See For Yourself - Adapted by Karen Brown

Reading is one of the joys of daily life. For many people with low vision, also known as partial sight, reading small print is difficult. With the help of visual aids, reading a newspaper, a book or mail is possible again.

Dr. Genesky: "(Persons) are said to have low vision if, even with the help of ordinary eye glasses or contact lenses, they are unable to pick up a newspaper, hold it a normal reading distance and read the column type. But they can do more than just see light and tell the direction from which the light is coming. According to the Center for the Partially Sighted ( www.low-vision.org), there are approximately 4.3 million Americans who have been diagnosed as partially sighted.

"People who are legally blind and partially sighted, if they have the appropriate visual aids, if they are trained in the proper use of those aids, and if they have the willingness to utilize them, can do such sight-intense things as read ordinary ink-print, write with a pen or pencil, move around by themselves in even unfamiliar places without the help of a guide dog or a cane, and yes, even view a chalkboard and take notes from it."

Dr. Samuel Genesky helped create a low-vision aid called "closed circuit television" in the 1970's. Continuing in his support of individuals with partial sight, he founded the Center for the Partially Sighted in California.

Rose Sycuny has had her CCTV for just a short while, and it's already helping her continue to be independent. She uses it to do a variety of tasks, from reading recipes to paying bills.

Ms. Sycuny: "Well, I'll have to tell you something I did with the CCTV. I bought myself an electric sweeper for the simple reason that I could not see to sweep my floor. Well, they come not put together for you anymore, so I had to take it out of the case. I said, 'What am I going to do?' And I got my little book out, I put it under my CCTV, I read all the directions first as best I could. (Then) I got all the parts on the table, and I put parts of that sweeper under the CCTV. 'This bolt goes here, that bolt goes there.' And I put it together, and just as I had the whole thing together, my sister-in-law walked in and said, 'That's supposed to be on your floor, not on the table!' But it worked."

Hubert Voight is 83 and lives in a retirement community. His CCTV helps him stay informed about community activities, read letters from his daughters, and work on the book he is editing.

Mr. Voight: "The written word . . . is what pleases me. . . . (W)ith this equipment that I now have, I can read and enjoy books, magazines. I can read a postage stamp, almost anything. It's so simple to operate. . . . I do a great deal of reading.

". . . it gives me tremendous satisfaction to know that I'm still productive, that I can still do things that are worthwhile. I think that life would be terribly dreary if I weren't able to read. And this really and truly has solved that problem."

One of the advantages of a closed-circuit TV system is that it is not disease related. That is, it can be used for people with a variety of eye disorders. Experience has shown that it works for people who have macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataracts, retinitis pigmentosa. All that is needed is that the person benefit from a change in magnification or a change in the contrast or perhaps a change of an image from black-on-white to white-on-black or the reverse.

Dr. Genesky: "Macular degeneration . . . is an eye disease in which the cones in the retina, that is that portion of the retina that gives you high precision vision, become damaged. And the person has a good visual field, but they have very poor resolving power.

"A cataract is a change in the chemical composition in the lens of the eye. When this change occurs, less light can get into the eye. Therefore, the person sees things more dimly and not clearly.

"Diabetic retinopathy is a disease that accompanies diabetes and manifests itself by fluctuations in the person's vision. That is, on some days they see well and some days they see poorly.

"People who experience a marked change in their vision should immediately seek the advice and services of an ophthalmologist, that is, a medical eye doctor who will attend to their medicative and surgical needs. If it turns out that they have low vision, then they should be seen by an eye-care specialist who can give them a thorough and competent low-vision examination."

Don Brown, a 30-year-old student at San Francisco State University, is using his CCTV to pursue his educational and career goals.

Mr. Brown: "Often times, I need two or three persons to do my reading, so it was a matter of me coordinating my schedule with their schedule. And it was real time-consuming. And now that's pretty much eliminated. I don't really see it as a piece of equipment anymore. I did when I first got it, but now it's such an integrated part of my day-to-day activities that it's a part of me. If I'm wanting to read something, whether it's for an hour or whether it's one minute, it's very natural for me to put it under here and flip it on, and read.

"The CCTV really helped me a lot at work, (such as in) writing letters; doing intakes, meaning when a client comes in, getting the basic information about that person; doing reports; reading reports; it's helped me in all of those areas."

Although she is just six years old, Shannon Ramsey is already comfortable with her CCTV and is using it to read her homework.

Shannon: "Little Bear said, 'Mother Bear, . . .'"

Ms Ramsey: "The closed-circuit TV opened every possibility for Shannon. She will do everything she wants to do. She will be able to study everything she wants to study. There's no limit."

Shannon: "I like to put books under here. I like to read books and I like to make things that are small, bigger."

Ms. Ramsey: "I'm sure that the closed-circuit TV is worth the investment. We notice that Shannon's reading improved dramatically. She goes and reads there by herself. She doesn't tire so much. Her eyes don't hurt her. Just seeing that and seeing that she can read alone at the same speed children with normal vision do, is very satisfying."

Dr. Genesky: "Generally speaking, a closed-circuit TV system consists of a television camera, a zoom lens, a TV monitor and a platform that has two degrees of freedom-that is, you can move it toward you and away from you or from left to right."

Some CCTVs offer extra features that make the system even more flexible in meeting the needs of sophisticated users at work, school or home.

The need to enlarge more than one image at a time is often necessary. With the addition of a second camera, a CCTV offers split-screen capabilities, permitting the user simultaneous access for reading text on one-half of the screen while displaying what's being written on the other half.

Software is also available to enlarge text on a computer screen. (And) many low-vision people choose to add synthetic speech output to their enlarged computer-screen system. This speech system reads aloud the information on the computer screen. This gives the user the speed of audio information plus the verification and format of the visual information. Together this combination can increase job productivity while decreasing eye fatigue.

To a person with either a congenital or a recent eye disorder, optical and electronic visual aids can open up a world of information and independence. For a professional, student, housewife or retired person, private and independent access to information is paramount to happiness, success and dignity.

Herbert Voight: "As an 18-year user of closed-circuit TV systems, my advice would be that if you want to find out about a closed-circuit TV system, buy one yourself."