Living with Low Vision

Here’s a round-up of a few low vision tools you could find at your local craft store, drug store, dollar store, or might already having lying around your home. Rubber band: There is a good chance you have a junk drawer with a stray rubber band, or two, in it. Put those rubber bands to […]

With Thanksgiving and the December holidays just around the corner, we at Spectrios Institute are thinking a lot about eating as a visually impaired person. Here are a few tips for Thanksgiving and beyond. Lighting: You have likely already heard us say “light is sight,” and it’s no different with eating. Light is part of

Pumpkin spice, apples, and making your world cozy comes with the cool nights and autumn leaves. This is the time for reading a good book or binge watching a new show. These can be frustrating activities for people with vision loss. Access Technology offers alternative or assisted ways to continue these activities. Reading Audio Books

Last fall we talked about how to stay safe in the kitchen as a person with visual impairment, but what about the rest of the home? Here’s a short list of a few things that we recommend for staying safe at home. Remove clutter and throw rugs—We know you have probably heard this recommendation over

“You don’t have to See it to Tee it!” is the motto of the US Blind Golfers Association. Our access technology guru, Chris Retzke says, “I’m not a golfer, but had I known about this organization earlier or taken lessons from an O&M (orientation and mobility) instructor who included golf in his lesson plans, who

Grabbing your car keys and running a quick errand is something many take for granted and losing that ability has a profound impact on one’s sense of self and independence. Many of our patients are faced with the decision of when to give up driving. The decision must be made based on what is legal,

One of the most common complaints patients with macular degeneration share with us is that they are unable to see their loved ones’ faces. Recently, a distraught patient told us that her grandson “looked like a gray blob” when she tried to look at him opening his birthday presents. We are trained from a very

Most of us are familiar with the sensation of stepping outside on an exceptionally sunny day and squinting or shading our eyes to allow time for adjustment to the new level of light. While light is sight and we need light to see, too much light or the wrong kind of light can impact vision

Most of us have smartphones or tablets that we use. These devices can provide a casual user with the functionality of more expensive accessibility devices We recommend the following “Starter Pack” of apps to help your device become an accessibility tool. Seeing AI   Seeing AI is a free app that uses artificial intelligence to

As humans, sight is our dominant sense—the first choice for interacting with the environment. But it’s not our only means for interacting with our surroundings, and at Spectrios we know that our other senses can compensate well for a vision loss. Dr. Tracy Williams has been known to say that “we can get vision from