December 2018
A ray of hope to those living in a world of darkness
As an institution committed to service and alleviation of suffering, Sankara Nethralaya has often ventured outside the confines of diagnosis and clinical care of ophthalmic ailments. Initiatives like starting a computer syndrome clinic, developing the Train your eye software, Low Vision Clinic, Customized eye shell fabrication etc are relief measures that may not fall directly in the ambit of ophthalmology but nevertheless help the in enhancing vision and adapting to a normal life. The institution inaugurated the Vision Enhancement Clinic (VEC) at the Smt Lakshmi Ammal &Smt Alamelu Ammal Sankara Nethralaya complex at Shenoy Nagar as a major step towards alleviating pain and handicap of the visually impaired by rehabilitating them through enabling, educating and empowering in association with leaders in the field across the counter The centre would strive towards enabling the visually impaired lead an independent and safe life through a combination of well planned intervention processes consisting of counselling, education/vocational guidance, skill imparting, special skills training for students, assistive technology training. The intervention process is tailor made not only to address the challenges of the visually impaired but to help their families in making their life more comfortable. A major highlight of the Vision Enhancement Clinic is the ‘Early intervention services’ for children in the age group of (0-30 with congenital neurological conditions and developmental disabilities where children are assessed for intervention through a play-way method, vision stimulation, visual skills development therapy for preventing further deterioration, a continuing process where the child is carefully assessed until she/he attains 3 years.
The facility equipped with State of the Art infrastructure and manned by an expert in training and guiding the visually impaired, offering comprehensive services to this section including educational and vocational guidance in sync with the Low Vision Clinic (LVC) at the Sankara Nethralaya main campus was inaugurated by Shri Ramakrishna Raju and Mrs Revathy Ramakrishna founders of ‘Vision Aid’ a Boston based charity engaged in serving the visually impaired through various measures.