Research and Development

Today society places more demands on seeing and processing of visual information than ever before. Information is given increasingly in a visual way and with a great diversity like traffic signs, high definition computer monitors, newspapers, books, television, LCD control panels, etcetera. The expanding flow of visual information places a considerable demand on visual processing in the occupational as well as in daily life conditions. As a consequence people with a decreased visual performance will be confronted sooner than before with their disabilities, which can result in a handicap. More than in the past rehabilitation is aimed at using the visual potential of the visually impaired person and the visual function has to be restored to a higher degree of performance in order to cope with the higher visual demands in daily life. It requires a thorough knowledge of the visual system and visual rehabilitation. This knowledge can only be extended by interdisciplinary cooperation: rehabilitation therapist, optometrist, occupational therapist, ophthalmologist, educationist, psychologist, clinical physicist; all of them have professional knowledge in the field. Some possess a large amount of empirical knowledge, other are more educated in the theoretical aspects of vision and visual impairment.

Visio, the National Foundation for the Visually Impaired and Blind, and the University of Groningen organized the international conference on low vision “VISION 1993” in Groningen and edited this book to provide a forum for exchange of information, experiences and results from research and the different disciplines in the field of rehabilitation of visually impaired people. Scientists have to listen to and to learn from the workers in the field and reverse. Rehabilitation protocols have to be evaluated on their beneficial effects and new scientific knowledge and technical developments have to be implemented in rehabilitation. Capability and mutual confidence are essential for such processes. This book reflects the process of integration of rehabilitation and research: it contains descriptions of practical experiences as well as manuscripts reporting in a scientific format the results of research projects.

Integral rehabilitation and ICIDH

Another aim of the conference was to stimulate the integration of different parts of the rehabilitation process. It have to result in a rehabilitation model for visually impaired people in which rehabilitation is an interdisciplinary process. Results of assessment and the rehabilitation activities by the different disciplines have to be integrated in one rehabilitation process of the visually impaired person. Several contributions deal with the relation between impairments, disabilities and handicaps and scaling of assessment data.

The specific problems of developing countries concerning the rehabilitation of visually impaired people obtained attention in a workshop preceding the start of the conference and in presentations by rehabilitation workers.

International Society

Scientific research on the visual system of people with low vision and the implementation of the results in the rehabilitation programmes of the visually impaired people will become of growing importance with the increasing knowledge of normal signal processing in the visual system and the brains and the increasing number of rehabilitation services. During the conference scientists presented assessment methods which are especially adapted to be used with visually impaired people, which enable a better understanding of the possibilities of the visually impaired person, and which improve the individual adaptation of the rehabilitation process. This development of assessment protocols, called ‘Videology’ in the organisation of Visio, is one of the expressions of the impact of new knowledge and new technological possibilities on rehabilitation.

We are very glad that during the conference the initiative has been taken to establish an international society for research in low vision and development of visual rehabilitation. We are confident that this society will stimulate and assure the exchange between the fields of research and rehabilitation of visual impairment people.

VISION 1993, The international conference on low vision, Groningen, July 5-9, 1993

J.A. Welling

chairman organizing committee