#blindness

This seemed important somehow:

I was 19 and on the trip of a lifetime – then I drank a cocktail laced with #methanol | Disability | The Guardian
Methanol is a type of #alcohol sometimes mixed into #bootleg liquor as a cheaper alternative to #ethanol. One mouthful can be deadly. As methanol metabolises in the body it creates harmful by-products: formaldehyde (used to embalm bodies), formate and formic acid, which attack nerves and organs and can lead to #blindness, #braindamage and death. #Formate is the main toxin that is produced and it acts like #cyanide by stopping energy production in cells, which causes depression of the central nervous system. There were large quantities of #methanol in King’s blood. The doctors were shocked, in the circumstances, that she had woken up at all in the hostel. In November last year, six tourists died in Laos from the suspected consumption of drinks laced with methanol.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/apr/29/i-was-19-and-on-the-trip-of-a-lifetime-then-i-drank-a-cocktail-laced-with-methanol

In the U.S., there's a "secret" form of media: radio reading services, where volunteers read aloud the text of newspapers, books and magazines. These used to be broadcast on "sidebands" — little hidden side pockets of public radio or TV stations' airwaves — for which folks needed a special radio, but nowadays you can access them online. There are 79 radio reading services across the United States (the first debuted in 1969) and their audiences are mainly blind or visually impaired, and over the age of 65. The impacts of the services can be profound. “A lot of people with visual impairments can become shut-in, and we found that people who listen to their local publications tend to get out and do more. They’re more engaged in their neighborhood," says Michael Benzin, executive director of the Niagara Frontier Radio Reading service in Buffalo, New York. "They vote, which obviously is important, and they’re more confident.” Here's more from Nieman Lab.

https://flip.it/9XAwBK

#Media #Journalism #MediaIndustry #LocalNews #Community #Blindness #VisualImpairment #Accessibility

Several tweets on Twitter/X including https://x.com/djseo_/status/1916638012894494859 appear to confirm my earlier report of work on a #Neuralink #Blindsight brain implant with 6,000 electrodes - 3,000 R/W electrodes per hemisphere in visual cortex (V1) https://x.com/seeingwithsound/status/1840434938971128095 #blind #blindness #BCI #NeuroTech

Neuralink Blindsight or The vOICe, that's the question...
https://www.artificialvision.com/neuralink.htm

#BCI #NeuroTech #blind #blindness

This is a different breakthrough than I just posted. It uses #nanotechnogy
Optics.org: Brown University nanoparticles help restore lost vision
A project at #BrownUniversity has developed a new approach to the treatment of age-related #maculardegeneration (AMD) and other #retinal disorders.
#Blindness

https://optics.org/news/16/4/36

Facts about #TerahertzRadiation (2/2)

- Your #5G device uses Terahertz Radiation to send thoughts and images right into your brain. To maximize efficacy of this measure, they are actually sending in three different frequency bands; most humans are susceptible to at least two out of those three.

- Terahertz Radiation is addictive; most of us have been exposed to it even while still in the womb, and withdrawal effects include conditions such as #blindness and often leads to #hematomata.

- Terahertz Radiation can be used to cut and burn away almost any material, including steel.

- Few people know that Thomas #Edison's main goal was to connect all homes in the USA to a direct control grid for Terahertz Radiation emitters. Due to Nikola #Tesla's involvement in the matter, efficiency of this control grid could be vastly improved, leading to the current state.

- Thanks to an astonishingly effective marketing campaign, most homes worldwide now contain a device that, based on control signals by government and other entities, sends out pulsed Terahertz Radiation and air pressure waves at the same time, aiming at the #brains of the people to control their actions.

#conspiracy

(video flashback, Russia, 2018) Beating the Argus II retinal implant with The vOICe non-invasive visual-to-auditory sensory substitution glasses in an open contest in Samara, Russia. Convincingly won by a blind user of The vOICe vision BCI.

#BCI #NeuroTech #blind #blindness

Please don't fret: even after your Neuralink Blindsight brain implant fails beyond repair you can still use The vOICe vision BCI https://www.artificialvision.com/neuralink.htm but better start training before the need arises. It's much like learning a foreign language.

#BCI #NeuroTech #blindness

I am working on creating a handbook that describes the assistive technologies available in the FreeBSD operating system, which will be freely available online for anyone to consult. Currently, the effort is focused on gathering and documenting accessibility features for visual impairments, and it is sponsored by the @FreeBSDFoundation

If you are interested in the topic, a public repository is available for suggestions and corrections: https://gitlab.com/alfix/freebsd-accessibility

#FreeBSD #UNIX #OpenSource #Accessibility #a11y #Blindness #LowVision #ColorBlindness #AssistiveTechnologies #Inclusion #Documentation #Coding

(flashback from 2014, over a million views) YouTube video about using the Argus II retinal implant for the very first time: Bionic Eye Recipient sees for first time in 33 years https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiyGOUHD2nI #BCI #NeuroTech #blindness

Elon Musk hopes later in 2025 to do the first Neuralink Blindsight brain implant for a blind human; "I want to set expectations appropriately", low resolution like Atari graphics https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFr40WENVTk&t=4863s #BCI #NeuroTech #blindness

Moreover, unlike with Neuralink, there is quite a bit of scientific literature based on use of The vOICe, although we still have important open questions that we would like to see addressed https://www.artificialvision.com/literature.htm especially regarding mental imagery engineering. #neuroscience #blindness

Unlike what you hear in hyping (Musk/Tesla-sponsored?) YouTube videos like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxsWVl3topE and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGouYWsYDW0, the real competitor for a Neuralink Blindsight brain implant for restoring vision to the blind is not the Gennaris Bionic Eye brain implant from Australia nor the ICVP Intracortical Visual Prosthesis from Illinois Institute of Technology from the US, but The vOICe vision BCI glasses,

https://www.artificialvision.com/neuralink.htm

#BCI #NeuroTech #blindness

https://www.europesays.com/1943530/ Report shows alarming measles resurgence in Europe and US #Antibodies #autism #blindness #brain #children #deafness #disability #europe #healthcare #hospital #hygiene #ImmuneSystem #InfectiousDiseases #Measles #medicine #Meningitis #MMR #Mumps #pathogen #Pneumonia #polio #PublicHealth #research #Respiratory #Rubella #Vaccine #virus

Commuting challenges

I was impressed by the runner and the cyclists but why was the air commuter allowed to condemn herself out of her own mouth - balance?

‘I’m aware that in sustainability terms, my commute is terrible. My hope is that my job has a bit of an offset and I might have an impact on future fashion professionals. I teach and research plus-size fashion and I’m interested in sustainability. ‘ (Ontario-NY commute)

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/mar/02/rush-hour-rewards-how-extreme-is-your-commute

#Blindness #Sustainability #Commute

No way that he could have done this with a retinal implant (he is blind from ROP, retinopathy of prematurity) or with a brain implant such as Elon Musk's Neuralink Blindsight.

https://www.artificialvision.com/android-glasses.htm

#BCI #NeuroTech #blindness

I'm visiting the #USA for the #CSUNATC25 conference. Buying coffee, I got the perfect #coin in change for a #blindness / #accessibility related conference: a 2003 Alabama quarter featuring Helen Keller.

This was the first US circulating coin to feature a representation of Braille (there was a non-circulating 1996 Paralympics coin).

A little on Helen Keller from Wikipedia: "American author, disability rights advocate, political activist and lecturer. Born in West Tuscumbia, Alabama, she lost her sight and her hearing after a bout of illness when she was 19 months old.

Keller attended Radcliffe College of Harvard University and became the first deafblind person in the United States to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller

#numismatics #CoinCollecting #Braille #deafblind @numismatics @accessibility

Atypical functional connectome in congenitally blind humans https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.28.640746v1 #neuroscience #blindness

Thank you to the lovely kind person from @AiraVI customer service who helped me change my plan this morning. Her kindness made doing a sad thing easier and being able to share a laugh made the day brighter. And the discount gained from being a member of one of the #Blindness organizations was like a bonus gift of goodness.

eyes-free ways to get to the Home screen on your #ios device. From Applevis https://www.applevis.com/guides/finding-your-way-home-home-buttonless-world-using-ios-device-without-home-button Alternatives to the default 'swipe-up' gesture that replaces the 'home' button. I'm pretty good at the default gesture, but may enable the "triple back-tap" option for use when I can't get it to work. #blind #blindness #accessibility A friend forwarded this to the VIBUG support forum. Maybe it's old hat to some of you, but I learned something new.