Viewpoint: Diary of a Spectacle Designer

Sometimes we are so busy with our own lives and careers that we feel we have neither the time nor capacity to help others. So, when I read an article about glasses in Bangladesh this week, I felt ashamed, then angry, then emboldened into action.

Google knows I like reading about eyewear, so the algorithm tends to serve up pretty much every global news story involving glasses, but this is an article that really hit home.

‘Having the right glasses could boost earning power by a third, Bangladesh study shows’ was the headline in The Guardian. The study, conducted in Bangladesh, is the first to examine the impact of having a decent pair of spectacles, and researchers found monthly median earnings among one group of people increased from $35.30 to $47.10 within eight months, a rise of 33.4%.