U.S. Army vet Chuck Miller lives by this rule: life is not over just because you can't see. As he puts it, "For me, it was better to LIVE, than to die. So I don't let my blindness stop me from doing anything."
A positive mind to keep himself going. He's one of well over a hundred sight-impaired veterans here. The Blinded Veterans Association has been around since World War 2. It speaks for these vets and brings them together as one. Daniel Wallace, the association’s treasurer told me, "You're with your fellow blinded veterans. Everyone, other than instructors. And even some instructors are blind."
The World Health Organization says 4% of the world’s population is blind or visually impaired. That affects about 7.5 Million Americans. The good news for the blind veterans here, are new high-tech solutions being prescribed by the Veterans Administration.
At one booth, Rhys Filmer showed us how the Orcam system works: "You take this small camera, and put a tiny little magnet right here on your eyeglass frame. Slide it in, and whatever my nose is pointed at, the camera's pointing in the same direction." The Orcam “MyEye” reads visual text out loud. The camera follows what your finger is pointing at and reads into your ear. It can read bar codes, and once you store faces into it, will tell you who's in front of you.
Stephen Hamilton is a retired U.S. Air Force officer. He had 18 failed operations before he finally accepted that his vision was lost. As he told me, “I really thought life was over. The only thing I could do was just walk around the walls." Through the Reno VA, he had the chance to try the MyEye. His favorite part? "The color identification is fantastic for somebody like me who still wants to match clothes and everything else!"
At another booth, army vet Chuck Miller touts a similar system, called Aira. Collected to his phone, it not only reads...but describes everything around him. He says, "There's a live agent that sees what you see through the camera and describes it, so you can literally do anything."
Both companies tell us any qualifying veteran is able to get their device for free through the VA. Already thousands are using them. High tech and camaraderie…helping those who deal with sight loss to make the most of every well-deserved opportunity life brings.
If you'd like to know more about those new computerized aids for the blind, we have these links for you:
