Family Wellness & Health Carnival

The Glaucoma Patient Associaton (Singapore) is organising a sharing session from 10am to 11.30am at the Queenstown Community Centre (Commonwealth Avenue) on June 17 (Sunday) in conjunction with the QCC Family Wellness and Health Carnival.

This sharing session will be for members of GSS, GPAS, RP and MDS members are invited to attend too. Dr Jeffrey Po will be giving a talk on “Being Resourcefully Blind”.

Besides this feature item, there will be eye screening, blood pressure checks, and ear and hearing tests, and games, food and fun events in a lively carnival mood.

The carnival will start at 9am and end at 1pm.

Blind activist leaves China

Chen Guangcheng, the blind legal defender who made a dramatic escape from house arrest and whose decision to seek refuge in American Embassy jolted American-Sino relations, left China aboard a commercial flight bound for the United States, according to friends who have spoken to him.

Mr. Chen left Beijing on a United Airlines flight bound for Newark with his wife and two children at around 5:30 p.m. after facing earlier delays.

Click here to read more.

Blind Beijing man treks through four countries in 19 days

May 17, 2012
The Beijing News

新京报讯 （记者刘珍妮 实习生樊俊怡） 

身背旅行包，手持导盲杖，35岁的盲人按摩师曹晟康历经19天，用搭车和徒步的方式，独自完成他人生中的第一次异国行。昨日，回到北京的曹晟康开始寻找新的工作，为他“环游世界”的梦想积攒下一桶金。

挑战帆板萌生环游梦

半年前，曹晟康做了一个让朋友们大跌眼镜的决定。他转让了在北京经营了10多年的盲人推拿店，到海南练习驾驶帆板，参加帆船比赛，朋友们觉得他疯了。

8岁时的一场车祸让曹晟康的世界从此失去了光明，他被鉴定为“一级视力残疾”。但在海南训练3个月后，他在海浪中跌跌撞撞拼到了终点，虽未进入决赛，但获得的“最佳体育精神奖”让他感到满足。

经历了“大风大浪”后，他决定当背包客徒步出国旅行。“我想成为第一个完成环球旅行的盲人。”怀揣护照和信用卡，背着装衣服的旅行包，拿着平日里感受外 物的导盲杖，4月18日，在一名“驴友”的帮助下，他经云南西双版纳的磨憨陆路口岸，进入老挝的城市琅布拉邦，开始了异国旅行。

用蹩脚英语搭车上路

“4月19日，我从万荣出发，一个人拿着导盲杖，背着行李，用仅有的英语问路，当地人告诉我，往南走就是万象。”曹晟康随身携带的录音笔里，记录了他在老挝脱离“驴友”后，独自上路的过程。

回忆起第一次在高速路搭车，曹晟康苦不堪言，“导盲杖没探到路，我一头栽到路边的沟里，头和胳膊上全是伤。”爬出沟后，他伸着大拇指，用蹩脚的英语喊 “Hitchhick.Free. No money（没钱，免费搭车）！”临时从“驴友”那学的几句英语，总算让他成功搭车到达万象。

打这以后，曹晟康开始寻找能到目的地的大巴车，“怎么找？到处喊‘China 、China’呗，找中国人或者会说中国话的游客帮我。”如果找不到中国游客帮忙，曹晟康就靠比画和模仿，“想找旅馆睡觉，就打呼噜，想吃饭就吧嗒嘴。”

花费四千余元走四国

 5月11日，穿越老挝、泰国、柬埔寨、越南后，曹晟康回到广西，结束了19天的异国行，一共花费4000多元。昨日，回到北京的他开始寻找新的按摩工作，为他的环游梦想打经济基础，他的下一轮计划是去印度、新加坡，“我希望能证明，盲人也能独自旅行。”

'Blind' mice eyesight treated with transplanted cells

British scientists have restored the sight of blind mice by transplanting light-sensitive photoreceptor cells into their eyes. The work is a step towards a new treatment for patients with degenerative eye diseases.

It is the first time that transplanted photoreceptor cells can integrate successfully with the existing retinal circuitry and truly improve vision. 

Loss of photoreceptors is the cause of blindness in many human eye diseases including age-related macular degeneration (AMD). 

Read about this breakthrough research here in this BBC article.

Myopia in kids: Go outdoors

May 5, 2012

The Straits Times

By Feng Zengkun 

Insufficient time spent outdoors is the main contributor to short-sightedness among children in East Asian cities, including Singapore. 

This is according to a paper published in medical journal The Lancet today. 'Most of (the myopia) we've seen in East Asia is due to the environment, it is not genetic,' said Professor Ian Morgan, a researcher at the Australian National University who co-authored the paper.

The researchers said children who spend two to three hours outdoors a day are 'probably reasonably safe' from getting myopia. This could include time spent on the playground and walking to and from school.

The researchers stressed that being a bookworm or spending time on the computer is not detrimental to eyesight, as long as time is also devoted to outdoor activities during the day. Exposure to the sun's rays is believed to stimulate production of the chemical dopamine, which stops the eyeball from growing elongated and distorting light that enters the eye.

Prof Morgan noted that children in East Asia spend the majority of their time indoors, studying and watching television. More than half of Singapore's 10-year-olds are short-sighted. Its myopia rate is among the world's highest because children here spend only about 30 minutes outdoors after school on weekdays, said Professor Saw Seang Mei who co-authored the Lancet paper.

The professor at National University of Singapore's Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, who recommends spending at least 10 hours outdoors every week, led a recently-concluded, year-long trial here that took children to parks every weekend to gauge the outdoor effect on myopia. The team is now studying the data.

Chen could leave China soon

Prominent Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng may soon be able to leave China after the Chinese government said he can head overseas for studies. 

It is potentially a major breakthrough for the blind legal activist who stunned the world last week when he escaped from illegal house arrest by government captors. 

Chen was made to study traditional Chinese medicine in university, one of only two courses available to the blind in China, along with music. He learnt law by the side and became a self-taught lawyer who helped Chinese villagers in their lawsuits. 

Click here to read about the latest developments.

Blind activist escapes house arrest

Chen Guangcheng, 40, is now a name known around the world. The Chinese legal activist escaped illegal house arrest in eastern Shandong province by climbing over walls and walking for some 19 hours. He is blind. 

News broke on April 27 that the famous blind activist had amazingly escaped his captors on his own on April 22 and eventually made his way to the US embassy in Beijing with some help from friends. 

American comedian Stephen Colbert had this to say of the miraculous escape: ‎"Apparently losing your sight doesn't only make your hearing better, it makes your balls bigger."  

Click here to read more about Chen's daring and brave dash to freedom. A true inspiration to all visually-impaired people.