THE READING ASSISTANT - USER-FRIENDLY TECHNOLOGY FOR THE VISUALLY-IMPAIRED

One important way in which optometry must respond to the needs of persons with visual disabilities is to develop innovative applications of technologies that will allow these people to function productively in the workplace, where their performance depends on the ability to read at reasonable rates: to read such documents as letters, memos, contracts, instruction manuals, newspapers, magazines, and the like. In this paper I will describe one example of such an effort, a system that is being developed jointly by the SUNY College of Optometry, the National Eye Institute, and MerlinVision Industries, Inc., a company in Yorktown Heights, NY. I have an interest in what is reported here: I hold a part-time position as Director of Clinical Research at MerlinVision.