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Results for “Persons with Visual Disabilities”

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PubMed2002

The health of the workers in a rapidly developing country: effects of occupational exposure to noise and heat.

Occupational hygiene and safety have not been high on the agenda of industrial management in developing countries for a variety of reasons. This cross-sectional study was undertaken to assess the exposure to noise and heat, and to study the level of occupational hygiene practiced, at a foundry in a rapidly developing country (Dubai, United Arab Emirates). Audiometry, muscle cramps and visual acuity were measured in workers at a foundry and compared with the results from workers at a soft-drink bottling plant. Thermal stress, relative humidity, ventilation, illumination and noise levels were measured at different work units at the foundry and at the soft-drink bottling factory. Thermal stress index was high while relative humidity and ventilation were low at the foundry compared with the bottling plant. Noise levels were also high at the foundry, exceeding 90 dB at almost all work units except the fabrication workshop. Mild or moderate visual defects were observed among 31% of foundry workers, compared with 19% of the bottling plant workers.Muscle cramps were reported by 30% of all workers at the foundry, compared with 5% at the bottling plant. Visual disability was the highest among furnace operators and fabricators. Mean hearing disability was 8.69 +/- 1.08% among foundry workers, compared with 4.56 +/- 0.82% among bottling plant workers. The high thermal stress, noise levels and exposure to non-ionizing radiations at the foundry might have contributed to the higher frequency of muscle cramps and the greater hearing and visual disabilities, respectively, among these workers. Non-use of personal protective equipment and poor occupational hygiene and safety measures were also seen to affect eye and ear health adversely among the workers at the foundry.

Cross-Sectional Studies↗
PubMed1993

Discrepancy in the evaluation of visual impairment of elderly low-vision patients by general eye care practitioners and by low-vision practitioners.

Levels of impairment and disability determine eligibility for different welfare programs for visually handicapped persons. General eye care practitioners have to determine the level of impairment for administrative purposes, whereas the low-vision practitioner measures the level of impairment in order to plan the rehabilitation program. We compared the severity of visual impairment reported by the referring practitioners and the one reported by the low-vision specialists for the population of elderly low-vision patients receiving care from one of the largest rehabilitation centers for the visually handicapped in Quebec. Visual acuity ratings reported by general practitioners are lower than those reported by low-vision practitioners. The presence of visual handicap is generally well identified but the severity of visual impairment according to the World Health Organization (WHO)'s categories is not properly gauged by the general eye care practitioners as expressed by the sensitivity and the positive predictive value of the classification of the general practitioners in respect to the classification of the low-vision optometrists. The need to use existing standardized methods to measure visual acuity (VA) is emphasized. It may be hypothesized that this overestimation of the severity of the visual condition may have a negative impact on the process of rehabilitation of the elderly.

Aged↗
PubMed2006

Visual field loss in young children and mentally handicapped adolescents receiving vigabatrin.

PURPOSE: In adult patients and in children of school age who have been treated with vigabatrin (VGB), persistent visual field defects have been reported as a side effect. To date, it is unknown to what extent VGB causes visual field loss in young children and mentally handicapped adolescents who cannot be tested with conventional perimetric METHODS: The purpose of the present study was to investigate VGB-induced visual field loss in these patients by using a noncommercial arc perimeter and a forced-choice, preferential-looking method. The visual field size was measured in 30 patients aged 1 to 15 years who had epilepsy and who were treated with VGB. The visual field of these patients was compared to the visual field of 70 control subjects. RESULTS: In eight (27%) patients who had been treated with VGB, the visual field was constricted compared with the visual field of the children belonging to the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Arc perimetry shows that mentally handicapped patients and children younger than 6 years treated with VGB have visual field loss compared with the loss reported in adult patients receiving VGB.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Developmental normative data on the test of variables of attention (T.O.V.A.).

Developmental normative data for 775 children aged 6-16 are presented for the Test of Variables of Attention (T.O.V.A.), a 23-minute fixed-interval visual Continuous Performance Test with minimal language demands and no left-right discrimination. The target is presented on 22.5% and 77.5% of the trials during the first and second halves, respectively, T.O.V.A. indices include omission and commission errors, response time means and standard deviations, and anticipatory responses. Attention and impulse control developed in a non-linear manner, changing rapidly in early childhood and leveling off during later childhood and adolescence.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Social aspects of visual disability.

Over 40 million people are estimated to be limited in the work they can do by a visual disability, most of them in the Third World. Much preventable blindness goes unchecked and even reversible blindness is untreated in countries where aphakic spectacles may cost the equivalent of a year's earnings. In the United Kingdom and other advanced countries the problems are very different. Visual disability is 100 times more likely to occur in a person over 75 than in a child. The disabled carry heavy penalties, social, financial and psychological. Society, when it is aware, tends to "look after" the disabled person, rather than provide him with the means to look after himself, but services are inadequate to meet demands.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

The development of the LV Prasad-Functional Vision Questionnaire: a measure of functional vision performance of visually impaired children.

PURPOSE: To develop a reliable and valid questionnaire (the LV Prasad-Functional Vision Questionnaire, LVP-FVQ) to assess self-reported functional vision problems of visually impaired school children. METHODS: The LVP-FVQ consisting of 19 items was administered verbally to 78 visually impaired Indian school children aged 8 to 18 years. Responses for each item were rated on a 5-point scale. A Rasch analysis of the ordinal difficulty ratings was used to estimate interval measures of perceived visual ability for functional vision performance. RESULTS: Content validity of the LVP-FVQ was shown by the good separation index (3.75) and high reliability scores (0.93) for the item parameters. Construct validity was shown with good model fit statistics. Criterion validity of the LVP-FVQ was shown by good discrimination among subjects who answered "seeing much worse" versus "as well as"; "seeing much worse" versus "as well as/a little worse" and "seeing much worse" versus "a little worse," compared with their normal-sighted friends. The task that required the least visual ability was "walking alone in the corridor at school"; the task that required the most was "reading a textbook at arm's length." The estimated person measures of visual ability were linear with logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) acuity and the binocular high contrast distance visual acuity accounted for 32.6% of the variability in the person measure. CONCLUSIONS: The LVP-FVQ is a reliable, valid, and simple questionnaire that can be used to measure functional vision in visually impaired children in developing countries such as India.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Employment chances of recently visually impaired, young or middle-aged adults in the Swedish labour market.

The study (n = 261) focused on employment chances of Swedish visually impaired persons aged 25-45 years at the onset of their visual impairment, and who were employed at that time. It concerned persons who became visually impaired after 1974, the year when the Act on Security of Employment was passed. Although the Act has had an impact on employment opportunities, it is, however, no guarantee per se. Factors in the work environment accounted for improved chances of keeping the pre-disability employment. Individual factors were decisive in a person's chances of obtaining new employment. The least competitive groups of visually impaired were, in spite of the law, 'eliminated' from the labour market.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1976

Intelligence structure and personality in various types of physical handicap in childhood and adolescence.

Intelligence structure and personality were assessed in a sample of 104 physically disabled children of normal intelligence (IQ is greater than or equal to 85). Findings were compared to those of healthy controls matched by age, sex, rank order and number of siblings and socioeconomic status. Physically handicapped children had lower scores in all subtests of a multi-factorial intelligence test. Furthermore five different subgroups of physically disabled children could be discriminated along one factor marked by different variables of visual perception. Personality of the total group of handicapped children was different when compared to normal controls. This specific personality pattern may be labeled: lack of emotional integration into social environment without conflict. Various subgroups of physically handicapped children differed only little as far as personality is concerned.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Use of Rasch person-item map in exploratory data analysis: a clinical perspective.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) includes visual impairment in the 10 most prevalent causes of disability in America. As rehabilitation programs have the potential to restore independence and improve the quality of life for affected persons, NIH research priorities include evaluating their effectiveness. This paper demonstrates a clinical perspective on the use of the Rasch person-item map to evaluate the range and precision of a new vision function questionnaire in early analysis (prior to full sample). A self-report questionnaire was developed to measure the difficulty that persons with different levels of vision loss have performing daily activities. This 48-item Veterans Affairs Low-Vision Visual Functioning Questionnaire (VA LV VFQ-48) was administered to 117 low-vision patients. Preliminary analysis indicates that the questionnaire items are applicable to persons of differing abilities. The Rasch person-item map demonstrates that the field-test version of the VA LV VFQ-48 has good range and is well centered with respect to the person measure distribution. Construct validity and reliability are also demonstrated.

Adult↗