By Frances A. Koestler
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1270
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Marco Polo discovers elderly Chinese people using magnifying glasses for reading.
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1784
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Benjamin Franklin invents bifocal lenses.
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1897
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Charles Prentice invents the typoscope.
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1907
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First issue of Outlook for the Blind
published (later renamed the New Outlook for the Blind
and, still later, the Journal of Visual Impairment and Blindness).
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1908
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The London County Council institutes the Myope School, the world's first class for children with low vision.
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1909
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Edward Allen, director of the Perkins Institute, visits the Myope School in London.
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1910
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M. von Rodgin publishes the first paper on telescopic and microscopic spectacles.
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1910
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The Clear Type Publishing Company produces a series of 36-point books.
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1913
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In Roxbury, Massachusetts, Edward Allen starts the first U.S. class for children with low vision called the "defective eyesight class."
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1913
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Robert Irwin establishes a "conservation-of-vision" class at The Waverly School in Cleveland.
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1914
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Robert Irwin researches the use of large type and recommends 36-point clearface font.
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1914
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C. Usher's article on the inheritance of retinitis pigmentosa is published.
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1915
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The term sight saving is coined by the National Society for the Prevention of Blindness.
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1916
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Olin Burritt, president of the American Association of Instructors of the Blind, attacks the use of aprons and high collars to prevent children with low vision from using their eyes.
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1922
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P. Baunschwig reports on the use of prisms to aid persons with hemianopsia.
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1924
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Ophthalmologist Jules Stein and a colleague report on the use of telescopic spectacles at a meeting of the American Medical Association (AMA).
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1925
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The first specialized university program in the United States to prepare teachers of partially sighted students is instituted at the University of Cincinnati.
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1930
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Ophthalmologists report that use of vision does not further harm vision of people who are partially sighted.
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1930
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The first issue of the Sight Saving Review
is published.
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1934
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Report of the Committee of Inquiry into Problems Relating to Partially Sighted Children, London, is issued.
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1934
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The AMA defines legal blindness.
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1935
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William Feinbloom's article, "Introduction to the Principles and Practice of Sub-normal Vision Correction," is published.
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1938
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William Feinbloom reports on 500 low vision cases in the American Journal of Optometry
and Archives of the American Academy of Optometry
.
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1940
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Manual on the Use of the Standard Classification of Causes of Blindness
(edited by C. E. Kerby) is published by AFB and the National Society for the Prevention of Blindness.
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1942
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The American Optometric Association establishes the Department of Visual Adaptation and Rehabilitation.
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1942
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Alfred Kestenbaum, a physician, develops the microlense, a simple reading device.
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1943
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The first textbook on children with low vision, Education and Health of the Partially Sighted Child
, by Winifred Hathaway, is published.
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1947
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The American Printing House for the Blind begins the regular publication of large-print books.
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1948
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M. B. Bender and H. L. Teuber's paper, "Spatial Organization in Visual Perception after Brain Injury" is published.
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1953
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The first low vision clinics open at the New York Lighthouse and Industrial Home for the Blind.
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1954
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The first exhibition of low vision aids is organized for the International Congress of Ophthalmologists.
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1954
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National Aid to the Visually Handicapped, a private organization organized solely to produce large-type textbooks for school-age children, is founded in San Francisco.
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1955
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Berthold Lowenfeld, an innovative educator of children who are blind and partially sighted, publishes on the psychological problems of children with low vision.
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1956
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Louise Sloan and A. Habel publish a method for rating and prescribing low vision aids.
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1956
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The Subnormal Vision Clinic (later called the Low Vision Center) is established at the Maryland Workshop for the Blind.
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1957
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The Industrial Home for the Blind reports on its optical aids service and defines the basic model for what has become the standard low vision service.
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1957
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Richard Hoover, an ophthalmologist, presents the functional definitions of blindness.
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1957
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E. C. Atkinson reports in the Lancet
on what was probably the first newspaper for people with low vision.
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1958
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The American Optometric Association establishes the Department of Vision Care of the Aging.
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1958
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The American Academy of Optometry creates the Prentice Medal to recognize scientists who have significantly advanced knowledge in visual science.
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1959
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The American Optometric Association establishes the Committee on Aid to the Partially Sighted.
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1959
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Howard Lewis, an optometrist, reports on a survey of institutions serving the "partially blind."
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1960
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William Ludlam, an optometrist, reports on the contact lens telescope.
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1961
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Gerald Fonda evaluates telescopic spectacles for mobility.
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1963
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Natalie Barraga studies the increased visual behavior of children and develops a visual efficiency scale and sequential learning activities and materials for training children with low vision.
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1965
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S. C. Ashcroft, Carol Halliday, and Natalie Barraga replicate Barraga's original study on visual efficiency.
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1965
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Gerald Fonda's book, Management of the Patient with Subnormal Vision
, is published.
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1966
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Conference on Aid to the Visually Limited is held in the United States.
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1967
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AFB sponsors the Geriatric Blindness Conference.
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1967
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Ruth Holmes replicates Barraga's (1963) study and reports on visual efficiency training of adolescents with low vision.
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1969
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Samuel Genensky, a mathematician with low vision, and his colleagues at Rand Corporation in Santa Monica, California, report on their development of the CCTV.
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1970
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Natalie Barraga's Teacher's Guide for the Development of Visual Learning Abilities and Utilization of Low Vision,
including the Visual Efficiency Scale, is published by the American Printing House for the Blind.
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1970
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Loyal Apple and Marianne May's paper on distance vision and perceptual training is published. Apple, though totally blind, advocates vision rehabilitation services for veterans with low vision and helps form the Low Vision Division of the American Association of Workers for the Blind.
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1970
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The U.S. Office of Education sponsors a Low Vision Conference.
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1970
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The National Accreditation Council of Agencies Serving the Visually Handicapped publishes standards for producing reading materials for blind and visually impaired persons.
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1970
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D. R. Korb's article on preparing visually impaired drivers is published.
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1970
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Eleanor E. Faye's book, The Low Vision Patient: Clinical Experience with Adults and Children
, is published.
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1971
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Virginia Bishop's textbook, Teaching the Visually Limited Child
, is published.
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1972
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The Low Vision Diplomate program, chaired by Edwin Mehr, is established by the American Academy of Optometry.
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1972
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Western Michigan University institutes the first required course on low vision as part of its program for preparing O&M personnel.
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1972
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The Clinical Low Vision Society begins to hold meetings, allowing ophthalmologists and optometrists to discuss topics of mutual interest.
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1973
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The U.S. Rehabilitation Services Administration sponsors the conference on low vision titled "Services of the Decade of the 70's."
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1973
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Ophthalmologist Elliot Berson and his colleagues introduce the Pocketscope, a night-vision aid.
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1973
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Berthold Lowenfeld's book, The Visually Handicapped Child in School
, is published.
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1974
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Audrey Smith demonstrates vision stimulation for mobility in her videotape, Consider Me Seeing.
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1974
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The European register of research on visual impairment, by John Gill, is published.
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1975
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The American Association of Workers for the Blind forms its Low Vision Division.
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1975
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The American Academy of Ophthalmology forms its Low Vision Society.
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1975
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The Veterans Administration sponsors the Low Vision Mobility Conference.
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1975
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Edwin Mehr and Alan Freid's book, Low Vision Care
, is published.
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1975
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In Sweden, Krister Inde and Örjan Bäckman's book, Visual Training with Optical Aids
, is published.
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1975
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Eleanor E. Faye and Clare Hood's book Low Vision
, is published.
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1976
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Judith Holcomb and Gregory Goodrich's article demonstrates the ability to teach eccentric viewing to older people.
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1976
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Chris Johnson proposes the "two visual system" theory, which has had a profound effect on the field of low vision.
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1976
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Health and Safety Associates sponsors the National Conference on Telescopic Devices and Driving.
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1976
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Ian Bailey and Jan Lovie propose new design standards for visual acuity charts.
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1976
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The AMA and the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators sponsor a conference on telescopic devices and driving.
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1976
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Large-print calculators become available.
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1977
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AFB conducts and publishes a survey of low vision clinics.
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1977
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The U.S. Rehabilitation Services Administration sponsors the Sensory Deficits and Aids Workshop.
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1977
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The American Academy of Optometry establishes its Low Vision Section, chaired by Randall Jose.
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1977
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New Outlook for the Blind
is renamed the Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness
.
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1978
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The Low Vision Conference is held at the University of Uppsala, Sweden.
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1978
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Geof Arden proposes contrast sensitivity testing in cases of visual disturbance.
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1979
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Michael Tobin and his colleagues publish the Look and Think
book and teachers' handbook in England.
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1979
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The American Academy of Ophthalmology establishes the Low Vision Committee.
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1980
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The first Low Vision Ahead Conference is sponsored by the Association for the Blind, Melbourne, Australia.
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1980
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Robert "Dee" Quillman's Low Vision Training Manual
is published.
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1980
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The National Society to Prevent Blindness publishes Vision Problems in the U.S
.
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1980
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Ophthalmologist Michael Marmor and his colleagues develop the Wide Angle Mobility Light.
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1981
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The World Health Organization sponsors a meeting, The Use of Residual Vision by Visually Disabled Persons.
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1981
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The National Accreditation Council of Agencies Serving the Visually Handicapped establishes standards for low vision services.
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1981
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In a letter to the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine
, DeWitt Stetten, a physician, reports his personal difficulty, after developing age-related macular degeneration, in finding low vision services even at the National Eye Institute. This letter led to several actions by ophthalmologists to inform patients of rehabilitation services.
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1982
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George Timberlake and his colleagues report on retinal localization of scotoma by scanning laser ophthalmoscopy.
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1982
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The Electrical Council and the Partially Sighted Society of London report on lighting and low vision.
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1982
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Olga Overbury and her colleagues report on the psychodynamics of low vision.
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1982
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Optometrists James Maron and Ian Bailey report on visual factors and mobility performance.
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1982
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Optometrist Jan Lovie-Kitchin and her colleagues in Australia publish Senile Macular Degeneration
.
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1982
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The North American Conference on Visually Handicapped Infants and Preschool Children is held.
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1983
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The Rehabilitation Optometry Journal
(later renamed the Journal of Vision Rehabilitation
) is founded by Randall Jose.
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1983
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Understanding Low Vision
, edited by Randall Jose, is published.
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1983
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Anne Corn's theoretical model of visual functioning for persons with low vision is published.
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1983
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Vision Research: A National Plan: 1983–87
, published by the National Eye Institute, includes a panel on low vision.
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1983
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Optometrist Steven Whitaker and his colleagues develop the Pepper test of reading skills.
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1983
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The Pennsylvania College of Optometry offers a master's degree in low vision rehabilitation.
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1984
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Ian Bailey and Amanda Hall publish the University of California, Berkeley, preferential looking test for infants.
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1984
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Guidelines for the Production of Materials in Large Type
is published by the National Society for the Prevention of Blindness.
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1984
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Laurence Gardner and Anne Corn's position paper, Low Vision: Topics of Concern,
is adopted by the Division on Visual Handicaps of the Council for Exceptional Children.
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1984
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John Gill's first International Survey of Aids for the Visually Disabled
is published.
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1984
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Allen Ginsberg's first widely available contrast sensitivity test is published.
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1984
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Microcomputers become widely used aids for people with low vision.
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1984
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Dennis Kelleher's personal view of driving with bioptics is published.
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1984
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David Reagan and his colleagues publish a low-contrast letter acuity chart.
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1984
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The Royal National Institute for the Blind publishes a demographic study of the visually disabled population in Great Britain.
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1985
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Corinne Kirchner and her colleagues' first resource guide, Data on Blindness and Visual Impairment in the U.S.
, is published.
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1985
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Gordon Legge's first article in widely cited series of psychophysical studies on reading and visual impairment is published.
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1986
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The Asilomar International Low Vision Conference, sponsored by AFB, is held in California.
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1986
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The Low Vision Conference is held in Waterloo, Canada (University of Waterloo).
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1986
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Alfred Rosenbloom publishes Vision and Aging: General and Clinical Perspectives
.
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1986
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Geraldine T. Scholl's Foundations of Education for Blind and Visually Handicapped Children and Youth
is published.
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1987
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The Conference on Low Vision and Aging is held in Washington, D.C.
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1988
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The International Low Vision Conference, sponsored by AFB, is held in Beverly Hills, California.
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1988
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The first issue of Integracion
, a journal on visual impairment and blindness, is published in Spain.
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1989
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David Loshin and R. D. Juday's article demonstrates spatial remapping.
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1990
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The conference on AIDS and Low Vision, sponsored by AFB, is held in San Francisco.
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1990
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The second Low Vision Ahead conference, sponsored by the Association for the Blind, is held in Melbourne, Australia.
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1990
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The first edition of Low Vision—The Reference
, a computerized database of the low vision literature, edited by Gregory Goodrich and Randall Jose, is published.
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1991
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Laurence Gardner and Anne Corn's revised position paper, Low Vision: Topics of Concern,
is ratified by the Division on Visual Handicaps, Council for Exceptional Children.
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1991
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Paul Freeman and Randall Jose publish The Art and Practice of Low Vision
.
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1992
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The Americans with Disabilities Act is signed into law.
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1992
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The World Health Organization holds a Consultation on the Management of Low Vision in Children in Bangkok, Thailand.
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1992
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Division 7 (Low Vision) of the Association for the Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER) publishes a Code of Ethics, Standards of Professional Behavior, and a Body of Knowledge in low vision.
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1993
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The International Low Vision Conference, sponsored by Visio and the University of Groningen, is held in Groningen, the Netherlands.
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1993
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The American Academy of Ophthalmology establishes the Shared Interest Group for Low Vision.
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1994
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The National Eye Institute's Low Vision and ITS Rehabilitation Panel notes that the term legal blindness
is "an old-fashioned concept, rooted in the premise that vision much below normal is useless."
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1994
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Rodney Nowakowski publishes Primary Low Vision Care
.
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1995
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Joint Commission on Allied Health Personnel in Ophthalmology publishes criteria for subspecialty of Assisting in Low Vision.
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1996
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Journal of Videology
begins publication.
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1996
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International Society of Low Vision Research and Rehabilitation holds its first business meeting.
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1996
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Vision 96, The International Low Vision Conference hosted by the Organization Nacional de Ciegos Españoles is held in Madrid, Spain.
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* Source: Reprinted from G. L. Goodrich & V. M. Sowell, "Low Vision: A History in Progress," in A. L. Corn & A. J. Koenig, Eds., Foundations of Low Vision (New York: AFB Press, 1996), pp. 399–404.