What are Low Vision Specialists and Vision Rehabilitation Specialists?
Low vision and vision rehabilitation specialists are professionals trained specifically to help people like you who have poor vision (“low” vision) caused by an eye disease such as AMD. They conduct a different kind of eye exam than your regular eye doctor. They use special eye charts and tools designed especially for evaluating low vision. Their main goals are to evaluate your usable vision, talk with you about what tasks or activities you are having trouble performing, and teach you how to use visual techniques and optical and other devices that can help. One visual technique you can learn allows you to “look around” areas of your vision that are damaged. This skill is called “eccentric viewing.” When you learn eccentric viewing, you make use of parts of your retina that are still healthy in order to see. Learning how to do it takes a lot of practice and several training sessions, but many people are amazed at the level of functioning they can maintain. In addition to visual techniqu
