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NEWS ABOUT: blindness

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Will Smartphones Kill Braille?

Only 1 in 10 people who are blind can read it

(Newser) - Braille's battle to avoid the fate of the Dodo is a long-running one: In the 1950s, more than 50% of the blind learned it; today, that figure is down to just 10%. And smartphones are just making matters worse, reports NPR . It takes a look at the life of... More »

Star Trek-esque Device May Let Blind 'See'

Uses sound to activate visual cortex

(Newser) - Remember the iconic Star Trek visor that allowed a blind engineer to see? A team of scientists in Israel has developed something like a real-life version of the gadget, the Daily Mail reports. The Sensory Substitution Device turns visual information into sound that blind people can interpret after a little... More »

Stem Cells May Reverse Blindness in Women

Scientists thrilled by use of embryonic cells

(Newser) - A treatment made from embryonic stem cells is apparently restoring sight in two women who were slowly going blind, NPR reports. "I can't tell you how excited I am about this," says Steven Schwartz, a UCLA opthamologist leading the research. "For these patients, the impact is... More »

When Blind Regain Sight, Do They Know What They See?

Not at first, a new study suggests

(Newser) - Imagine being blind for your entire life and then, one day, gaining the ability to see. Would you be able to identify an object by sight, if it was previously only familiar to you by touch? A new study suggests that you wouldn't be able to at first, but... More »

Mila Kunis: I Was Blind in One Eye

Nobody knew, she tells Cosmo

(Newser) - Mila Kunis certainly knows how to keep the details of her life under wraps —and now the Black Swan actress reveals a longtime secret to Cosmopolitan . “I was blind in one eye for many years, and nobody knew,” says Kunis, who suffered from chronic inflammation of the... More »

Retinal Implant Restores Partial Vision to Blind

Microchip under retina senses light, sends signals to brain

(Newser) - Scientists in Germany have used an implant to restore at least partial eyesight to three patients with a disease that causes degenerative blindness, PhysOrg reports. The new device, called a sub-retinal implant, is a light-sensitive microchip with 1,500 light sensors inserted below the retina. Previous devices required an implant... More »

Blind Bowler Rolls Perfect 300

It's not a fluke, either—Ron Gooch averages about 200

(Newser) - A perfect 300 bowling score may not seem newsworthy, until you realize the person achieving it is legally blind. Ron Gooch accomplished his lifelong dream last month, bowling 12 perfect strikes to join the 10 other legally blind bowlers known to have bowled a perfect game. He's been bowling 46... More »

Teary Glenn Beck: I Might Be Going Blind

Macular dystrophy may rob his eyesight

(Newser) - A teary-eyed Glenn Beck has confided to a conservative crowd that disease may rob him of his vision in a year. "I can't focus my eyes," he told some 6,000 people in Salt Lake City on his American Revival tour. After tests, his doc told him: "... More »

Stem Cells Reverse Blindness

Sight restored to people blinded by chemical burns

(Newser) - Stem cell transplants have helped dozens of people blinded by chemical burns to see again, Italian researchers say. Doctors used stem cells from undamaged parts of the patients' eyes to replace the damaged cornea. The procedure resulted in a successful transplant roughly 75% of the time. One man who badly... More »

Everest Climber Reaches Peak, Goes Blind, Dies

Peter Kinloch, 28, left near summit

(Newser) - Peter Kinloch, a seemingly healthy 28-year-old British policeman, was “elated, cheery and bubbly” when he reached the top of Mount Everest, according to one member of his expedition team. But as he began his descent, he started to stumble and then mysteriously went blind, the Daily Mail reports. He... More »

Feelie Porn Book Published for Blind

Tome features braille, raised nudies

(Newser) - Explicit braille and raised images of nude men and women highlight a first-ever new book of pornography for the blind. "We're breaking new ground," Canadian author Lisa Murphy tells the Telegraph . Playboy has an edition with braille wording, but there are no pictures. The blind have been left... More »

Lollypop-Like Device Lets Blind Soldier 'See'

Camera sends current to tongue; brain can visualize

(Newser) - A lollypop-like device hooked up to a video camera is allowing a British soldier blinded in Iraq to “see” with his tongue. Craig Lundberg, 24, wears sunglasses with the camera embedded, the Guardian reports; the camera then turns his surroundings into electric currents sent to Lundberg’s tongue, and... More »

Stop Mocking 'Sad Cowbell Girl': She's Blind

Miraculously, Web tones down response after revelation

(Newser) - Perhaps it was because it occurred at the Fiesta Bowl that web memesters got so much mileage from a video of a Boise State band member whacking on a cowbell with nary a hint of fiesta to be found on her face. Cut the mockery and stifle the spinoffs, Brenna... More »

Blindness Cure Could Be 1st Human Stem Cell Trial

Biotech firm aims to reverse macular degeneration

(Newser) - The first-ever clinical trials of stem cell treatment of humans could be under way early next year if a Massachusetts biotech firm wins FDA approval. Advanced Cell Technology yesterday applied for a license to use embryonic stem cells left over from IVF treatment, to aid people suffering from a rare... More »

Rupe Disses 'in-the-Dark' Blind NY Gov

Murdoch: Paterson 'doesn't really know what's going on'

(Newser) - Continuing his streak of casually slamming black Democrats, Rupert Murdoch yesterday said New York's blind governor, David Paterson, "can't read braille and doesn't really know what's going on." Murdoch's comments about Paterson, coming a week after he agreed with Glenn Beck that President Obama is a racist, support... More »

Blind Actors Blast Breslin Pick for Keller

Advocates complain that blind, deaf had no chance to audition

(Newser) - Advocates for blind and deaf actors complain that they were never given a chance to audition for the role of Helen Keller in an upcoming revival of The Miracle Worker. The part has instead been given to Abigail Breslin, best known for playing Olive in Little Miss Sunshine. The Broadway... More »

Japanese Mull Noisier Hybrids to Protect Blind

Survey finds blind people are unnerved by silent vehicles

(Newser) - Japanese automakers are looking into ways to make their super-quiet hybrid cars a lot louder after more than half of blind people surveyed said they were terrified of the vehicles, AP reports. The automakers are considering equipping the vehicles with radar to sense pedestrians and make sounds like engine noises... More »

Ancient Rite Fades in Japan: Communing With the Dead

(Newser) - Far from Japan's hypermodern cities, a few old, blind women are among the last of a centuries-old tradition—they are mediums, or the "itako," calling forth the spirits of the dead for paying visitors. In medieval times, Japan was full of women communing with spirits, but now so... More »

'Beep Ball' Gets Blind in the Game

(Newser) - Baseball isn’t the national pastime only for those lucky stiffs who can see the ball. The blind have their own version of baseball, the Wall Street Journal reports, played with a beeping softball. Players use that beeping to time their swings and dive for balls. Some aspects are simplified—... More »

Conductor Downes, Wife End Lives in Swiss Suicide Clinic

Couple faced failing health

(Newser) - British conductor Edward Downes and his wife, Joan, have died at a Swiss suicide clinic, ending their lives “under circumstances of their own choosing,” the couple’s children said today. Downes, 85, was largely blind and Joan, 74, had cancer, the Times of London reports, which their children... More »

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