Posted by:  Tom Perski
February 16, 2010

Living, and coping, with macular degeneration involves constantly learning and keeping up with research, medical breakthroughs, treatments, as well as having good knowledge of vitamins and nutrition. Low vision rehabilitation services are also crucial in learning to cope by providing answers as to what devices will assist a person and enable them to continue reading, using the computer, and, in some states, even driving.

One of my functions as founder and executive director of Macular Degeneration International was to constantly research professional, medical, low vision and optometric journals, technology magazines, and attend conferences in order to stay up to date with the latest information and tools used to ease, and increase efficiency in, daily life. Seems simple enough right? NOT AT ALL! Prior to the internet this involved much searching for information and a great deal of travel; it was more than a full-time job. Today, with the world available at your keyboard, being informed has become a bit easier but can still take a bit of time.

One of my goals for starting this blog, was to share information and make it a lot simpler for everyone to benefit from knowing what is out there for the low vision community. I hope I can help by writing and disclosing some of the better websites where you can find this kind of information on a regular basis.

That being said, here are two sites which I highly recommend:

1. A good consumer news letter for medical information is the Johns Hopkins (link provided below) http://www.johnshopkinshealthalerts.com/register_ppc_vision/macularDegeneration_reg_landing.html?st=ppc&s=GLP_038004_Macular_Degeneration&c1=GAW_CM_NW&source=GAW&kw=Macular_Degeneration&cr5=4094792854&gclid=CIiQz_eX3p8CFQjyDAodDVAuGQ

2. Information regarding many aspects of living with vision loss can be found on the website called www.visionaware.org

I believe sharing this type of information can help us all continue coping and living each day with macular degeneration. And of course, to learn about all types of products, from daily living aids to high tech items, go to http://chicagolighthouse.org/store and scroll down to the different categories of products.