blindness

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Company Says Its Treatment for Blindness Will Cost $850K

Spark Therapeutics reveals Luxturna gene therapy will cost $425K per eye

(Newser) - It's a gradual and cruel fate: an inherited form of vision loss that typically ends in blindness and has had no cure. But for those with mutations in a gene known as RPE65 comes a balm. The FDA in December approved Luxturna, a new gene therapy that can treat...

Wristband Lets Visually Impaired Navigate by Sonar

It's being called 'the Fitbit for the blind'

(Newser) - A man who recently lost his vision says a new device, which lets the visually impaired navigate via sonar, could be "the Fitbit for the blind," Ars Technica reports. The Sunu Band, which was released in August, is a wristband that emits a high-frequency sound wave that bounces...

She Lost Her Vision, but in Rare Phenomenon, Can 'See'

Scientists have found some who are blind can perceive their environments

(Newser) - It's incredibly rare and incredibly intriguing. A few people in the world have something called "blindsight," which describes their ability to subconsciously perceive their environments in spite of being blind. A researcher in 2007 described the science of the phenomenon—the term was coined in 1974 —...

Russian Opposition Leader Blinded With Toxic Green Dye

Assailant threw 'weapon of choice' on Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny in Moscow

(Newser) - Russia may soon have a president with a "stylish white eye." Not Vladimir Putin, but Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader who made the joke after a not-so-funny incident last week that may leave him partially blind. The New York Times reports Navalny was attacked Thursday in Moscow...

How the Brains of Those Blinded at a Young Age Differ

Some areas show increased connectivity

(Newser) - Ever wonder whether being blind was in some way an advantage for pianists like Ray Charles, George Shearing, Art Tatum, and Stevie Wonder? New research published in the journal PLOS ONE finds that the brains of people blind from a young age are dramatically different than the brains of normally...

Lawyers: Bill Cosby Now Registered as Blind

They say he won't be able to recognize accusers

(Newser) - Bill Cosby is blind and has no hope of recognizing the women who are accusing him of sexual assault, his lawyers argued in a court document filed Thursday. The lawyers, who have repeatedly raised the issue of Cosby's eyesight, say he has now registered with a state commission for...

2 Women Go Blind, in One Eye, After Using Their Phones

Both were looking at their phones in the dark while lying on their sides

(Newser) - Doctors have identified a new smartphone hazard , albeit an ultimately benign one. They report in the New England Journal of Medicine on the first known cases of "transient smartphone blindness," temporary vision loss that appears to be harmless. For the two UK women identified as suffering from it,...

An Accident Took Her Sight. Another Just Gave It Back
An Accident Took Her Sight. Another Just Gave It Back
in case you missed it
May 7, 2016 4:35 PM CDT

An Accident Took Her Sight. Another Just Gave It Back

Even Mary Ann Franco's surgeon can't exactly explain what happened

(Newser) - After a car accident injured her spine in 1995, Mary Ann Franco lost her vision. But after being blind for 21 years, the Florida woman fell in her home and hurt her neck ... and woke up from the ensuing spinal surgery on April 6 with the ability to see. "...

Boy Sees Mom Clearly for First Time: 'She Was Pretty'

Chris Ward's community more than foots $15K bill

(Newser) - Chris Ward, a 12-year-old fifth-grader from Bedford County, Va., was born with optic nerve hypoplasia, a condition that limits his vision to objects within just 5 inches of his face. He's learned to read Braille and do math using an abacus. But when his mother and teacher took him...

A Recluse Dies, a Nonprofit Gets Surprise $125M
A Recluse Dies, a Nonprofit Gets Surprise $125M
in case you missed it
Nov 28, 2015 9:30 AM CST

A Recluse Dies, a Nonprofit Gets Surprise $125M

Surprise donation is major boost to San Francisco's LightHouse for the Blind

(Newser) - The email was short, and it caught Bryan Bashin's attention. "A businessman has passed away," it read. "I think you might want to talk to us." The executive director of San Francisco nonprofit LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired says his organization had just...

Blind Teacher Out of Job for 'Using Listerine'

Steven Sloan is described as devastated

(Newser) - A well-known blind gym teacher has lost his job over what he says was Listerine and an innocent joke—but others aren't seeing it the same way, the New York Post reports. Steven Sloan, who taught at PS 102 in New York City, was accused by the city Department...

Legally Blind Barber Gets $100K for Wrongful Termination

He says his condition didn't affect his work

(Newser) - A legally blind barber was awarded $100,000 by a Massachusetts commission against discrimination after it says he was wrongly fired. The Boston Herald reported Saturday that Joel Nixon had been working for Tony's Barber Shop in Norton for a year before his boss discovered his condition. The 29-year-old...

Woman Says Disorder Caused Her to Make Herself Blind

Jewel Shuping says she had someone put drain cleaner in her eyes

(Newser) - Jewel Shuping has been preoccupied with blindness since she was a young girl. She says she used to roam the halls at night at age 3 or 4, the idea of being blind felt "comfortable" when she was 6, and she spent hours staring at the sun when her...

Blind Football Player Takes Practice Field for USC

'He's out here working his butt off'

(Newser) - Eighteen-year-old Jake Olson may be blind, but that's not stopping him from seeing his dream of taking the football field for the USC Trojans come true. Olson, who was born with cancer of the retina, lost his left eye at 10 months old and his right eye when he...

Eye Exercises Can Reduce Our Natural Blind Spots
Eye Exercises Can Reduce Our Natural Blind Spots
NEW STUDY
Sep 6, 2015 2:05 PM CDT

Eye Exercises Can Reduce Our Natural Blind Spots

And, that's great news for people losing their vision

(Newser) - Your blind spot could shrink using simple exercises, say researchers who think they could help prevent blindness and possibly even restore sight to those who've lost it. All humans have blind spots due to the lack of photoreceptors where the optic nerve passes through the retina. But we don'...

Parents Have 'Visual Bucket List' for Girl Losing Sight

With an airline's help, Rome is now on the list

(Newser) - The parents who created a "visual bucket list" for their 5-year-old daughter who is slowly going blind started by showing her wondrous sights close to their Ohio home. They never dreamed she'd get to see Rome someday. Elizabeth "Lizzy" Myers and her family will travel to Italy...

Cat Lick Blamed for Woman's Blindness

Ohio pet owner loses vision in one eye to 'cat scratch disease'

(Newser) - An Ohio woman who suddenly lost vision in one of her eyes has learned that her own cat is to blame, reports WTOL . Doctors at the University of Toledo diagnosed cat scratch disease as the culprit. "Anything that is exposed to the cat's mouth, including if you have...

Guy Going Blind Inspires Heated ObamaCare Debate

Luis Lang shunned insurance, now can't get it

(Newser) - A man named Luis Lang in South Carolina is emerging as the face of a new debate about ObamaCare. As a story by Ann Doss Helms of the Charlotte Observer explains, Lang is a 49-year-old self-employed handyman who has long shunned health insurance and paid his own medical bills. But...

Roseanne Barr Is Going Blind
 Roseanne Barr Is Going Blind 
Apr 20, 2015 9:22 AM CDT

Roseanne Barr Is Going Blind

She has macular degeneration, glaucoma

(Newser) - Roseanne Barr is going blind, she reveals in a new Daily Beast interview. The comedian was explaining why she's such an advocate for marijuana legalization: "It's a good medicine, you know," she says. "I have macular degeneration and glaucoma, so it's good for me...

A New Way for the Blind to Read

Finger-worn device from MIT translates text to speech in real time

(Newser) - A new invention could help blind people "read" books and other written text without the need for Braille. MIT researchers have created a prototype of a finger-mounted device that uses a camera to scan text, which is then converted to speech in real time. "For visually impaired users,...

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