We pay tribute to our longtime colleague and friend, Bernie Landou, who passed away at age 90. He was a veteran of the United States Military and served in the Korean War. He spent several decades working professionally in the business of public relations and enjoyed recounting his legendary assignments and encounters with celebrities. Upon retirement he indulged his love for fine cuisine by attending the French Culinary Institute in New York. He enjoyed sharing his skills to impress friends and family and went on to teach inmates at the Rikers Island Correctional Facility, to cook.
Bernie was affected by age-related macular degeneration and rose to the challenges of vision loss, with the support of his partner of 50 years, Dick Leonard. He became a volunteer with the Association for Macular Diseases at Manhattan Eye & Ear Hospital. He answered phone inquiries and requests for information and contributed to the quarterly Eyes Only Newsletter. He loved helping others with useful tips for daily living and low vision friendly recipes. His volunteer service, with the Association, led him to assume the role of Editor for the newsletter in 2007, then President of our Board of Directors in 2017.
Bernie Landou at 85 and as a young man in the US Military.
We applaud Bernie Landou for his years of enthusiastic service to people with macular diseases and low vision, as he found his own way with increasing vision loss. He possessed a sharp wit and a special gift for stating the obvious. He pointed out, as we were about to launch this website in partnership with Ophthalmic Edge, that “nobody knows how to spell Ophthalmic,” and he was right. We shortened our website name to “OE Patients” to resolve that conundrum. Thanks Bernie!
Here are 6 of Bernie’s articles, originally written for Eyes Only, now published on OE.
Choice Magazine Listening
Choice Magazine Listening
A precursor to audible magazines, established in 1962 for people with vision loss.
Patients with progressing vision loss, for which there is no treatment or correction, are frequently told, “Nothing can be done.” The statement is meant, specifically, to say there is no medical intervention available. Too many times the patient interprets the words to mean, “There is nothing anyone or anything can do for you.” But that’s not true. At this point in the dialogue between doctor and patient, would be a good time to consider vision rehab services. But it often goes unmentioned.
The process equivalent to physical and occupational therapy, for loss of sight, is vision rehab. It is the “best kept secret, “according to Stephen Kelley, Certified Vision Rehabilitation Therapist, quoted in the Web MD article titled, “Vision Rehab Helps People With Low Vision Navigate the World.” Kelley says, not only patients, but many medical professionals do not know the service exists. Perhaps because it does not qualify as medical and is not covered by health insurance, instead it’s considered a social service, usually funded by state agencies. Another issue, Kelley explains, is that vision rehab services are provided at agencies for the blind, which is intimidating because people who are visually impaired do not see themselves as blind. Getting past the obstacles and getting services, as soon as possible, is the priority, and Kelley knows, that to be true, because twenty years ago, he started having vision problems and lost his job in web design, while he was trying to figure out how to keep it.
The Web MD article also illustrates how a cardiologist, Joseph Fontenot, MD, developed untreatable macular problems at age 50. As his vision quickly declined, he learned about vision rehab from another patient with a similar condition. Rehab services enabled him to continue working. In the process, he too shared his experience with other low vision patients, and he began to understand how little patients knew about the kind of assistance that is available to them. At age 65, Dr. Fontenot became a certified vision rehab therapist, opened a practice, and went on to serve as chair of the Vision Rehabilitation Committee for the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO).
Watch the video below, conceived and created by Dr. Joseph Fontenot for the American academy of Ophthalmologists, to send the message loud and clear, “There is something you can do.”
Video: There is Something Else You Can Do
A full-service program will include a comprehensive evaluation with a low vision specialist. It’s about a thorough review of the patient’s vision and an understanding of their needs and goals. What do they have to do, want to do, love to do? The objective is to improve the individual’s ability to function at home, at work and out in the world. Improving the quality of life, elevates everything.
Finding a vision rehab program
Ask your eye doctor to recommend a program
Look for a program affiliated with a university or medical school
Find a nonprofit organization that serves the needs of visually impaired persons with a full range of rehab services
The 60 Minutes profile on Freeride skier, Jacob Smith, totally consumes your attention. Freeriding means he skis jagged cliffs, deep chutes, and rough rock walls. That would be impressive enough for anyone, but Jacob is 15 years old, legally blind and skiing against sighted competitors. Once you meet him, you will not forget him.
The story includes Video of Jacob, a few years earlier at the age of 12, dropping into the Big Couloir, a rocky 1400-foot line that descends on a 50-degree pitch. He became the only legally blind skier to successfully conquer this legendary slope at the Big Sky Resort in Montana. It felt so satisfying, he repeated the risky run four more times that day and has not stopped taking on these types of challenges since.
Watching Jacob ski provides little indication that he has severe and blurry tunnel vision, no depth perception, and a visual acuity of 20/800. He proves you can compensate for what you cannot see, with what you can feel. But that’s not all, he also has a trusted and experienced voice guiding him through every turn, it’s the voice of his dad, Nathan, on a two-way radio. It’s not an always perfect scenario and mistakes are made, “But his adaptation is pretty amazing,” says Dad.
Competitive skiing is a family affair, and the Smiths were not about to leave Jacob behind following years of treatment and multiple surgeries, beginning at age 8, to eradicate the brain tumor that took his sight. His siblings Andrew, Preston and Julia say most people who see him ski do not believe he’s legally blind. He does not request or receive any special accommodations at Freeride tournaments and wants to be treated normal, that’s why he competes with sighted skiers. The only real fear he has is “not succeeding.” He says, “No matter what comes at you, there is always a way to adapt, to make it happen and still do what you want to do.”
Watch Jacob Smith: The legally blind 15-year-old freeride skier on 60 Minutes.
The origins of audiobooks can be traced back to 1932 when the American Foundation for the Blind first had books read and recorded, on the earliest LP’s (long playing records). It was a wonderfully innovative way to expand access to literature for people with vision loss at a time there were few other options. Over the ensuing 90 years, recordings moved from vinyl discs to tape recording to digital recordings, which are today consumed by the masses. In fact, audible content is booming, clearly evidenced by the millions of audiobooks and podcasts published annually. Newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, The Economist, Harvard Business Review, BuzzFeed and Vogue are also boosting their audiences with narrated articles. The growth of audio content is simply a matter of convenience and completely connected to the smartphone’s usually in hand.
There is a special sense of freedom in reading audiobooks because you can listen while commuting, working out, walking, running, or doing work around the house. By now, with the ever expanding audio content available in our mobile devices, we are better acclimated to listening. It is not unusual for book lovers with vision loss to need some time to adjust from seeing the words to hearing them. In good time the love for books is equally satisfied and the stress involved in reading is lifted away.
Now is the perfect time to get absorbed by a great audiobook, or two. There are plenty of lists online with best rankings and recommendations, a few are linked below. Audible is most known for audiobooks, but there are also plenty of others, including Apple Books, Google Play and Chirp Books… just to name a few.
A woman joyfully listening to audiobook from smartphone.
Need help selecting a book? Here are some titles, shared on the best audiobooks lists from Wired, Esquire, Chirp and Audible, with a sneak peek at the top 5 on each list and a link to the rest.
Wired
20 Audiobooks You Should Listen to Right Now
1. The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee
Vision loss and credit cards don’t mix well. It’s hard to tell one card from the other, especially now as card designs have moved to flattened surfaces. Not that card’s with embossed numbers and names were all that accessible either. And although the focus here is just on card design, the accessibility of machines used to process payments is another issue in need of solutions. It is a pleasure to report a meaningful advance on the part of Mastercard in these efforts, and we hope they will hold the baton and run with it all the way to complete inclusion.
It was a while ago, in pre-pandemic times, that we heard there was an accessible credit card in the works. The very idea made us smile, its time had finally come. Who was creating this card and what would it be like? The details of the project did not leak, it was very top secret, so we waited for the news to break.
The first glimpse came late last year when Mastercard unveiled Touch Card, a new accessible design standard implementing a system of notches cut into the side of the card. A square notch identifies the credit card, a semicircle notch on debit cards and a triangular notch is for prepaid cards. The positioning of these cut-outs gives the customers the ability to use the right card the right way, by touch. Mastercard hopes the new inclusive designs will help the world’s 2.2 billion visually impaired people more easily identify and manage their cards.
In March, Mastercard began marketing Touch Card with a TV ad, embedded below. It seemed to signal the Touch Card was now available to consumers. But this commercial was actually meant to get people, and card issuers (which are banks), excited about the opportunity to obtain this new product.
Video advertisement for Mastercard’s accessible Touch Care for visually impaired and blind consumers.
Naturally, we wanted to get our hands on the notched cards and try them out as soon as possible, but that was easier said than done. When we could not find the Touch Card online or at a bank, we reached out to Jill Davison in Global Communications at Mastercard. She said, “Thank you for your interest in the Mastercard Touch Card. We are currently working with several Mastercard issuers around the world to bring Touch Card to market. It is our hope that this becomes a global standard universally applied to all cards and not just a feature added upon request. Once we launch with Mastercard partners, the standard will be made available to all banks and networks, and it will be their choice whether to adopt this new card standard.” She also suggested, interested consumers contact their banks and request Touch Card in advance of its issuance.
The bottom line is, Touch Card is coming soon, stay tuned.
Extreme weather, and war, have a special way of eroding our, already tenuous, sense of safety. At this point flash floods and wild fires affect more people than we would have ever imagined, yet many are still caught totally off guard. Don’t be surprised by the urgent need to evacuate. By now we know everyone should have a bag ready to go when you have to get out in a hurry.
Obviously, the need for preparedness is essential for people with vision loss, as it is much more difficult to gather things in a rush when you cannot identify them easily with your eyes. An organized bag, waiting to be scooped up at a moment’s notice, will give you some peace of mind and a better sense of security.
NASA image inside massive storm.
Heed the warnings. I was ill prepared for the damage done to my building, overlooking New York City’s East River on October 29, 2012. The evacuation order seemed extreme, so I ignored it and hunkered down at home. Power was lost hours before Hurricane Sandy wreaked her historic havoc on the island of Manhattan, breaching the rivers on both east and west sides. The super storm’s surge brought in nearly 2 feet of water, flooding the main lobby and destroying everything in it, including the majestic fig trees that stood in its beautiful atrium for 25 years. It left behind several inches of mud and decimated all the power, heat and air mechanisms contained on the lower level. It took more than a week to restore essential services to my home, while many New Yorkers were displaced for much longer periods. The day after, I packed the Go Bag, and walked it down 19 floors in a pitch black stairwell, never to challenge an evacuation order again.
Start putting together that Go Bag today and then review and update it periodically. Think of it as a bag that holds the things you need to get by, with some degree of comfort, if displaced from home for a week. Keep it in check, don’t create a kit for surviving the wilderness. Begin with a list of must-have items, along with important documents.
Image of Backpack ready to go.
Contents of the Go Bag
Waterproof Sealable Bags – Protect everything
Documents – Passport, emergency contacts, etc.
Backpack – Select for comfort and don’t overstuff it
Emergency Cash – Small bills are best
Mobile Phone Chargers – Wired and portable
Masks – Protection from virus, flu, smoke from fires
Disinfectant Wipes to clean everything
Flashlight with Batteries
Travel Kit Holding all Personal Hygiene Items
Eye Glasses, Contacts, Solution, Magnifiers
Sunglasses
Hearing Aids and Batteries
Medications – Prescription and OTC
Changes of Clothing
Food and Water – Bottled water, protein bars, nuts, dried fruit
Pet Food and Water
Grab and Go
Wallet with ID, Credit Cards
Mobile Phone
Laptop, Tablet, Earphones
Sunglasses
Glasses, Contacts
Magnifier
Keep your Go Bag in a designated place and let family members know where it can be found. Keep the things you use everyday, together and in a place where you can grab them, with your bag, and go.
The light was changing from amber to red when I turned left onto Main Street. My stepdaughter and I were on our way to a workout on a rainy Saturday morning. From the passenger seat of my trusty Subaru, she screamed — at what, I did not know.
Although we made it through the intersection without hitting an oncoming car that I did not see, our hearts were racing before we hit the gym. On the way home, I wondered about the car’s fitness, but the sudden mechanical failure turned out to be mine.
A few days later, my eye doctor stopped examining me, picked up his desk phone and speed-dialled the head of ophthalmology at the university. “There’s someone you must see right away,” he said.
On Dec. 1, 2011, I received a diagnosis of Stargardt disease, an inherited retinal disorder that affects central vision. Genetic testing showed that my mother carried the mutation, and my father contributed a common variant. One in 10,000 are afflicted with this rare condition, which often presents in childhood. I was lucky to have reached the age of 50 before I had to give up my keys. But I was in shock.
Since the first day behind the wheel of my father’s Ford truck when I was 14, I knew that driving would be my portal to other worlds. He wanted me to gain skills early and comprehensively. What better way than in the old ’48, with its manual transmission and well-worn body? With an enormous shift on the column and a clutch the size of a discus, it took all my strength to wrestle the gears, and of course my timing was poor.
I stalled often at first, while my father sighed and whistled “I Can’t Get Started.” On a dozen springtime Saturday mornings, I practised in the flat, empty pasture at my grandfather’s farm in rural Illinois. After finally finding the rhythm from first to second and then to third gear, it was time to advance to reverse. “If you need to back up, it’s hard to see where you’re going,” my father — who had been a soldier and a prisoner of war — said with unusual gravity. “You need to feel it.”
My father was resilient in this gear. This trait was my genetic inheritance from him, and a defining one, as I would come to appreciate after my diagnosis.
Once I mastered reverse in the hulking Ford, I drove my own car with confidence and what I might call desire. In the Midwest, roads are long and straight, with great distances between things. I wanted to feel the pedal under my foot, getting me to a new place under my own power.
That feeling persisted throughout my life. Working as a classical music agent, I once sped 200 km/hr in a Mercedes sedan through the night in the Swiss Alps to deliver a cargo of artists to a gig on time. The independence I felt whenever I turned on the ignition filled my whole body with energy and a taste of freedom.
“Seeing is believing,” the saying goes. What could “not seeing” mean for someone who loved driving as much as I did?
Blindness is a simple, unemotional word for most people — either a descriptor, as in “blind audition,” or, more often, a metaphor, as in “love is blind.” When sight loss actually happens to you, “blindness” becomes a full-body garment, custom made to conform with every contour of your inner and outer frame. It inflects you in a way that is incomprehensible to the sighted world as it influences your movements and interactions. How do you respond to your beloved if you cannot see his face? How do you, as an English major, cope with no longer being able to read? And how do you make sense of your changing self? No other sensory deprivation is so personal and laden with mystery. No one says “hearing is believing” or “smelling is believing.” No, only seeing is believing. Not seeing must be believing something else.
Getting to that something else now occupies the second half of my life in a way that, like the other car at the Main Street intersection, I couldn’t see coming. Like becoming aware of unconscious beliefs, it is a matter of bringing to light that which is not visible. This takes courage and imagination, but after the initial shock I have become aware of hidden resources to be tapped. Over time I have found that the sense of loss and vulnerability brought on by decreased independence can lead to a heightened appreciation for new ways of connecting to others and the world.
John M. Hull, a university professor of religious education who was blind, put it this way: “Should I begin to think of myself as a person disabled by a defect but empowered by a capacity?”
Hull spoke the question into a cassette tape recorder, his only means of writing in 1986. His book, On Sight and Insight, is a transformational account of vision loss. It helped me reframe the experience and develop creative and resourceful strategies to maintain relationships and work. The concept of a new-found capacity requires both inner and outer efforts. For me, this has involved everything from analyzing startling dream imagery, to memorizing regularly travelled routes and landmarks, to attuning my musical ear to pick up nuances in people’s voices and modulating my own in response.
Above all, acquiring skills in assistive technology has been like taking that pasture-driving course all over again. It is a matter of putting fear aside and practising a new transmission. Today there is a virtual showroom of “vehicles” used by people who are blind or partially sighted. Smartphone technology and screen readers now allow for a dazzling variety of applications, in which auditory information is activated by touch and thus provides access to written material at a terrific pace. I can shift through these gears at speed, and if I wander into a blind alley, there are keystrokes for reverse. Reading is well within reach.
Everything speaks now — Alexa, ovens, doorbells. It is no longer stigmatizing to walk around talking to yourself on the street or having your phone talk to you. This is now normal. The game-changing remedy for being blind or partially sighted — “accessibility” — is an accepted gear for the general population. This being the case, never again shall the words “nothing can be done” be used by any eye-care professional when surgical procedures or drug therapies may not be available. Much can be done, and the delivery system — already preloaded in “Settings”— is likely right there in the pockets of both the patient and the practitioner. It takes only a willingness and curiosity on the side of both parties to engage in this exploration of vision rehabilitation. This is the best time in human history to lose sight because patients now have another way to be independent.
I feel fortunate to have received guidance at a vision rehabilitation clinic, as well as services from the CNIB Foundation and a support group established by the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Every patient should be so lucky, but many suffer silently when this life-changing transition is not fully appreciated or addressed by physicians. Early guidance and referrals can create a road map to vision loss that is not a dead end but instead offers promising pathways.
Professor Hull coined a phrase that speaks to me and may resonate with other patients who experience sight loss: “whole-body seer.” As reliance on other senses increases, awareness of the whole body is enhanced. Hull writes, “A whole-body seer is someone in whom the specialist function of sight is now delivered upon the whole body and no longer specialized in a particular organ.”
Such a concentrated state of being may offer as heightened a sensation as driving. Indeed, I have noticed increased awareness and pleasure in all kinds of weather, and a deep desire for nature. With support, I have been able to accept and explore the complexities and the progression of my low-vision condition. I have not been tempted to get behind the wheel again. The day I unwittingly risked my stepdaughter’s life — and my own — shut that door for good. But I’m no longer experiencing the situation as demanding a shift into reverse. I’ve picked up a new set of keys to unlock this new life of mine and am finding my way to somewhere else.
Footnotes
This article has been peer reviewed.
This is a true story.
This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original publication is properly cited, the use is noncommercial (i.e., research or educational use), and no modifications or adaptations are made. See:https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Reference
1 ↵Hull JM. On sight and insight: A journey into the world of blindness. London: Oneworld Publications; 1997.Google Scholar
OE’s Chief Content Officer, Dorrie Rush, was the first to uncover the Pestle app for iOS, in a post on 9to5Mac. Dorrie, receptive to all things accessible, immediately noticed the alluring convenience of Pestle. With attractive features such as voice control and an easy interface, the potential benefits for cooks with vision impairments immediately popped in her mind. And so, taking the needs of a chef, and putting them in the context of vision loss, Dorrie and I teamed up to give Pestle the official once-over to pinpoint exactly what currently makes this app accessible, along with any missed opportunities.
Pestle is currently advertised as a pocket cookbook where one can add many recipes from different sources, collected into Pestle, with a touch of a button. It creates a uniform breakdown of internet-accessible diverse recipes. And in addition to this, some features go the extra mile for an all-in-one recipe destination—converting the ingredients when you’re working in unfamiliar units, scaling it to make the perfect portions, and access to timers right within the app. But, the unique claim-to-fame from Pestle is the voice-controlled steps (which seems priceless when your hands are covered in garlic and olive oil). Though this all sounds great – what does it mean for those with vision loss?
The first step to Pestle is to import a recipe. I found this to be valuable in theory – especially for recipe bloggers who detail their introductions more than the steps themselves. When working with vision loss, navigating through mountains of text can prove itself both jarring and exhausting. So, Pestle’s import should alleviate that concern. However, I found that any recipe which I’d attempted to import, that didn’t have an already-straightforward and clearly-laid-out recipe in the link, was rejected by Pestle. After no luck from a few lesser-known websites, I finally found one which imported no problem. This recipe was from Food52, a well-established food online publication and shop. I felt disenchanted, experiencing problems right at the outset, yet chugged along. For a chef like myself, who is often cooking recipes from lesser-known websites, the inconsistency was considered a major let-down. However, Dorrie could find recipes easily on Siri Search and all but a few converted without issue.
Right away, I took note of the distinct recipe layout. The text; written in contracting white and bright green colors. The ingredient amount is written in one color, whereas the ingredient itself is in a different one. So, to those with moderate vision loss, keeping a large repertoire of recipes in Pestle is conducive to a consistently efficient recipe reading experience.
Screenshots of Pestle App recipes.
Once “start cooking” is hit, the app turns into a full-screen display of the recipe’s steps, color-coded like previously, where the steps are white but when ingredients are mentioned, it’s in green. It’s naturally easy to distinguish between the instruction, and what is required to be on the cutting board. But because the recipe’s steps don’t automatically include the measurements, I found it was best to have everything measured and portioned beforehand. For an average week-night, assembling all the ingredients is certainly more organized, yet infinitely more time-consuming. Though there is a feature to tap on the ingredient which pops up the quantity, but it is in incredibly small text. Dorrie pointed out how, as one might expect, the iPad display offers quite large text, and this app is especially useful in that context.
For those who require a higher level of accessibility, the VoiceOver screen reader for iOS worked wonders. However, using VoiceOver requires tapping your screen, which somewhat defeats the purpose of their voice-controlled steps. Much of the novelty of Pestle is the ability to work hands-free, leaving them to get dirty in the ingredients. But when I tried to work hands-free, with necessary long pauses between steps, the voice control would no longer detect my voice. If I had recently touched the screen or moved steps, the app would be at attention, ready for my call. But, once 15 to 20 minutes had passed, idle on a step, the command would not register at all. I found myself repeating Next incessantly to a frozen screen. Shortly after, my phone was completely covered in flour.
Though there was something left to be desired, there were a lot of things Pestle did well. While a few recipe links I tried hadn’t agreed with Pestle, their developers made it clear they’re working on expanding its reach soon. And the recipe I saved was seamlessly integrated. I was impressed with the keywords accentuated, along with the steps so well presented. When the voice command worked, I was in love. I did feel the addition of the timers were superfluous – it’s much easier to ask Siri (or Alexa or Google) to set a timer, and easier to check it too. In tandem with the voice command, Dorrie and I agreed, adding voice commands that allow Siri to read the steps to you, would make Pestle better for everyone. But without that feature, and while the voice commands are not up to par, this app seems only helpful on a limited basis in terms of vision accessibility. Though, the potential is there, as is its current purpose – which Pestle delivers on well with clean formatted recipes that make reading easier for users of large text or VoiceOver.
Vabysmo (faricimab-svoa), recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration, is the first bispecific antibody for eyes. The drug, developed by Roche Genentech to treat both wet age-related-macular degeneration and diabetic macular edema offers a dosing regimen that requires less frequency than injectable medications currently in use. Physicians and patients will likely agree, more options and less shots in the eye represent an important advance in the treatment of two leading causes of vision loss.
Without effective treatment, patients with AMD and DME live with a progressive loss of detail vision causing difficulty reading, facial recognition and driving, while peripheral vision remains intact. Wet age-related macular degeneration happens in about 10% of all AMD cases and is marked by abnormal blood vessels that develop underneath the retina and cause bleeding and swelling of the macula. Common symptoms include blurriness and waviness or loss of central vision. Diabetic macular edema can occur at any stage of diabetic retinopathy marked by changes that lead to fluid accumulation, also known as edema, in the retina. If fluid accumulates in the macula, or the central area of the retina which provides your sharpest vision, the vision may become severely compromised.
Charles C. Wykoff, MD, PhD, a Vabysmo phase 3 investigator and director of research at Retina Consultants of Texas, said in a press release “With Vabysmo, we now have the opportunity to offer patients a medicine that could improve their vision, potentially lowering treatment burden with fewer injections over time.”
The new drug works by inhibiting 2 pathways, Ang-2 and VEGEF-A to reduce inflammation and leakage of blood vessels, minimizing the loss of vision. Vabysmo treatment begins with 4 monthly intravitreal injections, with follow up injections at 1 to 4 month increments.
The story depicted in “Brothers,” a 60-second Toyota ad created to air during the 2022 Super Bowl and the Beijing Olympics, is based on the real lives of Brian and Robin McKeever. It opens with Robin teaching his younger brother to ski with glee. Growing up in Calgary, Canada, they develop a love for cross-country skiing and as their skills and training advance, they are preparing to compete with the best skiers in the world.
The tenor suddenly changes, and the video image becomes blurry in the center. There is a close-up of his eye, then his face, and we hear a doctor say, “Brian, we have found that you have a condition known as Stargardt macular degeneration. At this time, there is no treatment.” Upon diagnosis he is 19 years old, but his athletic career is far from finished.
The brothers continue training together, Robin providing his brother with vocal guidance. The work they do will take Robin to the Olympics, and both to the Paralympic Winter Games, with Robin as Brian’s guide. As Brian’s central vision loss progressed, the McKeever brothers competed together at the 2002, 2006 and 2010 Para Games, winning 10 medals. Brian has won 17 Paralympic medals, 13 are gold, making him the most decorated Para cross-country skier, ever. He is currently training for the Beijing Paralympics in March.
In a press release Toyota said the ad “shares an inspiring message of determination and spotlights the power of sport.” It is also a testament to the power of support. “I hope my story inspires viewers to start their impossible – whatever that might be,” said Brian McKeever. “I’ve learned firsthand that anything is possible with perseverance, and the support of a brother, like Robin.” Vision loss is not completely new to Brian’s family, his father is also affected by Stargardt Disease, as is his aunt. Having this point of reference and a positive role model, in time, helps him accept the diagnosis and understand the long game. “Looking back, those things that maybe did change are just tiny barriers compared to the big picture,” Brian says. “I’m losing my eyesight, and that’s a big challenge. But the reality is, once you start to look at how to move forward, the things that seemed like a big deal at the start ended up being inconsequential.”
Thanks to Brian, Robin and Toyota for reminding us of what is possible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_UgHZdjgvQ
Watch the Toyota Ad featuring the McKeever Brothers story
Audible.com is the preeminent seller of audiobooks, boasting more than 500,000 titles, including audible originals, podcasts, documentaries, comedy, journalism, kids, wellness, self-development, theater and more. They began building this impressive library of spoken content in 1995, somehow anticipating that we would all thoroughly enjoy listening to books.
Reading books in audio formats can beautifully bridge the gap vision loss can cause. Although at first, it may be a minor challenge to retrain yourself to read with your ears instead of your eyes, in no time you will begin loving the experience of being absorbed by the author’s wonderful work. Read an audio book with someone you love, take it with you for a walk, to the gym or on your commute to work.
Cheerful woman with headphones listening to audiobook.
Access Audible with a membership plan, or not. Audiobooks can be purchased individually, as you wish. Membership plans are encouraged and include a 30-day free trial period at the start. Plans change so it’s best to review the Plan Options or consult with an Audible representative for clarity. For $7.95 a month, Audible Plus offers unlimited access to a select catalog of books, podcasts and audio sleep and meditation tracks. For $14.95 a month, Audible Premium Plus adds 1 audiobook credit per month from an expanded catalog of best sellers, a 30% discount on cash purchases and it allows you to return books you don’t like within 365 days. Give the gift of an Audible book, or a gift membership for 3, 6 or 12 months.
Digital content from Audible can be downloaded directly into and played on most Fire tablets, Kindle devices, and Kindle or Audible apps for Android. Don’t forget Alexa in this mix. Your Amazon Echo speaker will read your audiobooks to you as well; just say Alexa, Read My Book. Audiobooks can be purchased directly from the Audible app on an Amazon device. On an Apple device, members are able to download books directly on the app using Audible credits, however, credit card purchases must be transacted on the Audible.com website.
Audible’s customer service support phone representatives are well equipped to help with all questions, issues and transactions. There are 4 options: Press 1 if you are visually impaired and they will get you to an Accessibility Specialist. Press 2 for questions about your Listening Experience. Press 3 for Membership Questions. Press 4 for Technical Support.
Getting to 2022 was no easy feat, so congratulations. On October 2, 2021, I stood on the National Mall surrounding the Washington Monument, in Washington DC, and observed the 700,000 white flags placed in a perfect and seemingly endless formation. Each flag in memory of an American who died of COVID. The powerful sight of this installation ended the next day, but the deaths continued. As of January 19, 2022, deaths have risen to over 857,000.
Image shows white flag memorial installation at Washington Monument on October 2, 2021.
The installation named, “In America: Remember,” was also a powerful reminder of our collective survival. I could not help but think of that as I watched the other living visitors to the massive field of flags, paying respect. Perhaps the best way to celebrate the life we continue is to take care of it. So many aspects of our lives have been affected by the pandemic, whether we contracted the virus or not. Even the luckiest among us is likely to be dealing with some collateral damage. The year ahead is the right time to recognize your need for recovery and make self care a priority.
Life, as we knew it, has been interrupted by the pandemic. In some ways it is strikingly similar to the disruption caused by vision loss. And to be fair, we must acknowledge, dealing with both is a heavy load. If you’re feeling burnt out and exhausted, that would actually make sense.
We can take steps to improve on behaviors that may have suffered under the stress. Here are some thoughts and ideas that might help as you evaluate and recover from your own particular pandemic injury. Begin a new year by taking care.
Help for Your Head.
Mental health and emotional well-being are front and center as we re-acclimate and find our path forward. We must take care of self first, before we can take care of others. Read the OE article linked below for smart steps and stress relieving strategies to help our recovery.
If good eating habits faltered during the pandemic, now is the time to get back to nourishing yourself with healthy food choices. Be mindful about your consumption and remember it’s best to focus on mostly unprocessed foods, including vegetables, fruits, nuts, beans, whole grains, fish and some meats. Keep your plate colorful and predominantly plant-based. The foods that holdage-related macular degeneration at bay, are based on the same Mediterranean diet that promotes heart health.
There’s no sense trying to counter overwhelming change with more overwhelming change, so Keep the corrections small, even tiny. In the OE article linked below I recommend the bite size approach to productivity, while utilizing the 1-minute rule, micro learning and exercise snacks.
The same practices, behaviors and habits that keep your brain sharp are major players in your overall health and well-being. Exercise daily, keep learning, sleep well and stay socially connected — it is key to maintaining cognition.
Don’t underestimate the importance of fun, it feels good and it’s good for us. Prioritize the people and activities that are most likely to create playfulness, connection and flow in your life on a regular basis. Read more on this subject from Catherine Price in The New York Times.
