Savvy Senior

Dear Savvy Senior,

What resources can you recommend to help seniors with incurable vision impairment? My wife has macular degeneration and has become very discouraged.

Looking for Help

Dear Looking,

Unfortunately, there are nearly 2 million Americans, like your wife, living with macular degeneration today, making everyday tasks like cooking dinner, reading the newspaper or watching television extremely challenging. Here are some resources that can help.

Vision Rehabilitation

The best place to get help living and coping with macular degeneration is at a vision rehabilitation agency. Typically run by state or nonprofit organizations, there are around 1,500 of these agencies scattered across the country that provide free or low-cost services to help seniors and their families who are living with all types of incurable vision impairments.

While vision rehabilitation does not restore lost sight, it does help people maximize their existing sight, or, if they have no vision, it can equip them with techniques and tools to help them maintain an independent lifestyle.

Services include counseling, along with training on how to perform daily living tasks with low vision, and how to use visual and adaptive devices and assistive technologies that can help improve quality of life.

They also offer guidance for adapting your home that will make it safer and easier for your wife to maneuver, and can help her locate low-vision support groups in your area which is very helpful. Some agencies will even send their specialist out to work with her in the comfort of your own home.

To find a vision rehabilitation agency in your area, call the American Foundation for the Blind referral line at 800-232-5463.

If, however, you don’t live near a vision rehabilitation agency, you can also get help from an occupational therapist, or OT, who can provide low vision training in your home. Ask your ophthalmologist or doctor for a referral to an OT in your area. Your Area Agency on Aging (call 800-677-1116 for contact information) can also help you find nearby therapists. Many health insurance providers, including Medicare, will pay for low vision training by an OT if prescribed by your eye doctor or healthcare provider.

Online Help

Another convenient place to find help for your wife is online at a terrific new website called VisionAware (visionaware.org). Created by the American Foundation for the Blind and the Reader’s Digest Partners for Sight Foundation, this site provides free information on eye conditions, along with dozens of practical tips and instructional videos on living with vision loss, including concepts for adapting your home to make it easier to navigate, techniques for traveling safely outside the home, and various tips on how to manage things like finances, medications, and other tasks like cooking, cleaning, grooming, reading, writing and more.

It also offers a comprehensive list of low vision products and technologies that can help your wife stay active and independent, including product reviews that are published in their online magazine called “AccessWorld.”

Other Resources

Two other good resources that can help you and your wife are the Ears for Eyes program and the MD Support website.

Ears for Eyes (earsforeyes.info, 800-843-6816) is a nonprofit public charity that provides free audio lessons on cassette tapes, CDs and Internet downloads that teach adaptive daily living skills to the vision impaired and their caregivers.

And mdsupport.org, which is a public service website for seniors living with macular degeneration that provides information and links to support groups across the country, and links to low-vision products, services and other resources that can help with many different needs.