[sdiy] [OT] Going Blind....

[Jerry Gray-Eskue]

My condolences,

I have given a lot of thought over the years to how I would handle something
like this and have a few thoughts I will share, hopefully something in this
will be useful.

Converting ASCII to Braille should not be very difficult, and an active Pin
Display could present the Braille in "readable" for persons without
eyesight, these are probably available, if not they should be. The pins
could be solenoid driven to raise in the standard Braille text patterns.

An alternate would be to selectively vibrate the pins, I am told that the
working sensory perceptions are heightened with lose of sight, and with some
training it may be possible for a person to make out Graphic images using a
vibrating array of pins.

I also have speculated that such an active pin array display may render
Color by using three primary frequencies to be perceived as Red (low) Green
(midrange) and Blue (high), just as a computer monitor works. I have no idea
if a person could make the transition from viewing such visual data by
touch, but so far it is one of the best shots at a substitution for sight.
An obvious limitation is that it would only work for static images.

- Jerry



-----Original Message-----
From: synth-diy-bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl
[mailto:synth-diy-bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl]On Behalf Of James Patchell
Sent: Saturday, October 17, 2009 12:34 AM
To: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
Subject: [sdiy] [OT] Going Blind....


As some of you may remember, last year I lost the use of my right
eye...well, last month I lost the use of my left eye.  While I am not
totally blind, life has certainly changed.  I have been attending the
Braille Institute now for about a week.  Having Extremely limited vision
has certainly changed some of my attitudes.

 But unlike last year, at least it looks like we are homing in on a
possible cause for the loss of my vision.  Sad to say, but the damage is
permanent.  But maybe I can save someone else from this missery.  It
would seem that my problem was created by a bad side effect of a
perscription drug.  I was on a Proton Pump Inhibitor. Common brand names
here in the US are Protonix, Prirolsec, Acifex, Nexium (the little
purple pill).  These drugs cause a rare condition known as anterior
ischemic optic neuropathy.  If you are taking one of these drugs, and
you sense anything funning going on with eyes, stop taking it.  Once the
event takes place (it is like a stroke), there is no going back.....

Sorry for the OT message....but your eyesight is important.

-Jim

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