On behalf of everyone at Vision Loss Alliance of New Jersey, we wish you Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas and Joyous Kwanzaa! May your holidays be peaceful and filled with laughter and joy.
Image description: The words “HAPPY Holidays” are written in black ink on a grey wood background. There are evergreens and red/green holly on the left side on the image. The Vision Loss Alliance logo overlays the evergreens in the bottom left corner.
“I want an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!”
“No, you’ll shoot your eye out.”
Although this line from “A Christmas Story” is funny in the movie, it’s nothing to laugh about in the real world, as the risk of eye injuries increases during the holidays.
Here are some general safety tips to make sure you don’t have to take an emergency trip to see your ophthalmologist:
• Decorating – pointy lights, glass ornaments, and sharp needles all pose significant eye injury risk. Moreover, if you are spraying anything like artificial snow be sure to keep those chemicals out of your eyes.
• Christmas Tree🎄– wear eye protection if cutting down or trimming your own tree. Use caution when mounting it on your car, and while setting up as well. It’s easy to be poked in the eye with branches when tree wrapping is released, or when working on securing the tree.
• Popping the bubbly 🍾 – New Year’s celebrations and champagne go hand in hand, but so do champagne bottle corks and eye injuries. This year, uncork that bottle of champagne with a hand towel over it to ensure the cork doesn’t fly. While not as flashy as a cork flying across the room, sending a party guest to the emergency room isn’t exactly a positive party memory.
• Toys and other gifts 🎁 – Avoid purchasing toys with sharp, protruding or projectile parts. Before gifting a doll house or remote control car to little ones, be sure to unpack it and identify any sharp edges on the toy or its accessories.
• Mistletoe – It is is meant to be a surprise, but sometimes it’s a bit too much of one… right in the eye! Those on the shorter side are in luck, but all those tall guys and gals out there need to keep an eye out for that unexpected mistletoe.
DYI gift idea! 🎁 Mallory Carr, a teacher for people with vision loss in California, came up with this crafty do-it-yourself idea for a Braille memory game.
How to:
Use cardboard, thick paper, cork board or otherwise sturdy material as your game board.
Create pairs of cards out of cardboard or thick paper, and use puff paint to write words or contractions in Braille on them. This is also a great way to start learning Braille for beginners, or can be made more difficult for advanced readers.
Use Velcro to keep the cards put on the board, and voila! You have an accessible gift to give this holiday season! 🌲
🎁 Holiday gift idea! 🎁
It’s entertaining, it’s fun, it’s a great pastime. It’s a… video game?
Lost and Hound is a video game specifically designed to be accessible for people with vision loss. It looks like a regular game, but it can be completed successfully with using audio alone – as tracking dog Biscuit, the player follows an audio trail that reflects a dog’s powerful sense of hearing to complete a rescue mission.
Each level draws inspiration from real-life search and rescue dog situations, such as sniffing out survivors in rubble after earthquakes and in collapsed mines.
The developer says players who are blind or have low vision tend to be better at the game than sighted players, because those with sight don’t use sound to inform their decisions – for them it’s more reactionary.
Would you play this game? 🕹
Follow the link for more info: https://phys.org/news/2019-06-lost-hound-video-games-vision.html?fbclid=IwAR0brTeYYXuvo6jtof3phAxkhvqE3VaVE-SxdfAIV2JSnMdNKYaEXko5W4g
Holiday parties coming up? If that means sparkly eyeshadow, faux lashes and lots of glitter, remember to take extra caution when applying makeup or other cosmetics around the eyes.
A couple helpful tips:
• Only use cosmetics that are designed for use around the eyes. Avoid products that contain untested or harsh chemicals.
• Be careful with metallic, glitter, sparkle powder or other makeup. Flakes can fall into the eye, get into the tear film and irritate your eyes.
•Never share eye makeup, even with family or close friends, to avoid eye infections.
Find out more about using cosmetics safely this holiday season here.