Page 18 THE MALDEN ADVOCATE–Wednesday, December 24, 2025 Savvy Senior by Jim Miller Tips and Tools for Adapting to Vision Loss Dear Savvy Senior, Can you recommend some good resources or products that can help seniors with severe vision loss? My wife has diabetic retinopathy, and it’s gotten worse over the past year. Need Help Dear Need, I’m very sorry about your wife’s vision loss, but you’ll be pleased to know that there are many resources and a wide variety of low vision products and technologies that can help with many different needs. According to the American Optometric Association (AOA), it’s estimated that 12 million Americans ages 40 and older are living with uncorrectable vision loss, which is often caused by age-related macular degeneration, glaucoma or diabetic retinopathy. These conditions become more common with age and can make daily tasks like cooking, reading or watching television much harder. But optometrists who specialize in low vision – reduced vision that can’t be rectified with glasses – have many aids and technologies that can help. Here are a few different low vision products as recommended by Consumer Reports, along with some suggestions for finding a specialist who can help your wife adapt to her vision loss. Magnifiers and Adaptions Once reading glasses are no longer sufficient, there are other devices that can help. These include handheld magnifiers with a light and magnifying domes that can be placed on top of a page. Telescopes mounted on glasses can work for people who need help seeing farther away. For those who have lost part of their visual field due to a stroke or brain injury, prisms mounted to the lenses in glasses can move an image from an area someone can’t see to the area of their vision where they can. This can help people get around without bumping into obstructions. Driving may no longer be possible, but some people with certain types of low vision can do so safely using a bioptic telescope – a telescopic device attached to glasses – that makes distant objects like road signs visible. And some changes at home can make your space easier (and safer) to navigate, such as putting bright tape on the edges of stairs and getting rid of clutter. High-Tech Tool Most smartphones and computers today have built-in accessibility settings that can help your wife by reading aloud text on the screen, making default text sizes larger, and increasing screen contrast. She can also take a photo with her phone of something she wants to see, then boost the brightness, contrast, or zoom. Televisions, too, may have accessibility features you can adjust to make watching easier. Phone apps for people with low vision can also be a big help. These include magnification apps like SuperVision+ Magnifier and apps such as Seeing AI and Envision AI that can look through your phone’s camera and turn text into speech, describe a scene in front of you, identify objects, or even recognize faces. There are also handheld or wearable devices like OrCam that can read documents or describe the scene you are looking at. Low Vision Specialist To get some help, find your wife an optometrist who is a low-vision specialist. They can help her figure out how to best use the vision she does have and recommend helpful devices. There are also vision rehabilitation services that can make a big difference. These services provide counseling, along with training on how to perform daily living tasks with low vision, and how to use visual and adaptive devices that can help improve quality of life. They also offer guidance for adapting your home that will make it safer and easier for your wife to maneuver. Her regular eye doctor may be able to recommend a low-vision specialist, or you can search the AOA.org website, which lets you filter for specialists in low vision. To locate rehabilitation services and other low vision resources in your area, call the American Printing House (APH) Connect Center at 800-232-5463. Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior. org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book. 1. On Dec. 26, 1919, what Red Sox player was sold to the New York Yankees, starting the “Curse of the Bambino”? 2. What orchestra made “radio’s first nationwide New Year's Eve broadcast” (1929)? 3. The first Times Square New Year’s eve ball was covered with 100 of what? 4. What comedian/pianist was known as “The Clown Prince of Denmark” and did a routine called “Phonetic Punctuation,” including on “The Electric Company”? 5. On Dec. 27, 1964, who performed “Come See About Me” on The Ed Sullivan Show? 6. What state has an annual New Year’s event called the Peach Drop? 7. What is an expression from the Scots language meaning “the good old times”? 8. On Dec. 28, 1945, the U.S. Congress recognized what official name of a recitation? 9. What kind of a building is also the name of a butterfly? 10. What Roman god’s name is the same as a 1960s singer’s name? 11. On Dec. 29, 1851, in what city (started “First Night” in 1976) was America’s first YMCA? 12. How did Dickens get the expression “as dead as a doornail” in “A Christmas Carol”? 13. What would you find at Boardwalk Hall (Atlantic City), the Salt Lake Tabernacle and Cadet Chapel (West Point)? 14. Where is “‘Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,’ grumbled Jo…”? 15. On Dec. 30, 1809, wearing masks at balls in Boston was made illegal; that was repealed on April Fools’ Day in what year: 1852, 1929 or 1963? 16. Where is the American children’s novel “Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates” set? 17. Dec. 31 is National Champagne Day; what character (also known by a number) in novels drank champagne 65 times? 18. What was the 1940s Operation Vittles also known as? 19. How are Mr. Green Jeans, Dancing Bear and Grandfather Clock similar? 20. On Jan. 1, 1776, who is reported to have raised the first “Continental Colors” flag at Prospect Hill in Somerville? ANSWERS 1. Babe Ruth 2. Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians (from NYC) 3. Light bulbs 4. Victor Borge 5. The Supremes 6. Georgia (a peach sculpture lowered down a tower in Atlanta) 7. Auld lang syne 8. The Pledge of Allegiance 9. Painted ladies (Edwardian and Victorian houses repainted in several colors; also a butterfly) 10. Janus, the spirit of doorways, archways and beginnings (Janis Joplin) 11. Boston 12. Doornails were hammered so that their tips went through a door and were flat on the other side as well; they could not then be reused (or were “dead”) 13. Large pipe organs 14. In “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott 15. 1963 16. The Netherlands (Mary Mapes Dodge, the author, did not visit there until after publication.) 17. James Bond (007) 18. Berlin Airlift (to supply West Berlin during a Soviet blockade of ground access) 19. They are characters on TV’s “Captain Kangaroo.” 20. General George Washington
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