Elderly people with macular degeneration have been denied rehabilitation due to a postcode lottery, according to the Macular Disease Society.
It said eccentric viewing (EV) and steady eye (SE) techniques were often not available due to lack of agreement between professionals as to who should be responsible for this type of rehabilitation. The society also blamed inconsistency in the way professionals were taught to deliver the techniques.
The Macular Disease Society has trained hundreds of volunteers to teach others and appealed for further recruits. The society's CEO Helen Jackman said: 'Our experience and our validated evaluation of our pilot scheme demonstrated the benefits of EV and SE as ways of helping many people with central vision loss.
'Increasing numbers of people could benefit if more training was available. It is a simple, low-tech rehabilitation tool and it is a tragedy that so many people are denied the opportunity to learn it.'
The second Multidisciplinary Eccentric Viewing Conference takes place on March 15 2012 in Birmingham. Tickets cost £50.
