[community] Looking for interest in a project on improving accessibility in healthcare for people with vision loss through educator healthcare providers

[Foster, Julia]

Hi everyone,

We are a group looking to improve healthcare services and the daily lives of people with vision loss. Our team includes people with vision loss, advocates, healthcare providers, researchers, designers, and educators.  We are looking for individuals and communities who are willing to contribute to this work.

We have several projects we are working on. This email is about a project to create learning materials to teach healthcare providers how to make services more accessible for people who are blind, deafblind and partially sighted. We are especially looking for 1) people who are blind, deafblind, or have low vision who have experience with the healthcare system (this includes supports, such as a family member of someone with vision loss that attends appointments); and 2) healthcare students or healthcare providers with various learning styles.

Please let us know if you are interested in this project. For some additional context, I’ve included additional details below my name.

Thanks,

Julia



Context

The healthcare system is complicated. Many people find it difficult to figure out what services exist, how to get those services, and what else they can do to take care of their own health and well-being. People with vision loss often face additional accessibility barriers in the healthcare system (for example, appointment slips and handouts might not be readable, physical spaces might not have appropriate signage and directions, healthcare providers might not understand vision loss enough to know how to adjust their communication style). To improve healthcare delivery for this population, change may need to happen at many levels. For one, people working in healthcare need to understand both accessibility guidelines and the lived experiences of blind, deafblind, and partially sighted people. Some people experience additional barriers to getting good healthcare due to race, culture, income, education, language, gender, sexual orientation, where they live, residency status, and other factors.

We are working on a project to create learning materials to teach healthcare providers how to make services more accessible for people who are blind, deafblind and partially sighted. The expertise of people with vision loss is needed at all levels of our project. We also need to make sure that we consider all the ways people learn, so the materials can work for healthcare students and providers with different learning styles and needs.

If you are interested in learning more about this work, please let us know a bit about your interests in this area. If you do not have a contact for the team, you can contact Julia Foster by email at Julia.foster at kingstonhsc.ca<mailto:Julia.foster at kingstonhsc.ca> or leave a message for Julia Foster via the Vision Rehabilitation Clinic at 613-544-3400 ext 3189.

If you are not interested in this project, but are interested more broadly in topics related to improving healthcare services and the daily lives of people with vision loss, reach out to us and we can let you know about future projects.



Julia Foster, MScOT, OT Reg. (Ont.)

Occupational Therapist


KHSC Vision Rehabilitation Clinic<http://ophthalmology.queensu.ca/faculty/physicians/lvr>, in support of the
South East Ontario Vision Rehabilitation Service (SOVRS)


Department of Ophthalmology

Kingston Health Sciences Centre-Hotel Dieu Site

166 Brock Street, Kingston, ON K7L 5G2


Telephone:  613-544-3400 ext. 2475

Fax: 613-887-2081

Email: Julia.foster at kingstonhsc.ca<mailto:Julia.foster at kingstonhsc.ca>

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