FREE Content

Three sections of JVIB are available free online to the public: Speaker's Corner, Perspectives, and This Mattered to Me. These columns are platforms for members of the blindness field who are invited to express their points of view about timely, important, and controversial issues, or to share their passion for meaningful JVIB articles that remain relevant today. Readers of these columns are encouraged to visit the JVIB online message board, and voice their opinions on these important topics.

JVIB Special Supplement

The Special Supplement on Vision Loss and Public Health, supported in part by funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, offers JVIB readers an overview of the public health aspects of vision loss in the United States. Edited by Corinne Kirchner, senior research scientist emerita of the American Foundation for the Blind, and consulting editor for research of JVIB, and with contributions from prominent writers in the fields of both vision loss and public health, the issue provides a strong argument for collaboration between the public health arena and the vision loss field to better meet the needs of people who are living with visual impairments. The articles in this issue cover a variety of topics, ranging from diabetes management for people with vision loss, to raising awareness of low vision through public health education, to the finding that older people with vision loss face a greater risk of chronic health conditions than their peers without vision loss.

This special issue of the journal is a landmark in the literature of the field and free for all to read here.

Opinions expressed in signed articles are those of the author(s); likewise, any advertisement is the responsibility of the advertiser. Neither necessarily carries the endorsement of the publisher or the Editorial Advisory Board. The guidelines for contributors are available at www.afb.org/jvib_guidelines.asp.

Sample Issue

A free sample issue is available to those who may be curious about JVIB. The October 2001 Special Issue on Distance Education offers information on the critical shortage of personnel in the fields of education and rehabilitation of individuals who are visually impaired (that is, are blind or have low vision). In some areas of the country, appropriate services by qualified personnel are not available at all. Teachers, orientation and mobility (O&M) specialists, rehabilitation teachers, and counselors who serve infants, toddlers, children, youths, adults, and elderly individuals who are visually impaired continue to have caseloads that are 2 to 10 times greater than they should be. Parents may search far for appropriate services, and newly visually impaired adults wait for months before they can receive services. Administrators of special schools, public schools, low vision clinics, and rehabilitation agencies search in vain for qualified personnel to fill vacant positions. With such critical shortages, innovative ways must be found to increase the supply of well-prepared professionals. Read more about this important topic in the free sample issue of JVIB.