There's an NIH for that...

The National Institutes of Health (NIH), a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the nation’s medical research agency — making important discoveries that improve health and save lives. NIH is made up of 27 Institutes and Centers, each with a specific research agenda, often focusing on particular diseases or body systems.

National Eye Institute

The primary NIH organization for research on eyes is the National Eye Institute (NEI). The mission of NEI is to eliminate vision loss and improve quality of life through vision research. Clinical studies — research studies that involve people — can help researchers learn more about eye problems. One type of study, called a clinical trial, helps researchers try out new ways to test for and treat eye disease.

National Institute on Aging

National Institute on Aging (NIA) helps raise awareness of Aging and Your Eyes, such as:

• Losing the ability to see up close
• Having trouble distinguishing colors, such as blue from black
• Needing more time to adjust to changing levels of light

National Library of Medicine

The National Library of Medicine (NLM), the world's largest medical library, offers a free online health information resource for consumers. Use Medlineplus.gov to find Eyes and Vision Health Topics both in English and Spanish.

Eye Conditions and Diseases

Some eye diseases can lead to vision loss, so it is important to identify and treat eye diseases as early as possible. According to the Centers for Disease Control, vision loss is "among the top 10 causes of disability in the United States." Chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes increase the risk of vision loss. There are also several eye conditions and diseases that may cause low vision or blindness including glaucoma, cataracts, and age-related macular degeneration.

Age-related macular degeneration can harm the sharp, central vision needed to see objects clearly and to do common things like driving and reading. Your eye care professional will ask about your family history and look for signs of AMD during a dilated eye exam. Treatments are available, and special dietary supplements can help lower your chance of it getting worse.

Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in working-age adults. The good news is that regular eye exams can find problems early, when they're easier to treat.

• 5 Things You Should Know About Diabetic Eye Disease [PDF English]
• African Americans With Diabetes Can Prevent Vision Loss [PDF English]
• American Indians and Alaska Natives With Diabetes Can Prevent Vision Loss [PDF English]

Glaucoma usually has no warning signs — and half of the people who have it don’t know it. Spread the word about how early treatment can stop the damage and help prevent vision loss.

• 5 Things to Know About Glaucoma [PDF English] [PDF Spanish]
• Don't Lose Sight of Glaucoma [PDF English] [PDF Spanish]

Vision Impairment and Blindness

It is important to be mindful of other people's lived experiences and make information accessible and inclusive.

See What I See: Virtual Reality Eye Disease Experience is the National Eye Institute's virtual reality (VR) app that allows you "to see" what it is like to live with vision loss.

Living Well With Low Vision has a the mission to make it as easy as possible for people to educate themselves about loss of vision and to meet the daily challenges resulting from it. By empowering individuals, we hope to provide practical ways for people to improve the quality of their daily lives and relieve the emotional trauma that often accompanies low vision. The ABCs of Caring for the Visually Impaired

American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) provides information, conducts research, policy initiatives and advocacy around blindness and low vision.

National Federation of the Blind (NFB) does programming and outreach and provides information on resources and tools for living with blindness and low vision. There are affiliates in every state with links to local resources.

National Library Services for the Blind and Print Disabled (NLS), run by the Library of Congress, administers a free national library program that provides braille and recorded materials to people who cannot see regular print or handle print materials. NLS serves its patrons through a network of cooperating libraries. All network libraries provide access to NLS-produced braille and talking books and magazines, which they circulate via postage-free mail. Some libraries have additional collections, including large-print books and described DVDs. Contact your library today to find out what services they can offer you.

Programming

Nationally recognized months help raise awareness for health information. The National Eye Institute and the American Academy of Opthamology have created ready-to-use resources, tips, and messages.

Monthly Observances to Promote Eyes & Vision Health Information [PDF]

Book

This memoir takes readers on adventures around the world: from Eritrea and Ethiopia to building a school under the scorching Saharan sun to training with a guide dog in New Jersey, climbing an iceberg in Alaska, fighting for blind readers at a courthouse in Vermont, and talking with President Obama at The White House. Warm, funny, thoughtful, and uplifting, this captivating book is a testament to Haben’s determination to resist isolation and find the keys to connection. --adapted from the author's website

A New York Times “New & Noteworthy” Pick, an Oprah Magazine “Book of the Month” favorite, and a Publishers Weekly Bestseller.

Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law | Haben Girma |  Twelve; Illustrated edition | 2019 | 288 pages | ISBN: 978-1538728727 | WorldCat |   

Author

The first person with deafblindness to graduate from Harvard Law School, Haben Girma is a human rights lawyer advancing disability justice. President Obama named her a White House Champion of Change. She received the Helen Keller Achievement Award, a spot on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, and TIME100 Talks. President Bill Clinton, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Chancellor Angela Merkel have all honored Haben. She believes disability is an opportunity for innovation, and she teaches organizations the importance of choosing inclusion. Haben was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she currently lives. --from the author's website

Official Website of Haben Girma

Book

Billie Scott is an artist. Her debut gallery exhibition opens in a few months. Within the fortnight she'll be completely blind. As Billie struggles to deal with her impending blindness, she sets off on a journey from Middlesbrough to London; into a world of post-austerity Britain and the problems facing those left behind. Her goal is to find ten people to paint for her exhibition, as well as the inspiration to continue with her art, and the strength to move on with her life. -- Back cover

The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott | Zoe Thorogood | Avery Hill Publishing, 2nd edition | 2021 | 168 pages | ISBN: 978-1910395646 | WorldCat

Author

Zoe Thorogood is a comic creator from the UK. She debuted in 2020 with The Impending Blindness Of Billie Scott. She has also illustrated HAHA and most recently Joe Hill’s Rain. Her auto-bio-graphic novel is It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth.

Book

A probing, witty, and deeply insightful history of blindness--in Western culture and literature, and in the author's own experience--that ranges from Homer to Milton to Braille to Stevie Wonder. M. Leona Godin begins her fascinating, wide-ranging study with an exploration of how the idea of sight is inextricably linked with knowledge and understanding; how "blindness" has, for millennia, been used as a metaphor for ignorance; and how, in metaphorical terms, blindness can also be made to suggest a door to artistic or spiritual transcendence. And she makes clear how all of this has obscured the reality of blindness, as a consequence of which many blind people have to deal not just with their disability but also with expectations of "specialness." Godin illuminates the often surprising history of both the physiological condition and of the ideas that have attached to it. She incorporates analysis of blindness in art and literature (from King Lear to Star Wars) and in culture (assumptions of the blind as pure and magically wise) with the science of blindness and key developments in accessibility (the white cane, seeing eye dogs, eBooks), and with her own experience of gradually losing sight over the course of three decades. Altogether, she gives us a revelation of the centrality of blindness and vision to humanity's understanding of itself and the world. -- Provided by publisher

There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness | M Leona Godin | Pantheon | 2021 | 352 pages | ISBN: 978-1524748715 | WorldCat |  

Author

M. Leona Godin (pronounced like French sculptor Rodin) is a writer, performer, educator, and the author of There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural history of Blindness (Pantheon, 2021). Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Playboy, O Magazine, Electric Literature, Catapult, and other print and online publications. She produced two plays: “The Star of Happiness” about Helen Keller’s time performing in vaudeville, and “The Spectator and the Blind Man,” about the invention of braille. Godin holds a PhD in English, and besides her many years teaching literature and humanities courses at NYU, she has lectured on art, accessibility, technology, and disability at such places as Tandon School of Engineering, Rice University, Baylor College of Medicine, and the American Printing House for the Blind. Her online magazine exploring the arts and sciences of smell and taste, Aromatica Poetica, publishes writing and art from around the world. --from the publisher's website

Photo: © Leona Godin Faces Her Portrait 2020, photograph by Alabaster Rhumb, painting by Roy Nachum

Interview