DECEMBER NEWSLETTER No. 355
I didn't take care of diabetes and lost my sight
Chris McDonnel a 44-year-old from Guernsey was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was nine and started to lose his sight in one eye when he was in his 20s. “I didn’t take the advice from the doctors as I should.” He is now urging others with the condition to make sure they have regular eye screening tests, and follow medical advice.
• RNIB braille 200th anniversary UK tour started at Barking Library
It is a year-long campaign visiting libraries up and down the country, organised by the Royal National Institute for Blind People (RNIB), that began with the Braille Buddies group in Barking. “Braille is designed for our fingers just like print is for the eyes,” RNIB’s Dave Williams explains. “My wife can identify her medications and it also gave me confidence to make a best man speech at a friend’s wedding.
Chris McCausland: 'Perception of people with disabilities is antiquated'
Strictly Come Dancing contestant Chris McCausland has told the BBC that people’s views of disabilities are “antiquated”. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, he said his participation on the show is “extreme” but hopes it will “go some way in stretching people’s ideas of what is possible for a person with disabilities”.
RNIB Blind ambassador wants to make the world accessible
Claire Sisk says she is “aiming high” and wants to “make the world accessible”, after being announced as the latest celebrity ambassador for the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB). The TV presenter, online content creator and disability advocate, from Hertfordshire, said she was shocked when she was offered the role. Because she thinks of herself as “dorky and outspoken”, she did not think she fitted the mould but was delighted to accept. She wants to give other people who have lost their sight “hope” and says although it “sucks, it’s going to be OK, you can still live a fun and fulfilled life”.
Coalition champions eye health in Parliament
MPs, policymakers and experts from the eye care sector came together for the fourth Westminster Eye Health Day at the Houses of Parliament on October 29. The Eyes Have It partnership, funded by Roche, hosted the parliamentary event designed to raise the profile of eye care and opportunities to improve eye health.
Further details: https://www.opticianonline.net/content/news/coalition-champions-eye-health-in-parliament
Could eating a handful of pistachios daily help improve eye health?
Eating a handful of pistachio nuts each day can significantly improve eye health, according to a new study from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. Adding two ounces of unsalted, shelled, dry-roasted pistachio nuts each day for 12 weeks to participants’ usual diet improved their macular pigment optical density
https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/eating-pistachios-unsalted-daily-help-improve-eye-health
How blind yoga is helping people with sight loss
When 78-year-old Carolyn Wightman had a stroke two years ago her life changed “drastically”. After losing the sight in one eye, she was suddenly forced to stop driving and seek assistance for household chores, such as cleaning and gardening. When the vision in her other eye began to deteriorate unexpectedly in February, Carolyn, from East Lothian, turned to Sight Scotland for support. It recommended its first-ever yoga class designed to promote physical and mental wellbeing among people with visual impairments. The 60-minute classes, which are all done seated, include meditation, breathing techniques and mindfulness exercises alongside “eye yoga” to help participants relax and reduce stress.
100% fruit juice found to increase risk of 'irreversible blindness'
A recent study published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition found that 100 percent fruit juice increases the risk of advanced age-related macula degeneration (AMD).
Further information: https://telegrafi.com/en/the-popular-soft-drink-was-found-to-increase-the-risk-of-irreversible-blindness/
First UK survey on sensory loss to take place
For the first time, robust data on the sensory health of the nation will be collected thanks to a study beginning this month in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. The UK does not have an accurate set of data on vision and hearing loss, resulting in a lack of evidence to inform health policies and programmes, and is falling behind nations such as Trinidad and Tobago, Australia, USA, Nepal and Bangladesh that all have national sensory loss studies. It is estimated that 50% of all sight loss is avoidable.
https://www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/news/first-uk-survey-sensory-loss-take-place