[blindkid] LED backlit TV -- is it a good choice for low vision kid?

[Kim Cunningham]

Amy,
I can't reply to whether a back-lit LED TV is an option, however I would like to suggest watching descriptive movies as an alternative. You can download movies for free at 
http://www.blindmicemart.com/assets/product_images/movies2.html. You can also purchase many videos in stores which contain descriptive videos. These videos have both a picture for the sighted to view, and description of the movie for the blind and low vision. Doing this would allow the entire family to watch TV together and would not single the child out, being left alone.
My daughter is now 19 yrs. old and has "some" vision. I understand that, for the most part, many educators and therapists, grasp on to the fact that our children have "some" vision and want to treat them more sighted than blind. How can a child with permanent vision loss ever have the ability to function as fully sighted? How can a low vision child ever compete on equal grounds with sighted children without the proper tools? I can tell you by experiencing this personally, you must teach your child with low vision the same techniques totally blind children learn such a braille, and great mobility skills. My daughter was told to use her vision throughout her life. Her reading speed was at best, half of her sighted peers. This is not an equal playing field. She will NEVER visually read or accomplish a task the same as sighted children. It is a misconception to believe learning visually will give the child confidence and the ability to compete equally,
 eventually leading to competing equally in the workforce. In the end, we all want our children to be successful throughout their educational careers, thus leading into a successful employment career.
Braille and cane travel shoud be taught to low vision children the same way a totally blind child learns. By knowing these techniques, our children can participate in activities when it is dark, too bright, and in unknown environments, all the while creating self-confidence in their abilities.
I look forward to meeting you and hope you will plan to join the NFB family during our National Convention in Orlando this summer. 
Regards,
Kim Cunningham
President, Texas Parents of Blind Children
www.tpobc.org

--- On Wed, 1/12/11, amydarlington at comcast.net <amydarlington at comcast.net> wrote:


From: amydarlington at comcast.net <amydarlington at comcast.net>
Subject: [blindkid] LED backlit TV -- is it a good choice for low vision kid?
To: blindkid at nfbnet.org
Date: Wednesday, January 12, 2011, 7:16 PM




Hi, hope it's okay to cross-post this. We have two kids -- one of which has albinism. She's sensitive to light and sees better if objects are high contrast. She also needs to be pretty close to see images well. We're not big TV watchers and rarely watch, but she is 3 now and a great age for videos and things like Leapfrog (they have great Letter Factory CDs). We'd like to set up an area where she can actually get close enough to the screen to see. We have a place now for the TV where it will be at about her eye level and she can get close. (Our other TV now is up in an armoire, so she really can't see the picture.) 
We're looking at different models and trying to weigh what will be best. I was wondering if anyone has thoughts about the LED- backlit LCD televisions. They are just a little more but advertise a brighter display with better contrast (and less power consumption). Does anyone have a child with low vision who sees better with high contrast, and have they noticed a difference with these? We really want to keep the cost down but if the LED backlighting is really helpful, we might go with it. 

Thank you for any comments/suggestions! 

Amy 
_______________________________________________
blindkid mailing list
blindkid at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for blindkid:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/kim%40gulfimagesphoto.com