What to Expect from a Vision Rehabilitation Evaluation at the University
of Iowa Center for Macular Degeneration
Your services begin even before you come to our clinic. After your
appointment has been scheduled, our vision rehabilitation educator will contact you
to ask questions about your health, eye condition, and visual goals--the
things you would like to do, but cannot do now because of loss of vision.
We use all of this information to plan your visit. When you come to our
clinic, the vision rehabilitation specialist will evaluate your visual skills, talk with
you and your family about problems caused by your visual impairment and
explain how you can make the best use of your vision through training,
devices and services. Together, you, the vision rehabilitation specialist and the vision rehabilitation team develop a rehabilitation plan to help you meet your visual
goals. Carrying out the plan may take several visits over the next few
days or weeks. During training sessions, the vision rehabilitation educator teaches
you new ways to use your vision as well as any recommended devices. You
can learn about services available by mail and in your community. We can
also arrange for a specialist to adapt your home and integrate your new
skills and devices into your daily activities. Optical devices are available
for trial in your home to be sure that they fulfill your specific needs
and training in the use of these devices is provided. We will send a full
report to your ophthalmologist or optometrist.
Dr. Wilkinson demonstrates
the use of a video magnifier to read a newspaper.
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