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Vision loss is no obstacle at work: Aging workers will benefit from tech advances
DURHAM, Jan 18, 2009 (The News & Observer - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
The Duke Eye Center has a room the size of a walk-in closet that is full of gadgets. Reading machines that talk. Magnifiers of all shapes and sizes. Talking watches. Tools that help you get up, get breakfast and get to work each day.
It is, no pun intended, a room full of vision and alive with possibilities.
"My job is to show people there's no such thing as 'I can't,' " said Jerry Mansell, the gadget master for Duke's vision rehabilitation program. His job is to match patients with tools that help them retain their independence at home and, perhaps most important, at work.
About 21 million Americans reported significant vision loss in 2006, according to the American Foundation for the Blind's latest statistics. That number is projected to double over the next two decades as baby boomers age (many eye problems start in your 40s) and diabetes -- a factor in vision loss -- increases with obesity rates.
The American With Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination in the workplace, but over the past five years, technological advances -- like those on display at Duke -- have truly made it easier for people with severe vision problems to continue working. Of working-age adults with vision loss, half are employed, according to the foundation.
At the state's Rehabilitation Center for the Blind, which is on the campus of the Governor Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh, Dr. Emmanuel Kai-Lewis uses talking software to aid his keystrokes. A burst blood vessel and glaucoma rendered Kai-Lewis blind in both eyes. But the 62-year-old ophthalmologist, who until nine years ago worked for the World Health Organization, is looking for a job to supplement his disability check. In spite of a worsening labor market, he imagines himself teaching -- basic anatomy classes, for example.
"There are not many jobs that people who are blind or visually impaired can't do," said Debbie Jackson, director of the N.C. Division of Services for the Blind. Jackson can read large print on a computer screen, but she sees very little of anything that's more than a few feet away.
Daniel Duffy shows what people with severe vision loss are capable of doing.
Ten months ago, Duffy, 38, was a hard-charging executive who oversaw the pharmacy operations of Biologics, a Cary company that helps patients, employers and drug makers with cancer treatments. On the job, he led negotiations with drug makers and traveled to meet pharmaceutical representatives in Chicago, New York or Atlanta several times a year. Off the job, he was the family's breadwinner and the father of four girls. He played ice hockey, ran, lifted weights.
"Life was clicking along," Duffy said.
Then, driving home from a family vacation March 29, 2008, he noticed what he thought was a smudge on his right contact lens. The car in front of him disappeared when he closed his left eye. But the blind spot didn't go away when he popped out the contact lens at home.
Two weeks of tests found nothing wrong with his eyes. Then, his mother called and told him about the rare eye disease that runs in his family.
Adapting to lost sight
Leber hereditary optic neuropathy rapidly destroyed Duffy's central vision, first in one eye and then in the other. The disease could progress further, but for now he sees more close up; and when he turns his head and uses his peripheral vision, he sees blurry shapes. He has given up ice hockey. He relies on an acquaintance to drive him to work and back to his Chapel Hill home every day. His co-workers get him lunch. But his job responsibilities at Biologics haven't changed.
With the help of Duke's Mansell, Duffy replaced his BlackBerry with more useful technology: An MP3 player stores taped meetings. Special software enlarges words on a wide computer screen he can read from about a hand's width away. A desktop magnifier comes in handy with notes Duffy takes in large letters during phone conversations.
On his last business trip -- to meet a pharma rep in New York City -- he navigated LaGuardia Airport on his own using a white cane. "You follow the flow, and usually people are exceptionally helpful," Duffy said. A fellow traveler helped him claim his luggage, and the pharma rep took a hotel room on the same floor to assist him.
Because he owns part of Biologics -- he and another former investment manager at Franklin Street Advisors in Chapel Hill bought a $20 million stake in the company 18 months ago -- Duffy doesn't worry that his vision problems will cost him his job. Also, he is able to delegate a lot in his position.
"At this point of my career, I'm worth more for this," he said, pointing to his head, "than this," he added, showing his hands.
Duffy said he is still getting used to memorizing his presentations. Also, it's difficult to not see people's body language. But his biggest challenge, Duffy said, was "getting to work every morning."
Having to give up driving is a huge setback in the Triangle, where public transportation tends to be cumbersome and slow.
Duffy catches rides to work with a SAS employee who lives in Chapel Hill. He met her while talking to visually impaired employees at SAS, which has its campus near Biologics.
Transportation is also a challenge for Brenda Van Hook, 56. Over the past eight years, inflammation and cataracts have cost her much of her eyesight. All she sees now are blurry shapes and shadows.
When Van Hook worked at LC Industries, a company set up to employ visually impaired and blind people, she commuted more than two hours on a special shuttle and two buses to get from her home north of Hillsborough to her job in Durham. She lost her job in November, a victim of the slumping economy. But as she looks for work, she's more concerned about transportation than her ability to find a job.
She is considering moving to Raleigh or Durham to be closer to prospective jobs. With the computer skills she has learned since losing her sight, she is confident she can work in customer service.
sabine.vollmer@newsobserver.com or 919-829-8992
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