Tuesday, March 09, 2004
17. I understand that your eyesight is particularly poor, and that you have difficulty reading text unless it is significantly magnified. What can you tell us about your ocular condition, is it likely to get better or worse over time, and how if at all does it impact your daily work as a federal appellate judge?
I have a number of eye problems, which have left me with no conventional reading vision and some limitations on my distance vision. By employing a variety of coping mechanisms -- enlarged text and video magnification are two -- I can perform all the duties essential to my work. My disability is something I have come to terms with but it sometimes puts unusual demands on my staff, my clerks, and my colleagues, which I regret but find unavoidable. My ocular condition is progressive, although the rate of degradation is unpredictable. Barring some scientific miracle, my vision is not likely to improve. I hope that as my vision ebbs, my capacity to cope with it will grow.
Someone close to me is in this boat. She taught me how to work a precinct, track a bill, lean on a committee chair. Now, with failing vision, she not only can't drive to the committee meetings, it's hard for her to read the fine print. And she's not an early adopter of computer-based solutions, rather the opposite.
So I'm frustrated, and feel i should do a better job of keeping up with these developments (in computing for the visually impaired.) Pointers and links welcome.
I have a number of eye problems, which have left me with no conventional reading vision and some limitations on my distance vision. By employing a variety of coping mechanisms -- enlarged text and video magnification are two -- I can perform all the duties essential to my work. My disability is something I have come to terms with but it sometimes puts unusual demands on my staff, my clerks, and my colleagues, which I regret but find unavoidable. My ocular condition is progressive, although the rate of degradation is unpredictable. Barring some scientific miracle, my vision is not likely to improve. I hope that as my vision ebbs, my capacity to cope with it will grow.
Someone close to me is in this boat. She taught me how to work a precinct, track a bill, lean on a committee chair. Now, with failing vision, she not only can't drive to the committee meetings, it's hard for her to read the fine print. And she's not an early adopter of computer-based solutions, rather the opposite.
So I'm frustrated, and feel i should do a better job of keeping up with these developments (in computing for the visually impaired.) Pointers and links welcome.
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