Low vision, multiple disabilities, visual impairment and CVI / BVD

“Was blind, but now I see”, could this be possible? In another sense, this is also a type of education and a type of work. When I was listening to the music Amazing Grace, I recalled the lyrics “Was blind, but now I see” and suddenly I related this to the work that I had participated in the past, which aimed at helping ‘blind’ students to see. Apart from medical treatment by ophthalmologists who could help some patients with eye diseases to resume their vision, my work in the past also had a similar experience. Twenty-five years ago, I started a job that was to teach some visually impaired students to make use of their residual vision. This kind of training is called ‘low vision training’. But how could people with visual impairment see? In fact, many people don't know about this: considerable number of people who are assessed as visually impaired or even blind are not living in a totally dark world. They have different levels of residual vision that could still be

Chinese version:  https://lowvisionandcvi.blogspot.com/2016/12/natalie-barraga-christine-roman-lantzy.html Key words: innovative changes and development in the education for the visually impaired, origin and development of low vision training, assessment and training for cerebral visual impairment (CVI), Dr. Natalie Barraga, Dr. Christine Roman-Lantzy. In Hong Kong, when people who are working with CVI children mention about cerebral visual impairment (CVI), would they think of the American educator Dr. Christine Roman-Lantzy? According to Dr. Roman’s own explanation when she came to Hong Kong in the 2000s, she used to be an itinerary Orientation and Mobility teacher working with visually impaired students. Gradually, she started to notice that some students’ characteristics, behaviors, and performance were obviously different from other visually impaired students. She then worked with Dr. Lantzy and made in-depth studies in the area related to neuroscience. She st

Chinese version:  https://lowvisionandcvi.blogspot.com/2017/11/cvi.html Key points in this article: 1.It is difficult to have a clear and full understanding of the visual ability of children with CVI (cerebral visual impairment/ cortical visual impairment). 2.Visual problems are affected by a list of factors, how could we understand the visual problems of CVI children? If CVI children have multiple disabilities or severe intellectual disability, or severe physical disabilities, their means/modes of expressions might be restricted. As a result, they could not give the appropriate responses. In other words, no response or incorrect responses do not imply that they could not see, have no sensations, have low learning ability, could not think properly, have no memory, or no interest … 3.Imagination and memory are very important, but they need meaningful experiences to build up. 4.During teaching, training, therapies, and services, CVI children should establish relationships w

Chinese version   :  Chinese version: https://lowvisionandcvi.blogspot.com/2016/11/blog-post.html Keywords: cerebral visual impairment, cortical visual impairment, brain damage related visual dysfunction (BVD), visual characteristics of CVI, behaviors, performances, raising understanding of CVI, children and adolescents, students with CVI In Chinese, the idiom ‘turning a blind eye’ (literally meaning: looking, but couldn’t see) is used to describe that some people neglect something, but literally, it means that people could not see although they try to look. This term’s literal meaning could also be used to describe the people with cerebral visual impairment or cortical visual impairment (CVI). Individual differences exist among CVI, thus the ten characteristics listed in the CVI assessment designed by Dr. Christine Roman Lanzy cannot fully describe their situations. Moreover, not every CVI case has all the ten CVI characteristics listed in the assessment. Furthermore, CVI is

Chinese version:  https://lowvisionandcvi.blogspot.com/2017/11/cvi-bvd_28.html Common questions: When it comes to cerebral visual impairment (CVI), many people have the following questions: 1. I have   never heard of cerebral visual impairment. What is this? 2. Isn’t visual impairment caused by eye problems?   How come it is related to the brain?  H ow   does the   brain affect what we see? 3.   What is so special about cerebral visual impairment (CVI)? What is the difference between CVI and the common visual impairment? 4.   What is the relationship between CVI and me?   Why should I need to know about it? Apart from using our eyes, we are also using our brains to see! In fact, we don't just use our eyes to see because our brains in fact process the images that are perceived by our eyes. As shown in the diagram, the visual pathway leads from the optic nerves (on the left of the diagram) to the rear of the brain, i.e. the visual cortex (on the righ