Read her Life Story below:

Edythe Piccione is a young at heart senior citizen and a professional artist. Edythe has been painting for 28 years, and five years ago she was diagnosed with Macular Degeneration. Edythe was worried she would not be able to paint the same way again.

Piccione read about Dr. Scott Hearing’s practice and his low vision success with macular degeneration. Edythe made an appointment to see Dr. Hearing, and he showed her the Merlin. Edythe loved the Merlin and now uses it everyday. Edythe said, “My Merlin is my friend and companion-it is wonderful. Merlin is the easiest and quickest low vision system I have ever worked with, and it has allowed me to continue painting as a professional artist. I would never do without my Merlin even for a week-if I moved I would want my Merlin to arrive first before anything else.”

Piccione uses Merlin to look at what she is painting and does a rough sketch; she then marks a map of the colors. Once this is done, Piccione begins to paint. Edythe found that the Merlin enabled her to paint even faster and see truer colors. Edythe states, “The most wonderful thing I find is the ease of use and true color with Merlin. I can see quickly what I could not see before-for me, Merlin is a life saver.”

Edythe continues to paint professionally and recently painted a mural for Dr. Scott Hearing’s new Low Vision clinic in Florida. The picture typifies her and Dr. Hearing’s motto that is, “After life itself, the greatest gift that God gives us is vision.” The painting depicts small children playing happily by the ocean, under the blue sky; but they have no eyelids. From the top of the painting comes a hand with a ray of light, and from each of the five fingers the children are given their sight back.

Derek Fincham is West Virginia’s Mountaineer mascot and an inspiration to many. You would never know by looking at him but he suffers from a low vision impairment. Thanks to the JORDY, he can read with ease. See how you too can benfit from low vision assistive technology.

Please enjoy Enhanced Vision’s first ever 30 second commercial. The commerical has been aired in Florida and Northern California. Enhanced Vision is very excited to air the commerical in many more areas in the country as well in the near future, stay tuned!

Marla Palmer worries that science teachers give up on her two blind children too easily.

That’s one reason why the president of the Utah Parents of Blind Children helped to organize Saturday’s “Science Without Sight” camp for 26 visually impaired Utah students from fourth through 12th grades.

Campers got the chance to handle alligators and chickens, build catapults, or learn about geology, while…

Source for complete article: http://getweb.info/biology/?p=9572

Twelve visually impaired artists, a few of whom are totally blind, were recently featured by the University of California at Riverside.

The shots they took are inspiring, considering that most won’t know where the camera lens is pointing. For Rosita McKenzie, she said she could be experimental as she can’t see. Her method was to sense the light on her face (possibly from the heat radiated by the light source), hear the rustle of the wind or use her sense of smell to identify…

For complete article: http://asia.cnet.com/crave/2009/05/12/visually-impaired-photographers-exhibit-mind-boggling-shots/

As little Tatyana Larbi, aka Little Miss Muffett, sings about selling her cotton and twigs to the “sister pigs,” you can tell the young girl is enjoying her moment in the limelight, even if she can’t see the audience’s response.

The set and costumes are pretty basic. Most were made by parents and volunteers. But that doesn’t matter to the beaming mothers, fathers and grandparents in the audience. The fact that these 10 children are performing this day is enough for them.

All of the actors in the Pumpkin Pickle Pop Cookies Opera are visually impaired 4- and 5-year-olds. Two are blind, and the others have varying degrees of sight. All are students in Atlanta’s Center for the Visually Impaired BEGIN program.

But today is their last day here…

Source for complete article: http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/05/14/visually.impaired.opera/index.html

Eating a diet rich in leafy vegetables, nuts and fish and low in starchy carbohydrates appears to lower risk for age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of severe vision loss in people over 50.

The findings, published this month in the journal Ophthalmology, is the first to calculate the combined effect of certain dietary nutrients…

Source for complete article: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/07/eating-for-eye-health/

“I think I’m the only blind principal in Los Angeles,” stated Connie Gibson after she developed diabetic retinopathy, which later led to sudden vision loss after complications from laser surgery. Now age 59, Gibson is currently legally blind, but has been able to move forward with her life. She continues working and living an active lifestyle despite her disability.

Vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy affects one in every 12 people with diabetes who are 40 or older. According to the National Eye Institute, it is one of the most common eye diseases among Americans age 40 and over that leads to some form of visual impairment like low vision, along with age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma, and cataracts….

Source for complete article: http://www.diabeteshealth.com/read/2009/05/05/6180/tips-and-solutions-for-diabetic-retinopathy-and-low-vision/

Macular degeneration primarily affects people who are 65 years of age or older. This eye disease is the leading cause of vision loss and blindness for people in this age bracket. With the baby boomers hitting their golden years in an ever increasing amount, this is causing doctors to diagnose more and more cases of degeneration of the macular. This disease does affect other groups as well, but the aged are the main target it seems….

Source for complete article: http://sixpackabscreator.com/taking-a-look-at-the-different-types-of-macular-degeneration/2009/05/06/

(Colorado Springs, Colo.) - Team USA won two gold medals and six overall on Saturday at the International German Championships for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Schmalkdalden, Germany.   

“Our athletes fought very well overall,” said Coach Scott Moore (Englewood, Colo.), a three-time Paralympic medalist. “This tournament gave them the opportunity…..

Source for complete article: http://judo.teamusa.org/news/article/12541