Gonz Blinko’s Blind News Digest – Edition 4

Introduction

Welcome to Edition 4 of Gonz Blinko's Blind News Digest. This edition has fifty stories about blind people and blindness from all over the world. We're certain you will find articles that you think are interesting, informative and, in a couple of cases, funny.

As we do in every edition of the digest, we'd like to acknowledge our friend in the UK, Leon Gilbert. He practically invented blind news and he has a terrific Twitter feed which you can follow at @leongilbert.

Last Edition

If you missed it, you can read edition 3 of the news digest at Gonz Blinko's Blind News Digest – Edition 3. We'll include links to the previous edition in the Introduction section of each week's version.

Never Miss An Issue

If you're enjoying Gonz Blinko's Blind News Digest, you can subscribe by email to this blog and you'll never miss an issue. At this time, we do not have a way to subscribe to the news digest without also receiving my other blog articles which are about a single topic at a time. I never publish more than one blog article in any given week. If you subscribe and enjoy my articles, then you'll be receiving them more conveniently; if you subscribe and don't care for my articles, it's only a single keystroke to delete them.

To subscribe, just find where it says "Subscribe To The New Chris Hofstader By Email" on this page, put in your email address and hit submit. It's really very easy.

How It's Organized

When we add a story to this digest, we put into one of the different categories we have to help keep the articles organized as best we can. Sometimes but not often, stories come to us that don't fit a particular category and I do my best to find the closest match or, in some instances, create a new category for that story and any others like it that may show up in the future. Not every edition has all of the same categories as some weeks no stories fall into a particular one and I try to refine the categories with each issue to make them better.

Categories are all at heading level two and articles are links at heading level three.

Editorial By Chris Hofstader

The first three editions of Gonz Blinko's Blind News Digest all led with the Braille category. January 4 was Louis Braille's birthday and is celebrated as International Braille Day. Our first edition also came out on January 4 and had a handful of articles related to braille. The next two editions also had articles about braille. A lot of these articles were in recognition of International Braille Day and this week we had zero articles about braille pop up in our GoogleAlerts. Braille is one of the most important tools to which blind people have access and is, by far, the most important thing that a blind child can be taught. Research shows that learning to read, either visually or with braille while a young child when neuroplasticity is at its most active will result in greater success when learning other subjects that require processing of symbolic information and greater success later in life. Learning to read creates neural pathways in children in ways that an audio replacement cannot. Braille is essential and we should be hearing more about it.

This edition also contains some articles with humorous titles and amusing content. The first two under the Science and Medicine heading discuss whether stinky farts can cause blindness and, as the old warning went, does Masturbation cause blindness. As usual, we have a real lot of other stories in the Science and Medicine Section.

The last section in this edition is the largest one we've ever had under the Sports and Athletics category. These stories are from all around the globe and talk about a wide variety of different sports. If you care about blind athletes and blind people enjoying sports, you'll find a lot of good stories this week.

We've received a number of comments through the contact form that readers would like to hear more articles about blind entrepreneurs. We've had a few of these so far and we've a couple of them in this edition but, sadly, we don't find a lot of articles about blind entrepreneurs. If you know of a source for more such articles, please tell us so we can find them.

Lastly, January is also glaucoma awareness month. We have a number of articles in the Science and medicine section on glaucoma in this edition.

Science and Medicine

Doctor Reveals Stinky Farts Can Make You Go Blind

There's a reason they're called silent but deadly – according to one doctor, really stinky farts can theoretically make you go blind. This story came from LADbible.

Masturbation & Blindness? Fascinating Investigation

These are scientists reporting the phenomenon, not me. Perhaps old Dr. Burns was onto something. This story came to us from Patheos.

Woman waiting months for cataract surgery in constant pain

A woman left blind for 15 YEARS after doctors misdiagnosed her easily operable cataracts has finally regained her sight. This story came to us from Stuff.co.nz.

New Research Reveals Top Three Barriers Keeping Children from Cataract Treatment

“More children are blind in India than in any other country, and in over half of cases, sight could be restored with early intervention. This story is from NewsX.

New research gives hope for sight recovery in stroke survivors

Researchers used MRI imaging to map the visual brain activity of blind stroke survivors, giving them new hopes for rehabilitation and recovery. This story is from California News Times.

Different treatment options for glaucoma

Once glaucoma is diagnosed, lifelong treatment will be necessary. This story came from Miami County Republic.

A longitudinal study of the association between visual impairment and income change using a national health screening cohort

We evaluated the influence of visual impairment (VI) on income change using the longitudinal database of a Korean National Health Insurance Service. This story came to us from Nature.

Good news to patients with corneal blindness: MIOK Keratoprosthesis, the World's First Artificial Cornea of 100% Non-biological Materials has been approved for listing in China

MIOK Keratoprosthesis was approved for listing by NMPA, the Chinese agency for regulating drugs and medical devices. MIOK Keratoprosthesis is the world's first ever approved artificial cornea that requires no co-implantation of donor corneas, and is of great significance across the 60 million patients with corneal blindness worldwide. This story is from Yahoo Finance.

Retinopathy of Prematurity as Multidisciplinary Approach

The majority (75.6%) believe that the ROP treatment can successfully prevent blindness. This story comes to us from JMDH – Dove Medical Press.

Study finds up to 30% of patients with wet macular degeneration can safely stop eye injections

In a preliminary study of 106 people with “wet” age-related macular degeneration, Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers report that as many as a third of those with the blinding retinal disease may someday be able to safely stop eye injection therapy without further vision loss. This story came to us from EurekAlert.

Bionic eye implant enables blind UK woman to detect visual signals

Bionic eye implant enables blind UK woman to detect visual signals. We've seen a number of bionic eyes come and go and none worked well at all. Maybe this one is different. This story came from News Concerns.

Rates of Short-sightedness Increase in UK

Our changing environment, as well as changing gene-environment interactions, could explain increasing rates of short-sightedness over time in the UK, reports a new study led by UCL. This story came to us from Mirage News.

This Is What Dreaming Can Look Like For A Blind Person

When you dream, what do you see? Our dreams are usually vivid and we can often visually remember the scenery, people and other aspects. But is this the same for people who can’t see? How do people who are blind experience dreams? This story is from HuffPost UK Life.

These berries protect against blindness! The glasses will no longer be needed

Yiu and his colleagues found that healthy people aged 45 to 65 who consumed 28 grams (about a handful) of goji berries five times a week for 90 days had an increase in the density of the protective pigments in their eyes. This story is from SparkChronicles.

Eyesight health: Junk food may lead to blindness warns case report

A harrowing case report published in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests living off a particular type of food can cause blindness. This story came to us from Daily Express.

Technology

Technology helping the blind or visually impaired 'see

Sometimes the profusion of apps, new devices and other tech tools could make you dizzy but choices are good, especially for the blind or visually impaired. This story came to us from Fifty Plus Advocate.

App helps blind visitors appreciate Butler collection

Now, The Butler Institute of American Art is an Aira location. This story came from The Vindicator.

Infrared goggles and vibrating armband help people who are blind 'see

An array of vibrating pads can convey a low-resolution image of a location to help people who are blind navigate. This story came to us from New Scientist.

Blindness Organizations

Bureau of Services for Blind Persons adjusts to pandemic-related challenges

We've all had to make changes due to the pandemic and blindness agencies are no different. This story came from WOODTV.com.

Newton's Carroll Center For The Blind Receives $1.5M Donation

The gift from Gordon Gund and the Gund Family will support rehabilitation initiatives for people who are blind or have low vision. This story came from Patch.

Society for the Blind and Visually Impaired welcomes new Volunteer Coordinator

The St Louis Society for the Blind and Visually Impaired has announced that they have hired Mary Morgan-Corbitt as their Volunteer Coordinator. This story came from St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Contact AFB Talent Lab

We’re currently focused on developing the AFB Talent Lab, a new program for design and engineering college students as well as adults with disabilities, with the goal of training a new generation of industry professionals in authentic, inclusive digital design. This story came from AFB.

Foundation Fighting Blindness Promotes Jason Menzo to President and Chief Operating Officer

If you read the article I wrote a couple of years ago called "Blindness Charities And Money, Part 1: The Aggregation," you would have seen that FFB is primarily a fundraising organization and does little with the money they raise. This story came from KPVI.

LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired – Holman Prize

LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired is pleased to announce applications for the annual Holman Prize for Blind Ambition for 2022 are now open. This story came from CNIB.

Presidential Release 511, December 2021

This is the transcript of a statement made by NFB president Mark Riccobono. This story came from National Federation of the Blind.

Education

Perkins School for the Blind Seeking Volunteers

Perkins is building a world where people with complex disabilities and visual impairments can learn and thrive in Watertown and around the world. This one came from Patch.

Colleges, Universities to Create Resources for Blind Students

More colleges and universities are becoming accessible to blind students. This story is from News18.

Business

Srikanth Bolla: The blind CEO's £48m company which nearly didn't happen

As a teenager, blind businessman Srikanth Bolla sued an Indian state to study maths and science. This story came from BBC.

Vision Care Market 2022 Key Players, SWOT Analysis

the global vision care market size is projected to account for over US$ 127,730 Mn, in terms of value, by 2028. This story came from Market Research Blog.

Blind Contractor Demands KSh 540000 Balance from School for Dormitory He Built 4 Years Ago

Simuyu was contracted to construct a dormitory at St. Kizito Girls' High School before he lost his eyesight. – This story came to us from Tuko.

Kodiak (KOD) falls 3.62% on Strong Volume January 18

Kodiak Sciences Inc (NASDAQ: KOD) shares fell 3.62%, … retinal medicines to prevent and treat the leading causes of blindness. This story is from Equities News.

Transportation and Mobility

Blind woman praised for sharing brilliant hacks to help navigate the world Without Sight

A blind woman from Hertfordshire has shared some incredible hacks that she uses in her life to navigate the world with sight loss. This story came from The Mirror.

Woman raffling off her car because she could go blind at 'any minute

A woman whose sight 'could go at any minute' is raffling off her car after being told she can no longer drive. This story is from Grimsby Live.

Crime and Policing

Neptune Beach police searching for missing blind man

Joshua R. Arce, 26, was reported missing after leaving Memorial Hospital in Neptune Beach without being discharged. This story came to us from First Coast News.

Scammers E-Mail Fake Speeding Ticket to a Blind Indiana Man

You would think that with all the time and effort scammers put into creating a scam they would use some of that time on researching the people they are targeting to make sure there's a chance they may actually take the bait. I found this one to be pretty amusing. It's from 99.5 WKDQ.

Safety

Blind man's death fall in Southampton was preventable

The family of a blind man with cancer who died when he fell from a fourth-floor balcony have said his death could have been prevented. This story is from BBC.

Art and Artists

Celebrating James Joyce’s Modern Vision, ‘Ulysses’ at 100

According to a biographer Joyce described his writing of the novel this way: “I’ve put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that’s the only way of ensuring one’s immortality.” This story came to us from WSJ.

10-year-old blind student earns lead role in Aladdin play at Layton Theatre

Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind (USDB) student Snow Eklund will play the lead role in Aladdin at the Layton Theatre. This story comes to us from ABC4 Utah.

Good News

Actor Yul Edochie gifts blind man who mimics his voice with N100,000- Watch

The man who is obviously a great fan of the popular Nigerian actor became an internet sensation when a video of him speaking in a very deep voice akin to Yul surfaced online. This one came from GhBase.

Blind shearing shed roustabout moving on to new challenges

Ashlea Hughes is legally blind, but it hasn't stopped her from dancing, working as a roustabout in shearing sheds, and pursuing her dreams. This story is from ABC.