YOUNGSTOWN Teen awaits organ donor

Charlie Collins is dedicated to helping others like him find devices to aid vision.
By HILARY WALDMAN
HARTFORD COURANT
Charlie Collins lost virtually all his vision to a hereditary eye disease when he was 13, and for the longest time he wanted nothing to do with the magnifiers and big-screen computers that can help people with impaired eyesight lead more independent lives.
Years later, when he finally tried some of the visual aids, he was sold. Not only did he want to try everything available, he wanted to make sure everybody else in his situation could get such help, too.
In 1997 Collins created Vision Dynamics, a store in Cheshire, Conn., that specializes in equipment for people who are blind or have visual impairments.
Largely through word of mouth and Collins' charismatic style of proselytizing at schools and senior centers across the state, the business has grown.
Prototype apartment
Besides the store, Vision Dynamics runs a summer computer camp for blind children and has a prototype apartment to demonstrate how good lighting and TV screen magnifiers can allow people with failing vision to live independently.
On the prototype kitchen counter, for example, is a 14-inch television hooked to a portable electronic magnifying camera, about the size of a large computer mouse. A visually impaired cook can run the magnifier over a recipe or food label, and the type appears in huge print on the TV screen. The device may allow a person with visual problems to prepare meals, Collins said.
The store also carries large-print measuring cups, kitchen timers the size of a wall clock, special lamps and games of Battleship and Scrabble in large print and Braille.
The most popular items in the showroom are electronic magnifiers. The devices, which resemble the microfilm readers at the library, can turn tiny newspaper print into large, bold letters that appear on TV-like screens. Reading material is placed on a tray beneath the screen, and a camera enlarges the print and beams it onto the screen.
A deluxe magnifier can cost close to $3,000 -- out of reach for many people with vision problems, especially ones linked to old age, such as age-related macular degeneration.
Providing equipment
That's where places such as the Sorenson Adaptive Technology Center in Simsbury, Conn., can help.
The center, affiliated with McLean, a nonprofit trust that provides a variety of health-care services to the elderly, lends a small number of electronic magnifiers to people with low vision.
Sorenson offers other free services, including having volunteers record oral histories of elderly people and lending video cameras so families can record milestones and celebrations with an aging loved one.
Collins often consults with services such as the Sorenson Center and the state Board of Education for the Blind that provide free or low-cost services to children and people who need the technology to remain in the work force.
Most of the paying customers at Vision Dynamics are older, Collins said. Although older people can get training from the state, he said, insurance and other public programs generally do not pay for the devices