A North-East firm is helping people with very poor vision to read again by using the latest technology. John Dean explains how.

WHEN David Youngson was told in 1962 that he had a genetic condition that would eventually rob him of his sight, he was determined not to let it wreck his life. And, when the retired clergyman, from Billingham Teesside, was finally registered blind in 1986, he pledged that he would continue to live as normally as possible.

One of the big problems for the 71- year-old, who runs a charity for partially- sighted people, was reading correspondence. That problem was solved by a computer-based magnifying system supplied by Gil Smith.

The device provided by Gil’s Billingham- based company, Low Vision Supplies, uses a computer screen to present magnified text which people like David, who can make out shapes and colours, are able to read.

The success of the device is typical of an approach which has helped large numbers of people cope with the loss of their sight, and which has led to Gil being acknowledged as an international expert in the field.

GIL has also supported David’s charity work and between them they have helped many partially-sighted people.

“When you lose your sight, it has a big emotional impact, but there is a lot you can do to help people to go on living,” says David. “I remember one woman who came to us. I said ‘what did you have for breakfast before?’ She said toast. I said ‘what did you have this morning and she said that she could not prepare toast now that she had been diagnosed blind. I said ‘but you did it yesterday. Just because someone has ticked a box on a form, it should not mean you stop doing the things you were doing before.’”

It is a view with which Gil Smith wholeheartedly agrees. The two men originally worked together when David established Signpost North- East in 1991. The charity advised partially- sighted people on how to live with their disability. He currently supplies entertainment CDs to them through the Rothay Consultancy, also a charity.

Gil, whose company provides a wide range of magnification devices and other aids from its offices in Belasis Avenue, Billingham, says: “What we do is as much about counselling as it is about providing low vision equipment. When people lose their vision, they lose their self-confidence.

We help rebuild it. We want them to look forward with confidence, not back with regret.

“Losing their sight leaves people devastated and we set out to make them believe that they are not useless. It is important that the patient realises that and that although it is not possible to restore their vision to former levels, we can do a lot to help them maximise the vision they have. Often patients regain confidence and motivation, and begin to enjoy life again.”

David adds: “Gil’s skill is to encourage people that they can continue living a similar lifestyle despite what has happened to them. The device I use to read correspondence is great. What Gil does it help people retain as much independence as possible.”

Gil, 58, has worked as a dispensing optician for more than 30 years, and has been practising in the low vision field since 1980.

In 1990, he and his wife, Liz, founded Low Vision Supplies, the only optical practice in the country to specialise entirely in low vision. As well as magnifiers, they also offer filters, electronic aids, specialist computer software and speaking products aimed specifically at low vision sufferers.

■ For further information, ring 01642-530801 or visit lowvision supplies.com