, and handle mistakes responsibly. Each character has one of more of the following conditions: strabismus, nystagmus, albinism, cataract, myopia, ROP, and color deficiency. Activities in the back of the book help parents and teachers reinforce and support social skill development. Hardcover, 48 pages, $16.95.