British Journal of Visual Impairment

What difference has the revised BD8 form made to the process of registration and assessment of people with a visual impairment? This article looks at the present certification, registration and assessment procedures and discusses the implications for the future when viewed against the back ground of the Disabled Persons (Service, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986. The opinions expressed here are the personal views of the author.

This article is based on a talk given at the University of Nottingham on 19 January 1991, at the launch of ARROW (Association for the Representation of Rehabilitation Officers and Workers). Rehabilitation workers now acquire basic counselling skills during their training, but there is a danger that they may be tempted to apply gnef therapies to clients whose real needs are simply to acquire Independence skills. In this connection, the development of a short questionnaire to pick up clinical depression and other psychological factors is descnbed, together with a tentative but testable model of the psychologi cal dynamics of sight loss.

This paper reports on a study designed to evaluate whether or not the relationship between body image and spatial skills, generally assumed to be fundamental, does in fact exist Using both the Cratty and Sams (1968) test, and a modification of it, we found no relationship between spatial skills and either overall body image or any of its components.

The aim of the research/service clinic set up at the Wolfson Centre in 1985 has been to provide very young severely visually impaired children with optimal visual expenence of materials from which they can learn The expenence of an optometnst and developmental paediatrician working together is presented, and the importance of this team Input to assessment emphasised. A detailed exploration of near functional vision made with real objects and nursery-age picture material serves as the basis for the prescription of an aid and subsequent evaluation of its success The careful counselling of parents and the importance of ongoing support and follow-up are discussed

This article discusses the implications of a movement programme for the visually impaired which has been developed by Touchdown Dance. This company is geared to extending mobility and improving gait and posture through dance work based on 'contact improvisation', an influential contemporary dance form

Once they are in an Integrated school, visually handicapped pupils become members of groups of age-mates, usually within the same class The purpose of the present pilot study was to examine the pattern of friendships of three blind pupils in grade 12N of a prestigious secondary school in Zambia The conclusion reached is that functional interaction does not guarantee social interaction, and that the needs of the visually handicapped pupils may be construed by their sighted peers as interfering with their own goals and ambitions The implications of this viewpoint are discussed.