Artificial Intelligence Can Help Develop Assistive Technologies for Those Suffering From Visual Impairment

1. Artificial Intelligence Can Help Develop Assistive Technologies for Those Suffering From Visual Impairment A visual impairment is any physical condition, which affects an individual's ability to see. This includes vision problems, which can be categorized into four main categories. These include, congenital eye defects, progressive retinal atrophy, macular degeneration, and blind spot. Visual impairment may also result from injury, disease or trauma resulting in a loss of the function of the eyes. According to the First World Report on vision issued by the World Health Organization in October 2019, over 1 billion people worldwide are living with vision impairment because they do not get the care they need for conditions like short and far sightedness, glaucoma and cataract. People experiencing congenital eye diseases are children, adolescents, and sometimes even adults who experience delays in the growth of their visual systems due to the abnormal development of the eye organs in the womb. These individuals are born with deformed eyes and are unable to see well. The most common congenital eye diseases are glaucoma, cataracts, presbyopia, and ocular hypertension. Other forms of visual impairment due to eye diseases include, diabetic retinopathy, blind spot, strabismus, convergence insufficiency, and amblyopia. Macular degeneration and progressive retinal atrophy are two more common causes for visual impairments. Macular degeneration is an age-related eye disease that gradually affects the photoreceptors in the macula section of the retina resulting in loss of vision. Progressive retinal atrophy, on the other hand, occurs due to the degeneration of the retina and is the second most common cause for vision impairment. Both of these conditions need to be addressed through classroom accommodations for students with visual impairments. A vision test is the most common tool that teachers in special education settings to use in order to evaluate the visual acuity, near, and far sight. A visual field test is the next most common tool used in evaluating visual field loss, which evaluates how well a student can see objects that are near and

2. far away. This type of test is usually administered during a routine appointment where the teacher or parent of a student with a visual impairment can see the child's hands, head, shoulders and other parts of the visual field. Artificial intelligence (AI) can help develop assistive technologies for those suffering from visually impairment. In January 2021, Facebook, the U.S-based social media platform, announced new improvements to Automatic Alternative Text, its AI technology that is used to generate descriptions of photos posted on the social network for visual impaired users. Readmore@https://cmidigiblogexlporer.blogspot.com/2021/02/artificial-intelligence-can- help.html