American Foundation for the Blind Celebrates On Helen Keller’s 139th birthday, the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) announced the status of it s ongoing project to digitize its Helen Keller Archive, with more than 176,000 digital images now available. The AFB points out that its...
Employee newsletter highlights incidents of bias. Google’s anonymous bias reporting newsletter, “Yes, At Google,” puts out a monthly microaggressions report, the Daily Caller reports. One employee started the newsletter in 2016 and it has grown over time. Today it is a monthly newsletter with an...
How to protect your eyes on the Fourth. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that fireworks-related eye injuries nearly doubled, from 700 in 2016 to 1,200 in 2017, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO). Fireworks caused nearly 13,000 injuries in 2017, compared...
Long Island legislator wants to amend county’s human rights law. Nassau County Legislator Joshua Lafazan has introduced a bill to amend the county’s human rights law to include hearing aids and similar devices as a “reasonable accommodation” that private and public employers can...
A genetic quirk has left many unable to hear. In Bengkala village in Bali’s north, being deaf isn’t unusual, Australia’s Channel 9 News reports. Genetics have led to a deafness rate well above the average, and for almost two centuries both the hearing and unhearing have perfected their own...
Birdwatchers advised to take down feeders and birdbaths. Bird enthusiasts who see house finches with red, swollen and crusty eyes at their backyard bird feeders and baths are being advised to take them down, the East Bay Times reports. Officials at Lindsay Wildlife Rehabilitation Hospital in...
Their range of expression has increased. Dogs’ faces are structured for complex expression in a way that wolves’ aren’t, thanks to a special pair of muscles framing their eyes, The Atlantic reports. Those muscles are responsible for that “adopt me” look that dogs can pull by raising their inner...
Specific games are designed to sharpen peripheral vision. Researchers from Lancaster University in the UK claim that playing computer games may actually improve a player’s vision, Bit-Gamer reports. Parents worry that gaming will harm their kids’ vision, but according to research...
Activist wants sign language interpreters for legislative sessions. A Kansas activist is asking the state’s highest court to require the Legislature to provide sign-language interpreters for its sessions, the Associated Press reports. Chris Haulmark, of Olathe, filed a petition last week with the...
Patricia Bath was the first African American surgeon at UCLA Medical Center. Retired UCLA ophthalmologist Patricia Bath, an inventor whose research on lasers advanced cataract surgery, died on May 30, The Scientist reports. Bath was the first African American surgeon at the UCLA medical center and...
Students in Maine wanted her to feel included. A kindergartener from Maine came to Dayton Consolidated School in 2017 and became its first deaf student, CBS News reports. The school wanted Morey to feel welcome, so they started learning sign language. To celebrate the kids’ accomplishments....
Bias also contributes to depression and loneliness. A new study in the UK finds that seniors with declining vision are more likely than their peers with good eyesight to experience discrimination, Reuters Health reports. Researchers surveyed more than 7,000 men and women aged 50 and older and...