| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,000,000)
Fiscal Year 1995: ¥400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥400,000)
Fiscal Year 1994: ¥1,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000)
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| Research Abstract |
According to the Japanese government, more than 353,000 persons were registered as visually disabled in 1991. Moreover, the number of aged and non-registered persons who should undergo an early ophthalmic rehabilitation is rapidly increasing.
First of all, we investigated that how those visually disabled persons (VDP) were in daily living, and what they wanted to do. In the Ophthalmic Rehabilitation Clinic (ORC) of the Hospital of Kawasaki Medical School, ophthalmologists, orthoptists and an ophthalmic social worker made a general assessment of the VDP with regard to their residual visual function, the possibility of using visual aids, walking and ADL condition, and social and environmental status.
For the low vision patients, we studied their eye movements when they read some sentences with a magnifying television (CCTV) for reading, and also we recorded their eye movements when they walked on the street. For the eye movements when reading sentences of a book, more times of "pause", which indicated to read some words as a block, were shown in the VDP with low visual acuity as well as with small visual field than that in normal persons. When reading with the CCTV,a larger optokinetic nystagmus was seen in the VDP.These findings suggests that we have to guide the VDP not to make asthenopia by training of a good eye-hand coordination.
For the eye movements when walking on the street, however, the number of the eye movements were lesser in the more severe VDP,which indicated that it was very dangerous sapce for walking within the VDP's height. It is suggested that we should develope a certain sensor using the other sensory organs ; auditory, skin touch and smell.
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