This March 31 to April 3, on behalf of the International Society for Low Vision Research and Rehabilitation, Vision Australia is hosting Vision2014 – the 11th International Conference on Low Vision.
At the conference, in addition to hearing from some of the world’s leading low vision practitioners and researchers, delegates will have the opportunity to learn from the lived experience of people with low vision.
People like Andrew Follows, 52 from Melbourne who has lived with low vision his entire life. Andrew has Retinitis Pigmentosa diagnosed in his first year of school.
“I have always had poor vision,” says Andrew, “but, at first, my parents put it down to my being clumsy,” he said.
Andrew has no vision in his left eye and only tunnel vision in his right eye. This tunnel vision has deteriorated over the years and in 2005 his eye specialist strongly encouraged him to seek some additional support.
“2006 was a game changer. I discovered digital photography and I was introduced to my dog guide Eamon, who gave me the mobility, freedom and passion to do what I love doing.”
After twelve months training with photographer Martin Bonnici. Andrew started holding his own exhibitions and is now part of an international arts group. He also holds workshops to introduce young people with low vision to photography.
“Many people ask me ‘why photography?’ For me the camera lens becomes my eyes. After taking images on a digital camera I download and enlarge them. It enables me to see the detail more clearly.”
Recently Vision Australia supported Andrew by producing QR codes for his exhibition ‘Density’ held in Richmond in August 2013. The QR codes enable people to access information about each photo on their smartphone in a format of their choice.
“Vision Australia’s support helped me to make my photography exhibition accessible to others, who like me, have low vision or are blind. It is amazing what can be achieved through technology,” says Andrew.
Andrew and others living with low vision will share their stories during plenary session one on the first day of the Vision2014 conference. In addition, Andrew will also have a limited number of his photos from his collection on display.
Visit Andrew's website to view more of his work.
Visit www.vision2014.org for more information about the conference, or to register your attendance.