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

Rene Harrell rjharrell at gmail.com
Thu Jan 13 15:18:41 UTC 2011


Hi Amy,

My name is Rene. My daughter Clare is 9 and also has some remaining vision.
It's not much, but due to some of her eye condition (her pupil is adhered to
her iris and cannot expand with light), she is *very* light seeking, and can
use her remaining vision best in bright light.

We do have a small LCD television set up next to our main television, so
that Clare can stand right up close and watch. I agree with the principles
that Kim espouses and we also use audio descriptive service (I was thrilled
that the new Toy Story 3 came out in stores with ADS!), but this was a case
that for enjoyment sake, I saw no reason not to allow Clare visual access to
the television. She was constantly wanting to go up and see the screen,
which meant that she was standing six inches away from the television, and
all my other children were constantly screaming "CLARE! I CAN'T SEE!
MOOOOOOVE!" We had a situation where I wasn't about to tell one set of
children over the other who was allowed to "watch" television that day or
not.

For us, television is a rare treat. We turn it on one day a week to allow
the kids to each pick a movie. It's entertainment. Clare can listen to the
audio description, but in this case she is highly entertained by catching
whatever bits of color go flashing by on the television screen at the same
time. She will call out once in a while "There's Buzz!" or other commentary
on what she sees visually.

Her vision will never be enough for her to be able to use to compete with
her sighted peers. Clare also has additional disabilities, but we fully
believe that she needs the skills of alternative techniques of blindness in
order to be able to acheive success and full integration on par with other
children/adults who share her other disabilities. However, T.V. in our house
is fun entertainment. She enjoys being able to use her limited vision to
visually "watch" a movie while listening to audio description. She was
constantly gravitating to our television to do just that, and I saw no
reason to tell her she shouldn't be able to take enjoyment out of that
activity. It doesn't hinder her ability to learn alternative blindness
techniques, we don't expect it to be visually educational, and she loves it.
For us, it was an easy decision.

The only thing I have found is that it can get tiring to stand there for as
long as a movie takes to watch. We have actually lowered the height of the
television now so that she can sit in a chair and watch, just like the other
kids sit on the couch. Because I have a rambunctious toddler now, I put the
T.V. up out of reach as soon as "Movie Monday" is over, so that Nathan can't
destroy the T.V. during the rest of the week. When it's movie time, I bring
it down and position it.

We've done this now for about three years, and it's worked well.

Rene in Colorado Springs--- mom of five wonderkids, including Miss Clare,
age 9, ROP

On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 6:16 PM, <amydarlington at comcast.net> wrote:

>
>
> 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/rjharrell%40gmail.com
>



-- 
" I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up
where I needed to be."
-- Douglas Adams



More information about the BlindKid mailing list