[Nfb-science] Introduction

[Christine Szostak]

Hi John,
  Welcome to the list. My name is Christine and I am working toward my 
second Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology with an emphasis in language 
processing. I am totally  blind and can say that with some innovation, you 
can still perform quality research without vision, so you should not feel 
any need to change positions. You will likely need to make adaptations, but 
maintaining a scientific career is still fully possible. Again welcome to 
the list.
Many thanks,
Christine


 M. Szostak
Graduate Student
Language Perception Laboratory
Department of Psychology, Cognitive Area
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio
szostak.1 at osu.edu
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John D. Trawick" <jdtat at cox.net>
To: <nfb-science at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2010 3:46 AM
Subject: [Nfb-science] Introduction


>
> Hi,
> Hope that this isn't too long of an intro. I am not blind but have dry 
> macular degeneration. Though diagnosed 'officially' only a couple years 
> ago I can trace my first symptoms back about 20 years when I was in my mid 
> 30s--back then I realized that I couldn't see chemiluminescence on Western 
> blots that the lab tech I worked with could see clearly (this is a dim, 
> green glow that we used to expose to Xray film before digital imagers). 
> Today, I have a central blind spot in my formerly dominant right eye and 
> that eye's visual acuity is 20/70 to 20/100 with correction. That little 
> blind spot has an large effect in impairing function--reading with my 
> right eye is out unless I use a 3x magnifier. My left eye is correctable 
> to 20/20 but I can tell that contrast and fine detail have some problems 
> and dark adaptation is slowly getting worse. All this really isn't so bad; 
> I am supplementing my bifocals with a hand held magnifier that makes most 
> reading easier and fine print possible to!
>  read.
> The reason why I am joining this group is that I am a professional 
> scientist with lab and bioinformatics experience. While I am sure that 
> various adaptations will keep me functioning for the foreseeable future I 
> want to be prepared because this is a progressive condition. Also, I would 
> like to learn more about others coping with visual impairments and science 
> including issues such as remaining gainfully employed...
> Are there folks here with similar experiences?
> John
> _______________________________________________
> Nfb-science mailing list
> Nfb-science at nfbnet.org
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-science_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> Nfb-science:
> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfb-science_nfbnet.org/szostak.1%40osu.edu