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Centre for Sight
Enhancement
Seven-year-old Divya was brought to the Centre for Sight Enhancement (rehab link) in December 2001. She had already undergone surgery in both eyes for developmental cataract when she was two years old. However, the surgery had not helped her much.
Divya's father died when she was four years old, leaving her the mother to fend for them. Her mother earned a living by working in other people's homes. An eye doctor in her locality suggested to her mother to put Divya in a school for the blind because of her poor vision. Divya began going to the Deonar School for the Blind and learnt to read Braille.
Subsequently, her mother brought the child to LVPEI, where she was referred to the Centre for Sight Enhancement. Divya had significant functional vision and could read fine print (N8) with bifocal glasses for
aphakia. When she had surgery at the age of two, doctors had not put an intraocular lens in the eye, which had led to
aphakia.
At the Centre Divya's mother was advised to admit the child to a regular school and assured that she would be able to function normally with the help of low vision devices. Divya was provided boldline writing books and soft lead pencils (3B), apart from special reading glasses. The Centre gave them a letter of recommendation addressed to a mainstream school near their home, Graceland High School. Divya was also given a medical certificate to enable her to avail of government concessions for the handicapped.
Divya returned to the Centre in May 2003 with a letter from her class teacher. She had been promoted to class three with good grades. But she still had a problem reading the chalkboard, even from the front row of the class. Divya received training in the use of the telescope at the Children's Rehabilitation
Centre. Her distance vision improved from 6/38 to 6/12 when she used a 4x monocular telescope. After the training, she was presented with a telescope. The telescope costs Rs 5000 but, due to generous donations from caring individuals the world over, the Centre is able to present low vision devices free of cost to the economically disadvantaged.
Divya is a shining example of how appropriate and timely low vision counselling can enable a child to study in a regular school and live a fairly normal life. This minimizes the psychosocial implications of studying in a special school for the blind.
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