Beautiful Watches for the Visually Impaired

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It was obvious that he was blind.

As he sat down, he swiftly folded up a long white cane that he placed in a pouch located on the side of a saddle bag that was hanging on the special harness fitted to his "service dog". He then patted the rear of the dog and the dog obediently sat down next to him.

I do not know why, but he kept his head tilted up and back. Constantly aiming his dark glasses toward the sky. And as most anyone would do, I looked up to see what he was "looking" at, only to see the open sky light and art deco flags that hung lazily from the ceiling.

Then he did something that about knocked me out of my chair, he looked down at his watch and felt it's face for a few seconds, locating a button on the side, he pushed it, and the watch said after a beep, "The time is now Two-Fifteen PM."

That was one of the coolest things I had seen in a long time, so I had to tell him. I leaned over and said, "Excuse me, but that is a cool watch!" He wasn't startled in the least, and as he turned in my direction he smiled politely and said "Thank you, but this watch is as ugly as a mud fish."

How he knew what a mud fish looked like, I do not know. But he was right, upon closer inspection, it was an ugly watch. It was a large chunk of cheap black plastic with a plain digital face and speaker box underneath. No-one with a smidgen of class or taste would have chosen that watch for himself. From the way this man was dressed, Abercrombie jeans and button down shirt, one could tell that he liked the finer things in life.

Come to find out, the watch he was wearing was not the watch he normally wore. He told me that this particular talking watch was a gift from his friend, who was coming in on the same flight as my brother, and he was only wearing it so as not to insult him. He much preferred to wear his sleek silver braille watch, that he left at home, over this "ugly" talking watch that his friend had given him.

Who would have thought that a blind person would concern themselves over appearances? I learned a very good lesson that day. Even the blind like beauty.

So if your getting a gift or helping to select something for a blind person, or for a person who is visually impaired, just because they may not be able to see what you are getting them, do not think that they do not care about how it looks.

Braille is a set of six dots that in different combinations are used to replicate letters, numbers, and symbols. The system was invented by Louis Braille in 1821, and was a means of opening the door to reading for the blind. While things like books were the first to be printed in Braille, there were soon thoughts of applying the system to other things that the visually impaired might need. One of these things was the Braille watch.

As early as the 20th century, savvy watchmakers began creating pocket watches with Braille on them. They had to be open faced instead of having a glass covering to protect the hands. Not only was it important for the person using one to feel the Braille numbers, but also they had to be able to feel the hands too in relationship to the numbers in order to tell the time.

However, an open-face watch could be problematic. Time could easily become inaccurate if the hands of the watch got caught on clothing or in the hair. To remedy this, watchmakers added an opening and closing glass lid, so the hands of the Braille watch were protected when the watch was being used to tell time...

Read More about Braille at: Wise Geek, What is a Braille Watch?

1) More Americans than ever face the threat of Blindness from Age related Eye Diseases. (The Eye Digest)

2) The New York State Commission for the Blind and Visually Handicapped estimates that there are 120,000 blind New Yorkers and nearly 1 million New Yorkers with vision loss. New Yorkers benefit from specialized vision rehabilitation services, especially the growing population of older New Yorkers with vision loss, and African-American, Latino or Asian New Yorkers who experience higher prevalence rates of vision loss.

2a) Nineteen percent of persons 70 years of age and older had visual impairments. Visual impairments, including blindness, increased with age. As the older population increases over the next 30 years, the number of older persons with visual and hearing impairments may increase significantly. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Aging Trends, No. 2, March 2004)

3) The leading causes of vision impairment and blindness in the US are primarily age related eye diseases. Cataracts affect nearly 20.5 million Americans age 65 and older. About 2.2 million Americans have been diagnosed with glaucoma, and another two million do not know they have it. More than 1.6 million Americans over age 60 have advanced macular degeneration. Diabetic retinopathy affects more than 5.3 million Americans age 18 and older. The number of Americans with age-related eye disease is expected to double within the next three decades. (The Eye Digest, www.agingeye.net)

4) On the basis of these criteria, it was estimated that 20% of Americans aged 65 and older, representing 17% of those aged 65 to 74 years and 26% of those aged 75 and older, report a vision problem. (Horowitz, Amy. The Prevalence and Consequences of Vision Impairment in Later Life. Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation, 2004.)

5) Poverty is a fact of life for many blind adults, especially older women. Few blind adults receive welfare. Most blind men in poverty receive food stamps, but most blind women in poverty do not. Nearly one in five (19 percent) lives in poverty. Only 19 percent are currently employed. All of the adults in the survey have worked in their lifetimes, either for pay or as volunteers. (Blind Adults in America: Their Lives and Challenges. A Report by the National Center for Policy Research for Women and Families. February 2004)

See More Facts About The Blind at: Vision Quick Facts

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