[Nfb-science] looking for advice from scientists with declining vision

Mon Aug 3 00:58:54 UTC 2015

Hi.  His name is Geerat J. Vermeij, and he is a faculty member at U California Davis. But he isn't likely to help you a lot Amy.  He uses braille extensively and has trained himself to have incredible tactile sensitivity. 

One thing that is being used successfully by students with low vision are enlarged embossed color-printed graphics.  Have you tried them? I'd be happy to help you try a sample or two.

John

-----Original Message-----
From: Nfb-science [mailto:nfb-science-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mike Freeman via Nfb-science
Sent: Sunday, August 02, 2015 9:53 AM
To: 'NFB Science and Engineering Division List'
Cc: Mike Freeman
Subject: Re: [Nfb-science] looking for advice from scientists with declining vision

Have you tried to contact Gerret Vermeij? He is a blind oceanographer with much recognized work in the field. I regret that I do not have his email address.

Mike Freeman

-----Original Message-----
From: Nfb-science [mailto:nfb-science-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Amy Bower via Nfb-science
Sent: Sunday, August 02, 2015 7:45 AM
To: nfb-science at nfbnet.org
Cc: Amy Bower
Subject: [Nfb-science] looking for advice from scientists with declining vision

Hi All - 

On this list, there is mostly discussion of educational opportunities for students who are blind or VI in the STEM disciplines. And I think this is entirely appropriate and as perhaps it should be. I myself spend some time trying to provide mentoring through my OceanInsight program. But we seem to spend less time on the problems of adult scientists like myself who are losing vision. These folks face different challenges since, if they are like me, they were trained in science with mostly normal vision, and are now trying to make adjustments to the way they do science with less or nearly no vision.  I'm finding it pretty difficult as a research scientist with a very busy career to find the time to learn the technologies and skills that an aspiring blind student will be learning now, for example, braille, MathML, etc. And then there are the issues for which there are not yet decent technologies for, such as reading and interpreting graphics, learning about new techniques and ideas at professional meetings, etc.

I just returned from a small professional meeting (about 50 people) where all this hit home to me. Most of the 4-day meeting comprised 20-minute talks by the participants, all using PowerPoint slides. Among the presentations were about half that I was truly interested in, to the point where I was willing to sit and listen as hard as I could to get the point without being able to see the slides. I think I managed to get useful information in these cases. But the other half, for which I was less familiar, it didn't matter how hard I tried to listen, I could not get the gist without seeing the slides. I spent a lot of that time bored, or checking my e-mail or getting depressed about how inaccessible this all was. In retrospect, I should have studied the agenda more carefully in advance and removed myself for the truly "out there" talks to do something else, or just brought my laptop and worked on something else during those talks. I guess I kept hoping that I would be able to learn something from the spoken words.

Anyway, this is just one long-winded example of the struggles I'm feeling.
It didn't help my mood that every meal was a buffet! I don't think I need to say more about that!

I want to continue to do what I do, for my sake (I do still enjoy some parts of it) and to show young people that it can be done. But I must admit that some of the joy has ebbed away as I have to continually find new coping methods. I recently found another scientist in my field and on my floor who has more or less chosen early retirement but who is very smart and does similar work to help me with graphics. She sometimes writes descriptions or we sit and talk about what is on the screen. That helps, but it is still a work in progress. I also have a research assistant who is great at covering many vision intensive tasks, as well as an IT support person who helps keep Jaws and Magic and other adaptive software up-to-date and working on my computer platforms. My employer has been fantastic in providing a high level of support, and for that I'm grateful. But I guess I'm still feeling the loss of the way I was trained to do science and the way I've done it for 20+ years and wondering if the "new way", whatever that is, will be as fulfilling, not to mention as successful so that I can continue to obtain extramural funding (I'm in a soft money position).

I would be very pleased to hear from others in a similar situation about what has worked and what hasn't, and how they dealt with ever-changing vision (I have RP plus macular degeneration, with a small sliver of some vision at the moment).

Thanks a lot. Happy to hear from anyone on or offline.

-Amy B.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dr. Amy S. Bower

Senior Scientist

Department of Physical Oceanography

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Woods Hole,  MA  02543  USA

v:  508-289-2781

f:  508-457-2181

c:  508-564-3663

e:  abower at whoi.edu <mailto:abower at whoi.edu> 

www:  http://www.whoi.edu/scientist/abower

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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