Vision 2005

Vision 2005 is the world's largest conference on sight loss. As such it should be of interest to all eye care practitioners. A glance over the programme for the four days (April 4-7) is initially quite daunting. As well as four full days of lectures, presentations and workshops, there is an extensive scientific and poster schedule, an exhibition, an accredited CET programme especially tailored for optometrists and opticians, as well as a variety of social events and excursions. So how does one begin to plan a schedule?
All of the main presentations are listed as covering one of six major topic areas. As can be seen below, the delegate with a specialist interest or area of expertise could do no worse than to look at the events which are listed under a theme most representative of that interest.
Although eye care practitioners and clinicians may initially be drawn to themes A and C, it is also worth looking carefully at the others. For example, presentations on new technology are likely to be useful. Other subjects apparently outside the sphere of everyday practice may be topical or contentious enough to warrant attention. For example, in the week when the Tory party announce that they have concerns over integration of special needs children into the mainstream school community, several presentations deal with research looking at education of the visually impaired at school and beyond .
Keynote address
The event opens on the Monday with a keynote presentation by Peter White, a broadcaster well known to Radio 4 listeners for his hard-hitting interviews on You and Yours and his enduring presence on In Touch. The ironic title of his presentation 'See it my way' suggests that he will expand on a theme of many of his broadcasts - understanding life as a visually impaired person.
Later there is a presentation by Associate Professor Jill Keeffe, Centre for Eye Research Australia, University of Melbourne. Keeffe's research interests are in prevention and impact of vision impairment and health services research especially in low vision in both Australia and developing countries. She will be describing the psycho-social impact of vision loss. It is becoming increasingly obvious that to help in any management programme with a visually impaired person, the full impact of their impairment and not just the vision loss needs to be appreciated. Keeffe's research in this area will be most useful to anyone regularly in contact with visual impairment.
Concurrently, and perhaps of more appeal to those of a more psychophysical bent, there are three presentations looking at the impact of vision loss on motion and speed sensitivity. This may have useful implications in the rehabilitation and vision training of particularly macular disease patients.
A seriously undervalued aspect of eye care practice is the accurate and appropriate influence on a person's light environment. Two potentially useful presentations on the Monday will look at this area. Prasad Sawant will discuss the clinical effect of illumination in patients with low vision while Gunilla Brunnstrm will look at lighting in homes for elderly, referring to a study about lighting conditions and needs for older people.
Much publicity has been given in recent years to research into 'prosthetic vision', the use of implants in the cortex or retinal implantation in an attempt to restore a level of vision. Work in this area by researchers such as Ronald Schuchard will be presented.
Tuesday kicks off with a host of presentations of direct relevance to optometric practice. Highlights include a discussion by Dr Mark Bullimore (a one-time Aston postgraduate now based at Ohio State University) on the reliability of the Lighthouse contrast acuity chart. As the usefulness of contrast acuity becomes more obvious, the search for a clinically viable test is important. This is expanded upon later by Eleanor Faye who will be discussing contrast sensitivity tests in assessing visual function.
Dr Angela Rees will be describing some of her work at the Institute of Ophthalmology in London where she has been looking at the factors determining the preferred retinal image location in a patient with macular disease. Such work could add significantly to the training of patients with central vision loss. This is just one of the many presentations on eccentric viewing to be given on the Tuesday morning and there is certainly much excitement about the potential of some of the work in this area.
On a completely different matter but certainly of interest is the section looking at technological advances that may help with mobility. Caroline Lewis will look at physical access barriers to services and refer to 'snapshot' research in four town/city centres in Britain.
Tuesday is the first of the two days offering a full CET programme. As well as eminent speakers in this field familiar to the UK optometrist, it is perhaps worth noting that Ian Bailey (as in the Bailey-Lovie chart) has come from Australia to give one of the presentations.
On Wednesday there are two noteworthy keynote speakers in the busy programme running alongside the second CET day. Professor Allen Foster of the International Centre for Eye Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in London, will remind delegates of the aims and ambitious of the Vision 2020 programme. Later there is a presentation by Richard Wormald of Moorfields who will look at evidence-based research which may lead to the development of a successful rehabilitation programme.
Thursday provides another packed programme, including presentations looking at the impact on development of visual impairment. Mark Gray will look at developing early conditioned communication responses with the application of information technology, zoning theory and adapted intensive interaction methodology.
Professor Anne Corn, Departments of Special Education, and Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Vanderbilt University, will look closely at the development of integrated approaches to care and management, a topic that will be increasingly relevant to UK optometrists as local PCT programmes reach fruition. It is also interesting to see one session discussing the cost implications of treatment and rehabilitation, something that the more practically minded need to be constantly aware of in a world of ever tightening budgets and calls for increasing efficiency.
This has necessarily been a cursory view of a packed programme but hopefully gives a flavour of the variety of what is on offer.


BOXTEXT: Conference themes
Theme A: Clinical care and integrating rehabilitation
Intended for ophthalmologists, optometrists, psychologists, gerontologists, low vision therapists, rehabilitation workers and health economists.

Theme B: Epidemiology and world blindness
Intended for researchers, health economists, clinicians, service providers and purchasers, and anyone with an interest in the pattern of disease.

Theme C: Visual function assessment and visual performance
Intended for optometrists, low vision therapists, rehabilitation workers and educationalists.

Theme D: Education across the lifespan
Intended for teachers, support workers and lecturers working with blind and partially sighted students, including those with profound and complex needs. It will also appeal to those responsible for the development of school and college policies and for the implementation of learning technologies.

Theme E: Advances in technology, designing and constructing for an inclusive environment
Intended for design teams, designers and developers of new technology, architects, owners, operators and researchers.

Theme F: Employment
Theme F is vital for those who work directly with blind and partially sighted people, including medical practitioners, employers, human resource managers, recruitment managers, equal opportunities and diversity staff, and policy makers in local and national government. It will also be of interest to those who are working to make a difference to the working lives of people with sight problems.